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[ The Challenge and Teams ] [ Result ] [ Barley Pickers Diary ] [ Cat-alysts Diary ] [ Science ] [ More Info ]

Car Flinger

So, after 12 weeks of drama, glory and disaster – and an awful lot of welding – we reach the grand final of Scrapheap 2002. This year's popular champions, the Barley Pickers, square up to the Cat-alysts, who triumphed in 2001. And for an epic confrontation, an epic challenge: the teams must build a contraption capable of flinging a car through the air. Never let it be said that Scrapheap machines have no practical value. Whoever chucks the Mini the furthest wins. This is such a massive challenge that we've given the teams two days for the build.

Barley Pickers

The Barley Pickers are a team of Devonshire farmers. Andy Barnes, the captain, is a dairy, arable and beef farmer. Keeping the wheels turning on the farm is one of his responsibilities. Robin Bright is self-employed and says he's regularly told: 'It's a good job you work for yourself – nobody else is going to give you a job.' Keith Sparks's day always starts with checking and feeding livestock (which includes 31,000 cockerels and 100 beef cattle), but like most farmers he can and does turn his hand to more or less anything.

The Barley Pickers' technical consultant for the grand final is Paul Denney, and he's well qualified for this challenge, having led Storm Force to victory in last year's bizarre battle of the Egg Shooters. Paul works as an electrical engineer, but his real passion is medieval weaponry. He's in charge of the full-size working models of siege weapons at Caerphilly Castle.

So far the Barleys have picked off all-comers. Can they complete their golden harvest?

Cat-alysts

The Cat-alysts are all engineers at the Jaguar factory in Warwickshire. In his spare time Garry Preece, the captain, has an obsession with antique bathroom taps. Tim Wright is into motorcycles, scuba diving and snowboarding. Shane Brading's bodging career began at the tender age of 13, when he converted an old Volvo into a banger racer.

The Cat-alysts' TC is Richard Little, who has previously done honourable Scrapheap service on the Bridger (series 3) and Minesweeper (series 4) challenges. Richard is in the Royal Engineers and is also a qualified blacksmith.

Could the formidable Cat-alysts meet their match in their final fling? [an error occurred while processing this directive]