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| Barley Pickers' monster tractor |
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| Boat Buoys' military boat car |
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| The Megalomaniacs' evil trike |
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| The double-headed Chaos Crew's cab |
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| Herbie goes green for the Goddesses |
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Design and build
The Barley Pickers quickly dispensed with Hadrian's preferred option and built a massive, oversized monster tractor based on a Bedford truck. At seven tonnes, they needed some power: 'A gert snorter of an engine,' as farmer Andy put it. Luckily, a neighbour had a one tonne, 16-cylinder Rolls Royce engine sat in a barn. Lightweight, no, but very powerful. Also, as farmers, EU rules mean the team didn't need to do the SVA test. Very cunning indeed.
The Boat Buoys spent a chunk of their cash on three dodgy motors: a minibus, an ambulance and an old American V8 estate car. After a few delays (like going on holiday), the team stripped down the ambulance and put Toby's Range Rover engine in the middle. Boarded up to look like a boat, complete with deep fording snorkel, this 'military-style-ambulance-based-Range-Rover-boat-car' certainly looked the part.
As bikers, The Megalomaniacs didn't go for four wheels. After ripping a Range Rover in half, they attached a bespoke rear arm and created a backwards tricycle. Big rethinking on their original design (after checking with the SVA people) meant they couldn't build the roadworthy scorpion they hoped for, but the end result was just as menacing.
The Chaos 'guess who I had in the back of here last night?' Crew got their hands on a couple of London taxis and a disc cutter. Throw in a donor Vauxhall Cavalier and after five weeks they had a double-fronted, four-wheel drive taxi with the option of two engines.
The Green Goddesses wanted a super-environmentally friendly design so they opted for a 'Herbie'-style Volkswagen Beatle and exchanged the engine for a Peugeot 405, 1.9-litre turbo diesel which could run on vegetable oil. After realising their first car was too rotten to pass even an MOT, they moved on to another one with less rust. Not changing the chassis meant that, like the farmers, they also dodged the SVA test.
Trial and test
Before the official SVA test, the teams got to run a Scrapheap Challenge course to see how their vehicles handled. With a slalom, emergency brake, parallel park, followed by a roundabout spin, any dodgy handling would soon become apparent. All teams took to the course with great gusto. The Barley Pickers looked top-heavy, The Megalomaniacs had poor rear visibility and a bit of leaning on corners and the Green Goddesses needed to improve their parking. Despite this, all teams passed the course and the Boat Buoys were the fastest.
| Boat Buoys |
1min 26sec |
| Chaos Crew |
1min 44sec |
| Barley Pickers |
2min 15sec |
| Green Goddesses |
2min 36sec |
| Megalomaniacs |
3min 16sec |
After biting a few nails, The Boat Buoys, Chaos Crew and The Megalomaniacs all passed the precious SVA test and the real Scrappy Races got the green light.
Next week it's down the M4 to south Wales and a special challenge on the Pendine Sands.
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