Channel 4 – Scrapheap Challenge 2004 – Challenges – Dambusters

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The Challenge

A brave-hearted bunch of Scottish boffins take on a rabble of right-on rickshaw riders in an epic Scrapheap battle. Following in the footsteps of Barnes Wallis, their mission, should they choose to accept it, is to manufacture machines that can pitch bouncing bombs across water to breach the Scrapheap dams.

Irn Cru

Irn Cru's expert Mike Groves

Irn Cru

Ben Craven, Drew Irvine and Robin Pollok work at the Glasgow Science Centre and are collectively responsible for the design and maintenance of the interactive exhibits. These men are seriously into their science! There is a big theoretical knowledge-base in this team, covering the spectrum from physics to mechanics to engineering. They are used to creating unusual and innovative projects and have a very good grasp of 'how things work'. Curiosity and imagination have led these guys to have a go at most things and Drew has the added benefit of a background as a mechanic.

Mike Groves is this week's expert for Irn Cru. He is a high-speed glider-winch whiz and has always been into engineering, building Land Rovers from an early age. His current project is a jeep that can lift itself up on a central platform and spin a full 360 degrees.

As Mike suffered from asthma as a child, he thought getting a job in the open air would be good for him - so he got a job on a hill at a glider-launching field and it was here he built his first winch. He now runs the biggest glider winch factory in the UK.

Maximus

Maximus' expert Mike Bretton

Maximus

Cycles and boats are this team's thing. William Trickett, Paul McGarry and Dennis Mapp work at Cycles Maximus, which makes and supplies Rickshaws. William, or Trickett as he likes to be known, is also a boat engineer and has a company which makes luxury Dutch barges. They are into all kinds of cycled contraptions from rickshaws and chariots to trikes and motorbikes. They also share an interest in canal boats - so are used to building things out of the ordinary.

They are quirky, alternative, great fun and are phased by very little. Trickett is completely mad, Paul lives on a canal boat and is also a circus performer and Dennis is a Motor Cross rider who, in his own words, will have a go at anything! A great team.

Maximus' expert is Mike Bretton. He reinvented the clay pigeon firing machine and runs a busy workshop in Lowestoft building them. Mike is also a Scrapheap veteran who has appeared twice before, firstly in Cannon for series three and then in Rapid Fire for series five - but both times his teams lost their battles. Can Mike eventually guide a team to victory this time?

Judge Arthur Kearse

The judge

Arthur Kearse works for the quasi-military scientific organisation Qinetiq and has investigated Barnes Wallis's principals of bouncing objects on water (see science). We could tell you more about his day job - but then we'd have to kill you!