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TEXT ONLY | CREDITS | APPLY FOR SCRAPHEAP 2005 | |||||||||||||
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| DON'T MISS SCRAPHEAP ON CHANNEL 4 EVERY SUNDAY, 6.30PM |  |
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Off Road Rescue | |
Result | |
Riders' diary | |
Bakewells' diary | |
Science | |
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All challenges | |
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Result
After a tough build constructing two of the heaviest machines ever seen on Scrapheap Challenge, the teams were raring to go on the morning of the Off Road Rescue test. The teams faced a mile-long circuit of sandy terrain. It was wet and sticky in places, dry and slippy in others. A hampered hatchback was waiting semi-submerged in a bog at the centre of the course to be rescued. The Pink Pudding The Bakewell Puddings were first to go, knowing they had the huge advantage of four-wheel drive on their machine, the Pink Pudding. Their only problem was the dumper-truck engine driving them along – it was seriously underpowered and they could only manage a maximum speed of about 7mph. Having made slow but steady progress down the hill to the bog, expert Steve drove the Pink Pudding straight into the water and the rest of the team leapt out to lower their carrying platform into place. Next job was to connect their winch cables to the stricken car – not an easy job in five feet of water. Finally the cables were attached and Nick fired the winch, powering the motorcycle engine to life. Like the vehicle, the winch progressed slowly but steadily, but it proved to be a masterpiece of lifting machinery. After only a couple of minutes, the car was safely onboard the platform. What the team had forgotten was that the platform had to be lifted back into place. All the Puddings' rugby-scrum experience came in handy and with a superhuman effort they lifted it back onto the horizontal. Once everybody was back onboard, Steve put pedal to metal and guided the Pink Pudding out of the lake. It may not have been fast but this machine kept on plodding through the soft sand at the bottom of the circuit. Then they reached the first steep incline. Halfway up, the Pink Pudding ground to a halt and rolled back down. Would this be the end of the Bakewells' challenge? Not on your nelly! As quick as a flash, Steve flicked the vehicle into reverse gear and attempted the hill in reverse. It made all the difference – this time the Pink Pudding made it to the top and charged down the opposite side! The delighted team cheered their way round the rest of the course. They reversed up the second steep climb, unloaded their car and crossed the line knowing they had set a decent target for the Rough Riders to beat. The Rough Rider The Rough Riders' off-roading leviathan may have looked spectacular sat on the start line but Judge Simon Buck was concerned that with its front axle removed it would come to a grinding halt the first bank they hit. The other big problem was that their towing tractor only had two-wheel drive. On the sound of the horn the enormous Rough Rider jumped to life and headed off down the hill at high speed. Travelling at least twice the speed of the Bakewells' Pink Pudding, the team couldn't stop laughing all the way down. At the lake, Ozzie leapt into the water looking determined to put the wreck back into car recovery. At first, his motives seemed unclear as he smashed out all the windows on the sunken saloon. But then as Tim reversed the hydraulic lifting frame into place it was obvious what he was thinking as the team threaded their lifting cables through the open windows. Everything about the recovery was textbook, with the hydraulics arms working perfectly. Then the car got jammed against the lifting frame and the team couldn't shift it forward or back. The team strapped themselves in and headed off onto the course with the recovered car hanging precariously off the back. The problem now was the extra weight – it was putting real strain on the vehicle's towing point and massively reducing its traction. It wasn't long before the Rough Rider slid to a halt in the sand. The clock was stopped, a tow called for and a 30-second time penalty handed to the Riders. With their vehicle's speed over the ground, the Rough Riders still had the chance of victory. In fact, as they charged up the first hill without a pause, it was looking a distinct possibility! Then disaster struck on the descent – the towing point between tractor and trailer gave way under the strain and the Rough Riders were left face down in the dirt. The only consolation for the team was that it wasn't their welds that had given way but the tractor's tow hook that had snapped. The result After such an entertaining build and event, it was a real shame there had to be a loser but the Rough Riders had to head home to their North Sea rig while the Bakewell Puddings celebrated their passage into the next round. |
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