 | | | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
 |
TEXT ONLY | CREDITS | APPLY FOR SCRAPHEAP 2005 | |||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| DON'T MISS SCRAPHEAP ON CHANNEL 4 EVERY SUNDAY, 6.30PM |  |
|||||||||||||
|
Flying Cars | |
Result | |
Fireblades' diary | |
Knights' diary | |
Science | |
Related links | |
All challenges | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
The Fireblades' diary
The Fireblades in fettling land The fun started way back in February when Barfy and I (Smarty) put together our Scrapheap application video along with our friend Frosty. It was entitled The World's Fastest Barstool – which was something we considered to be useful and could have a dramatic effect on the drinking habits of the future, not to mention the potential for opening a new chapter on pub games for the new millennium. We had a real giggle doing this so we agreed we wouldn't take things too seriously if we did get through to the challenge itself. Our motto became 'it doesn't have to look good, it just needs to get done'. The delightful Naomi kept us informed all through the application process and eventually we were told we had made it. Great jubilation ensued and there was much whooping … then a dawning realisation that we were now going to have to do it. Hat sizes, inside leg measurements and hand sizes (what's all that about?) were given and then disaster! Frosty had to pull out. A routine operation on his elbow had not healed as quickly as expected, despite Frosty's sylph-like, racing-snake fitness. He was gutted. In true Honda tradition, in stepped Big George, who is about a foot taller than Frosty. This did cause a laugh when Naomi asked if Frosty's overalls would fit. Before the build The pre-filming gave us an insight into how this TV thing works with 'Limping Dom' the producer proving to be far more normal than the public perception of TV people. Doing everything four or five times goes against our principles of getting everything right first time but like the troopers we are, we went along with all the requests and smiled (or scowled depending on what Dom told us to do). Then came the day when we were all due to meet up for the safety briefing at the hotel near the heap. The three of us travelled together and on arrival spotted two motorbikes in the car park that looked like they belonged to someone who liked tinkering. By the time we got to reception, we had spotted our competitors, the 'bearded wonders', or as they became known The Thirsty Knights. It seemed they were experienced TV bodgers – we were up against the best here. Build day The build day dawned very early. We were up at 6.15 and were at the heap by 7am. We met John Gifford, our expert, and he looked familiar. We had seen him on Salvage Squad and his expertise was in hovercrafts! Could this be a clue to what we are about to build? Pleasingly, the day started with a big boy's breakfast and from there we experienced a day in which time disappeared even faster than Jules Verne had dreamed possible. Our challenge was issued and we quickly realised we needed to procure some of the items we had already spotted, namely a Reliant Robin. Plans were made and agreed but (bugger it) disaster – the pseudo Hells Angels next door had got there first. We reassessed quickly and came up with an alternative but it slowed us down, as did the selection of an engine for our beast. Would it be the small sensible one that needed to be removed from a car or a bigger motor which looked like it could need a lot of work before we could make it perform? All day long we were making decisions, analysing options and then getting on with it. Some of the decisions we made were even the right ones! As the day progressed, the activity grew more and more frenetic with less and less accuracy or quality in the build. But we were determined to carry on smiling – and we did. At the end of the day, we had our beast. We have given life to Bad Attitude. Challenge day The sun came out and it was glorious. The Judge, Brendan O'Brien, deserves a special section all of his own. He was eccentric, wacky and gregarious, a sort of cross between Leslie Phillips (Ding Dong) and Michael Heseltine. Most of all he was very entertaining. In dramatic terms, the scene was set, the gladiators poised, ready for competition and after some minor (and some major) adjustments The Fireblades captain (me) lost the toss and were asked to go first in the initial Challenge. You probably saw the rest in the programme! Steve Martindale (Smarty) |
|
|||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
