CULT TV series Robot Wars should have Cambridgeshire families glued to their screens next month when two local teams compete in the semi-finals.
They are now the only county teams left, now that Raizer Blade, Cambridge's own entry, has crashed out of the contest.
Andrew Marchant, David Gamble, Bryan Moss and their robot, Tornado, got a step closer to the Robot Wars crown when they won their heat in November.
Dominator II is crewed by Peter Halloway, Chris Hall and Paul Tolliday and also won its place in November.
Both teams, from the Huntingdon area, are made up of work colleagues whose varied hobbies and skills have been put to good use in the contest.
Electro-acoustic engineer Andrew Marchant, is Tornado's team captain and driver and he designed and built most of the the robot.
Electronics engineer David Gamble, whose hobbies include Hi-Fi building, cycling and storm-chasing, is in charge of the electronics. Mechanical engineer Bryan Moss designed the pneumatic spike weapon system.
Dominator II's team are in their 30s, with captain Peter Holloway, a development engineer, working as project manager, driver and tea boy.
Chris Hall, an electronics engineer, has built electronic gadgets and enjoys motorbiking and snooker. He designed Dominator II's power electronics. Graphic artist Paul Tolliday is controller of the pneumatic axe and comes to the contest with a background in amateur dramatics.
Robot Wars Magazine January 2001
This issue included the heat F roundup. We make the cover! OK, we're hidden under a "Free Stickers" flap, but we're on the cover just the same.
...and we're on page 3 as well, as part of the contents... "the heat f smash up"
Pages 24 and 25 provide the complete heat F summary. "A creature, a cluster-bot and a cow in a tornado? It can only be the climactic mash-up that was Heat F!"
And we appear on a Team Sheet on page 28. To say the data is iffy is to be polite, although the note about kart tyres is completely true. Polycarbon armour? Will that be graphite, diamond or buckminsterfullerene? I suppose it's better than Thermidor (who appear on the same page)'s weight being 80x40x25cm!!!
Huntingdon Town Crier 9/11/00
Not to be outdone, the Town Crier did a follow up too.