In each of the five Scrappy Races Rally stages, our four teams must convert their vehicles to tackle two different tests. They have a maximum of eight hours in our scrap graveyard to prepare for each pair of tests before heading off to hit the stage course Turn those wheels into a cat rescuing, tree felling rally racer. First the teams had to rescue a fluffy toy cat stuck up a tree. Then they had to fell a 25-centimetre-thick tree. Forest Stage Race Day The test was run in the order the teams left the build. Maximus started 55 minutes ahead of the other three teams, who were set off at five-minute intervals for safety reasons. Maximus hit the course knowing that a steady, trouble-free run would probably give them the stage win. Even so, they did seem to be taking their time. It took them several minutes to get their cat rescue chute into position on the back of their van. It took another agonizing wait before the team finally got their feline flicking arm into position. Operating a long arm on a short lever meant captain Paul almost knocked the Chainsaw Clan's cat out of the tree by accident, an action which would have failed them on the cat rescue test. Maximus finally nudged the cat into the waiting mouth of the chute and kitty in hand, they raced off to the tree felling site. Once again it was a slow process manoeuvring close enough to their tree to be able to sling the cheese wire round the outside of it. By now the team sensed that time was ticking away and they were running to get the saw sorted out. Dennis finally began driving slowly backwards and forwards, getting the wire to cut into the tree, but it was agonizingly slow. By the time they were halfway through the tree, two of the pursuing teams, the Staffordshire Bulls and the Chainsaw Clan, were on the course. Hot on their heels The Bulls were first to the cat rescue challenge, where their diesel-powered vacuum made short work of grabbing the cat. Not far behind them the Clan ru
Sand Stage Race Day The test was run in the order the teams left the build. The Staffordshire Bulls set off first, 20 minutes ahead of Maximus, who were 40 minutes ahead of the Rally Dragons, who led the Chainsaw Clan by three minutes. The Staffordshire Bulls' pick-up had no problems driving over the sandy course, but it was a different story when it came to finding the buried key. Their vibrating sieve struggled with the heavy sand on the course and seemed better at collecting than sieving. In fact they were still looking for their key 20 minutes later when Maximus arrived. It was a great opportunity for Maximus to overtake. But as they deployed their cycle-powered machine they discovered the hooks were too long and prevented the rotavator from turning. So both teams were having problems. The Bulls had been reduced to violently shaking their sieve by hand, while Maximus had to bend all their hooks to shorten them. With only Paul cycling and with Will helping lift the rotavator, Maximus managed to get their machine working, sort of. But by that stage the Bulls had given up on their sieve altogether and had resorted to fishing for their key with a hook on the end of a piece of string! Now, with time ticking away, it looked as if the Dragons and the Clan could be in with a chance of overtaking both teams. Finally, the Bulls found their key and legged it off. Maximus found theirs just a couple of minutes later. Just as well, as by now so much time had elapsed that the Dragons had joined the race. The Dragons' rake was the simplest of all the designs and with nothing to go wrong it turned out to be the most effective - they found the key with their first rake. A couple of minutes later the Chainsaw Clan reinforced the simplicity point - their rake turned up the key in an equally short time. Dune assault The pressure was on the leading teams as they hit the dune, but the Staffordshire Bulls made it look easy. They roared over, with their dou
Moorland Stage Race Day The test began in the order the teams left the build: Chainsaw Clan, Maximus, followed by those that used up all the build time, Rally Dragons and Staffordshire Bulls. The Clan's pincers worked a treat on the sheep-grabbing part of the test, allowing them to maintain their head start on Maximus. They got to the sheep pen and fired twice, only narrowly missing. More power was put into the air spring to get the extra range they needed. As they released the catch the arm sprang forward but snapped halfway down. They were off to the pits for a quick repair. Meanwhile, Maximus had been struggling with their sheep spike, which couldn't penetrate the metal sheep. But they finally managed to spear it and overtook the Clan while they were in the pits. At the pen, Maximus powered up their compressor and watched anxiously as the pressure climbed in the tank. Finally they had enough air and Will opened the ball valve, which acted as the trigger, releasing the air and shooting the sheep forward. Unbelievably, they had too much air and the sheep went too far. A quick adjustment and they fired again. Bullseye! Maximus had stolen the lead off the Clan. They raced for the line and extended their time advantage as Scrappy Races Rally leaders. By now the Clan had fixed their arm, but sadly the repaired metal couldn't stand the strain and broke again. They had used their allocated pit stop so had no option but to retire. Battle for second The Dragons and Bulls were now fighting it out for second place on the moorland stage. Unfortunately, the Dragons' machine proved better at smashing their windscreen than launching their sheep and they also had to retreat to the pits for repairs. This meant second place was open for the Bulls' fearsome flinger. They powered it up but watched in horror as the main wire began to burn. Rob vowed to always use a fuse in future but fortunately they were able to employ their duplicate wire. They turned the
Hill Stage Race Day The test was run in the order the teams left the build. Maximus were off first, just 50 seconds ahead of the Rally Dragons, who were 31 minutes ahead of the Staffordshire Bulls, who were 20 minutes ahead of the Chainsaw Clan. Maximus and the Rally Dragons made easy work of the first test, with both vehicles handling the steel boulder hill climb with ease. However, the Dragons' Capri was slightly quicker over the ground, so heading towards the dip carrying test, the gap between the two had closed from 50 to 25 seconds. With the dip carrying part of the course too narrow to allow more than one vehicle at a time, the Rally Dragons were put in a holding bay, with their clock stopped, while Maximus hit the test. 'Hit' being the accurate word. The snowplough on Maximus' camper van had very little clearance and they kept grounding the front of their vehicle as they drove over the bumpy course. Worse still, as they approached the sheep trough with their first load of dip Dennis hit a large boulder, jolting the van heavily, spilling dip all over captain Paul, and leaving the van with a puncture. To the joy of the watching Rally Dragons, Maximus had to replace their front wheel before they could continue. And Maximus’ problems weren’t over. They had insufficient dip to fill the trough on the first run, and on the second run their grounding problems got worse. While racing over the bumpy gravel course, their snowplough blade dug into part of an uphill slope, and further runs at the slope only dug them in more. Drastic action was needed and the team called for cutting tools to hack down the offending blade. Catch up By now the Bulls had joined the chase. The steel boulder made a bit of a mess of their roller, but the extra gears let them make short work of pushing it uphill. They too joined the Dragons in the holding bay, while Maximus struggled to cut down their plough. Even the Clan were in with a chance of catching Maximus, as
All Terrain Stage Race Day With the overall Scrappy Races Rally positions dependant on the outcome of this stage, the teams were sent off in the reverse order that they finished the build, at intervals of 10 minutes. First off were the Chainsaw Clan, who lumbered up to the barrel rescue point in no time at all. The frailty of their pontoon was immediately obvious as Ken wobbled one way, then the other, as he was pushed out on to the loch by Michael and Ronnie. But he kept his cool, and his balance, grabbing the barrel with ease before being pulled back to shore. At least the first part of the course had gone smoothly for the Clan and they thundered off into the forest. Next up were the Rally Dragons. Dave had drawn the short straw and was the team’s barrel rescuer. Their barrel raft looked even more precarious than the Clan's barrel pontoon, and Dave struggled to paddle it out. But he too managed to get their barrel without getting wet and the team headed off to the forest knowing that they were still in with a chance of moving up the leader board. Third away from the start were Maximus, who knew they'd been overtaken by the Bulls in the rally overall. But with the gap at just 16 minutes, they knew a swift run would put pressure on the Bulls. Their rooftop boat looked the most seaworthy of all the teams' barrel rescue devices, and so it proved. It took them just a couple of minutes to recover their barrel and they headed off to the forest knowing that they'd probably clawed back some time. The Bulls' captain Rob struggled to manoeuvre their craft, and by the time he rescued their barrel, Maximus had recovered about three minutes. With the gap closing between the two, it looked like it was all going to come down to the final part of the course - the off-road section. Off-roading The Clan had reached the off-road section, but just getting their lorry off the track and into the forest was proving tricky. After some hard work at the wheel from Ron
