What can i say, this was one of the best events i have personally been to.
It had it all, Laughter, bitching, beer, party room, robots, food, everything. All the UK teams had some great fights, some losing to the Dutch, some winning. It was very even this time. Last year people told me the Dutch Robots were sot of behind, but not no more, some of the nasty weapons that were made and used gave
the UK bots a run for their money!

Many teams and I made our way to Mike L's house (Dantomkia) house where we stayed up till 12am drinking and eating pizza and chips, while playing with some mini RC cars on the table. So it hit 12:15am and were all went to bed. 2 hours and 45 mins later, all the alarms were sounded and we all got up where we had a cup of tea and then jumped in the mini buss at 3:10am in the morning!!! We then started our long trek to Dutch Robot Wars (Holland).

Our train (euro Tunnel) was due to leave at 7:35pm, well we got their at around 6:30am and got on the earlier train. So we gave the nice people our passports where they laugh and we carried on. Oh OPPS, forgot to mention, all the teams were on a mini Bus which Mike L was driving and Simon from Grimreaper was driving the van which had all the robots in. The mini bus drove through customs first, then the van was stopped behind us.
"Have you got any full gas canisters?".... Simon Replied - "Nope"
"Have you got any radio/electrical equipment?"... Simon replied - "To be honest with you, have you seen robot wars? Take a look in here..." (Simon Opens the back door)
Customs personal - "Oh *h*t - off you go" and that was that, we drove onto the train.

Mike and Simon drove onto the Euro train where we was then taken under the sea over to France in less than 35 minutes. Most of us were a sleep during that ride.
We got out the other side of the tunnel and drove to a service station where we got some more stuff to eat and drink along the way. Few hours later we meet up with Andy from Kan-Opener who then followed us to the Robot Venue. We finally arrived at the venue an hour later and looking at the Roaming Robots arena, reminded most of us of home. :o)

We unloaded the robots and we were off again to go and check into the hotel. We had 4 rooms between us i think it was. We all checked in and some people went to sleep while others went swimming. Few hours later we were back on the trek into town to find food. So we meet up with Storm and Tornado and Bigger Brother and we all headed into town to find some food. We separated into 2 groups, one group went to a pizza place while the others went to a mix grill meat place (That's where i went, sick of pizza from Mikes place the night before). We then carried on walking around the town while some people had ice cream cones while others went to night clubs, while the other roboteers and kids went back to the hotel for an early night.

Next morning (8am) we had to be on the mini bus to go to the venue ready for tech checks. We got the tech checks out the way (Well those who could) while others were lining up to fight in the arena. The people that controlled all the sound affects need a little more practise but it was ok over all, we got use to it of them saying 3,2,1,Activate 3 times before the final Active meant ACTIVATE! We had nice flashing lights inside the arena this time, and to our surprise a robot was not flipped high enough to hit them (damn).

People continued to battle through out the day and have fun, we had chick and pork soup and curry with chips along with chips and more chips. There was a little fuss at TX control due to some of the Dutch Transmitters transmitting out more than 1 frequency. But the people behind transmitter control handled it very well. Safety was another issue between a few Dutch robots, but Paul G and his helpers coped very well also. No body was hurt through out the day, and every was happy and all jumpy and having fun. It was now time to go on the Saturday, so we all plodded back onto the mini bus and went back to the hotel.

"Party in your room Stu"? I thought nothing of it, until Simon opened our door, walked in, turned the bath on, and but 3 boxes of beer into the bath, came back into the main room and sat down with a can of beer "Hello Boys". What the hell? Then 3 minutes later, we had Tornado guys, Storm, Bigger Brother, Dantomkia, Toecutter, Kan-Opener and a few more people all burst into our room with alcohol! Well we couldn't complain that they brought free alcohol but still. Hehe.
Out of all the rooms, everyone was squashed into our room. We all then ordered lots of Pizzas and Burgers and everyone drank the night away. We had many complaints that was loud, but hey, that didn't stop the party. The party did continue to only 1am as we were all still tiered from the long trek from the UK. Mike ended up with a carpet burn, trying to do his normal trick at every event - Kiss Stu. (Blehhh!) After 10 minutes of him trying to get me, i finally gave up. YUCK. So everyone returned back to their rooms, leaving over 46 beer bottles, 26 beer cans, 5 pizza boxes and 10 plates with left over burgers and a load of other rubbish all over our floor and bathroom. We did a quick tidy up (Chuck it all out side) and we finally went to bed.

We all got up at 9am on Sunday morning so it wasn't that bad, but still early after a nights drinking. So again we made our way back to the venue for more robot fighting. Some of the fights involved Tornado and Storm 2 against a bodge Fish robot which was put together by using bike wheels and cloth. Hmmm, not much of a match, but the out come was funny. I even managed to get a drive of Storm 2, bashing this fish around the arena. Another fight was the feather weights having their own little fun. In total there was 4 feather weight fights. DTK won the first fight, KatRip won the 2nd fight, KatRip again won the 3rd fight, then Steve's Bumper Car won the 4th Fight. Very very funny fights. Great to see InXistence spinning up and making Steve's bumper car fly, along with KatRip ramming Steve's Bumper car in the side wall and making it fly a meter into the air. The flipper frenzy's were funny, with robots being flipped back out of the arena. We gather taped kids down to chairs, and hid robots along with Tim and his Girlfriend giving the Bigger Brother kids piggy backs around the pits.

In the Dutch Robot Wars Final, we had TAN (Dutch Robot) and Edge Hog (UK Robot) in the final. The final was a good one with TAN losing drive to one wheel near the start and Edge hog getting a few good axe hits in. Then the tables turned with Edge Hog losing drive to one wheel and TAN came alive and bent a few sides in on Edge Hog and finally pitted them, making TAN the champ of Dutch Robot Wars with Edge Hog coming a very respectful 2nd.

We then had to dash off to get home on time, so we got back into the mini bus and started our 6-8 hour drive home again. We stopped off at a Cash and Carry to get some booze and again got on the earlier train home, same thing happened at Customs. Then a 1-2 Hour drive back from the Euro Train back to Mikes house with loud music playing to keep us all awake.

You know the score, click on the thumbnail of the picture you want to view for a bigger size picture. Sorry all the picture quality is not 100% perfect. Have fun laughing.
4 Men that can't wait to drink what they have brought!	Coke, Vodka, Beer and much more.	2 Pictures of the final between TAN and Edge Hog. Great battle, very close at one point!		Dantomkia looks after the feathers.
Tornado getting ready.	Mute guys find burnt out Speedos.	The fish that Storm 2 and Tornado killed.	The Pits	The pits again
TX control - Happy Bunch.	Mike and Simon look in Dantomkia	Edge Hog boys getting ready for the final.	TAN and it's owner before the final	Ian and Bigger Brother.
Tim and Storm 2 ready to win. Go Tim, go Tim.	3 Wise Men (Or not?)	The aftermath of the Saturday night party in MY room! My Dear god!		During the party, eye eye, what they doing on the bed?
Simon totally out of it.	Steve after 2 beers. Hehe.	Mike - normal happy, want to kiss you smile.	Snakebite - an ok crushing robot.	Tim and his lovely girlfriend - all together now - Arrrr!
Mike and Steve look at DTK's annoying gyro.	John and Debs, great couple! (Toecutter)	Mute after battle.	Edge hog after battle.	Andrew and Louise get close (Mike, watch Andrew!)

It was a great event, and one to remember. We all loved it, we all had fun, we all drunk, we will all take something good away from this event. Thanks to Mike L for getting the mini bus and van sorted, thank you to Mike and Simon for driving us their and back, thank you for Ed Hoppit for sorting the UK roboteers side of things out in Holland, thank you to Roaming Robots for the normal great arena, thank you to the Dutch guys (and Gals) for making us welcome. Watch out next year, a UK robot is going to steal that Dutch Robot Wars trophy. :o)

Thanks Again.

©Team Kat.co.uk Stuart Barnwell