This show has been running for about four years on TLC, and seven
seasons on the BBC. Junkyard Wars is the americanized name for the
British show, called Scrapheap Challenge, and it's the brainchild of
Cathy Rogers. The show was originally put together as a
pseudo-educational program (they take the time to explain the scientific
principles behind what each team is building) but it's a hoot to watch.
The first couple of seasons were filmed exclusively in the UK, and
featured two teams of three contestants, plus an 'expert', who would
then each try to build some mechanical thing to beat out the other team.
I think it was in the third season that they added a second junkyard
site in California, and had the two shows (junkyard wars and scrapheap
challenge) running in parallel, and then had a UK vs US showdown at the
end. This year they've added three-way challenges, some marathon 20-hour
build sessions, and Cathy Rogers also had the other three-way automotive
madness show "Full Metal Challenge" in production.
http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/junkyard/junkyard.html
It's worth catching these shows, and if I had the time I'd be in line to
be a contestant.
Theo
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tigers@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-tigers@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of Steve Laifman
Sent: June 4, 2003 11:30 AM
To: Tiger's Den
Subject: JunkYard Wars - Thrills
There is an English show (or maybe Australian) on cable. It sets teams
of performance pro's loose in their local "breakers" yards with a
competition to build some kind of vehicle, with short time limits, from
whatever is in the junk pile, and actually compete in a race event.
These shows are loads of fun.
The last one was done stateside. They choose a Crew of Indy, Nascar, and
Drag Racing (NHRA?) professionals and turned them loose in a
"Pick-A-Part", with a 10 hour build time.
The challenge was to complete their running vehicle in the allowed time,
then compete. There were three sequential events, a road course, a drag
race, and an oval track. Drivers, (NON racing drivers) were swapped
between events within their team. Each event got points for finish
order, and overall took the "prize".
I urge you to see this show if it is run (or any version, actually).
In this one, watch the completely different design approach of each race
genre, with the Indy guys going for LIGHT, with a chain drive motorcycle
engine they dropped and broke and repaired on the spot. The Drag Crew
going for the biggest mill they could find, and the circle track racers
actually putting the driver outside the frame rails to give balance for
the oval.
Steve
--
Steve Laifman
Editor
http://www.TigersUnited.com
|