Just to add to this discussion, as a Brit, I can tell you that Cathy
Rogers has now gone on to sell the programme rights to Channel 4 here in
the UK because the BBC in its infinate wisdom decided they didn't like
it enough to fund further programmes. All of which has proven to be a
mistake because it ranks as one of the highest rating shows here in the
UK and has something of a cult following - especially since the co
presenter is Robert Llewellyn who, for those of you don't know, played
the android Kryten is series I-IV of the now classic spoof sci-fi comedy
series, Red Dwarf which, despite our American cousins not understanding
the humour (do they ever?) did extraordinarily well in the US.
I believe the old series of Scrapheap Challenge is currently being
re-run on the discovery channel in the US so you Americans are
intrigued, see if you can pick it up there.
|-----Original Message-----
|From: owner-tigers@autox.team.net
|[mailto:owner-tigers@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Theo Smit
|Sent: 04 June 2003 19:03
|To: Steve Laifman; Tiger's Den
|Subject: RE: JunkYard Wars - Thrills
|
|
|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
|
|