Team Storm - Storm II

..... If you want to get on TV - Get a weapon !

Since we took part in Robot Wars Extreme and won the New Blood competition we were informed by Mentorn that we needed to put an active weapon on the robot because we were 'boring'. We havn't yet heard anyone describe Storm II as boring, however to ensure that we complied with the rules we set about doing what we could to Storm II.......

To be honest we didn't think that the rules needed to change. A flipper or a spinner with a naff weapon makes a boring fight - and it is the job of qualifying to ensure that those robots don't appear on TV. Likewise, a boring rambot makes a boring fight, however we felt that Storm II made for fast paced exciting action on TV.

To ban an entire class of robot seemed un-nessacerry..... however if there's a challenge laid down - you may as well get back up and do you best to rise to it !

The first stage was to loose weight from Storm II. We filmed Extreme II at about 96Kg, however we didn't give a second thought to weight, we knew that without a weapon, and that with such a small robot it simply wasn't something that we needed to concern ourselves with. In total we managed to shave almost 16kg off the weight of Storm II without really making any structural changes, just changes that kept the strength, whilst reducing the weight.

Storm II Series 7 Specification

Motors	2 x LEM130 'Lynch Motors'
Peak Power	17.6hp
Batteries	4 x 30cell 36v 3Ah Sanyo NiCad Packs
Chassis	MIG welded 25mm x 25mm x 3mm steel
Armour/Weapon	100% Titanium from 6mm up to 12mm and lifter weapon
Speedos	Custom 230amp compact controllers
Current limiting	[Classified Information]
RX System	459Mhz High Power Radio Set

Before we took part in Series 7 Tim and myself wrote this letter to our fans

Hi there

We're looking forward to taking part in Series 7, to be honest we've no idea what's likely to happen..... like with Extreme II we haven't had time to fully test the robot, and I suspect we'll end up having to get used to driving it in the arena during competition. We've managed to keep all the strengths of Storm II and build on them. There was the worry that putting a weapon on Storm II would involve reducing the armour (and we believe that was the aim.... that if we had to put a weapon on it, we'd be forced to remove some of its ability to be a tank) - however we've not only got the weapon, but what we think is class leading power, armour and weapons... all in the same package.

Of course none of this text means anything - all that matters is how it performs in the arena. On paper Storm II looks formidable, there's no doubt about that. However in the arena... who knows ?

Jonathan Pearce said he wanted to see us in the World Championships not rather than Series 7. That's our aim - we want to win the big one, we don't have to win Series 7 to get into the World Championships, there are places available for high finishers in Series 7. But that seems like the top prize to go for, and if you don't set your sights high, you just wont get anywhere !

See you at Series 7 and let the wars begin !

Ed Hoppitt. Tim Bence - Team Storm.

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