Joe with
Ramming Speed at BattleBots in Nov '01

Mike and Joe with Ramming Speed at BattleBots in May '01

BattleBots Season 4

11/4/01

Sunday, a beautiful day with clear skies and temperatures in the 60's. I hitched a ride to the island and got there a bit before nine. A line had already started forming, even tough check-in didn't start till ten. I was about the 50th person in line. Little after ten o-clock I checked in, after being allowed into the storage room to retrieve my transmitter from my crate (I shipped the bot and the tools via truck). 

Got to my pit table, first one in that area, and immediately started charging my batteries in preparation for a quick safety check. Asked the 'help' table how safety checks were working, explaining that in May everyone had to take numbers, and they would call off numbers. She said no, get in line with your bot, so I did. Half an hour later we were informed that they were taking numbers, and a number of people already had them. Stood in line another 20 minutes to get a number, then waited around about 4 1/2 hours till my safety check. 

Breezed through the check-in, getting a lot of attention from the other competitors. Many people remembered Ramming Speed from the last competition, and were happy to see it again, others seeing it for the first time expressed appreciation for the work put into it. Everyone seems to like the new paint job. Got the pictures taken, but they didn't offer the spinning picture option this time around. Maybe I will create my own if the bot survives.

Talked to someone (Kevin) that was here on Friday to receive the bots (including mine) that were shipped. He got a chance to work on the box and talk with the crew. It appears the Lexan walls will not change, though many of us thought they should be thicker. The floor has another layer of 1/8" steel welded on. Trusses have been added to the roof to support 1/8" of Lexan. The Hell Raisers and the Poppers have been removed. Roy, the lead CrewBot described it as a 'minimalist' approach, which most of the drivers will appreciate. Let the bots fight.

Food is no longer being catered, after the less than enthralling menu of the last event (lettuce and turkey sandwiches for lunch and dinner). Instead, they have a vendor providing 'reasonably' priced food. I had a Philly Cheese Steak and fries for $8.50. It was an excellent sandwich! Had a 1/3lb hamburger and a bag of chips for supper for $5.00. They are providing free bottled water, fruit and bagels to the competitors.

Walked around the pits a lot, both waiting for my inspection, and after the inspection, since I didn't have a ride back to the hotel. As I predicted, their are a number of 'Little Drummer Boy' type drums this time around. The Whyatchi's have a light-weight the same style as Son of Whyatchi, which will probably be one of my biggest challenges. A number of new designs, including at least two bots that can reconfigure themselves, one that can rotate it's vertical spinner into a horizontal spinner.

Ended up catching a ride back to the Holiday Inn with Brett and Bob (builders of the bot in the 26th picture below), and walked the few blocks back to the Sheraton, of course stopping along the way for a 12-pack, which turned out to be necessary since the 'lounge bar' isn't staffed on Sundays (wasn't to be staffed on Saturday either, but we coerced a server to periodically get us some beers).

Enough chat, here's the first batch of pictures, click on them for a larger view: