Also, videos of HardWired II's fights from the weekend, bar most of the whiteboards (anyone have those? They were some of the most fun fights I had haha)

In order, competition fights:

VS Ironside and Binky (Win, I guess?)



Not much to say here, I ran into Ironside, it broke and Binky didn't work. Both of which were stupidly lucky for me, but I'm happy to have won my first fight!

VS NST and Carcinus (Lose/3rd)



I didn't put the link in properly. Simple as that - NST clipped the top off, and the rest is pretty explanatory. Being the skilled driver he is, I do recall Sam actually saying to me that the bar wasn't spun up to full speed because it would have sent NST out, in which case there was literally nothing I could do bar take the hits and hope to win on aggression anyway, assuming NST hadn't already won on damage. And Carcinus could easily have had me too, but I was hoping to at least outlast it but you win some, you lose some! I like to think that this loss was mainly karma at work... Would love a rematch some day though, I think with better drive I'd have NST on the ropes! All damage was completely cosmetic though, just a few dents in the armour but nothing major. Put a new link in immediately after, and it still run fine on the bench, quick charge and she was ready to go once more!

VS Joule and Gianto (2nd place)


Wait a minute... against Grant and James? That's going to end well for me! Joule worked well it seems, and I was very scared of it, hence the patented Flag Robotics 'precision engineering top plate' (for sale, £1000 ONO). As it happened, it pulled an awesome trick and flipped itself out of the arena, unfortunately for Grant... that hammer didn't half hit though, it caught me on the self right and pulled out 3 of my 5 bolts for the back plate! After that spectacular exit, I was head to head against Gianto, and there's only one way that'll end - Gianto has much more push than me. It looks like I drove into the pit - I did, but what happened was one wheel was skidding slightly to the pit, so I tried to turn away by applying the throttle to the right side, which actually sent me straight forward and into the pit. 2nd place ain't bad though, 6 points total by now. Need a win by KO to qualify, which should be easy as long as I'm not up against any high-pressure flippers.

VS Beauty 8 and Gianto (Lose, 3rd place)


I drove onto his flipper. Need I say any more? I lost out to the eventual runner up though, so I guess I'm not doing so bad there. 8 points total, 10 needed to qualify - not bad for a machine on its first run, with no grip in the wheels!

And finally, a damage report for the post-champs round up



Will post the whiteboards and whatnot tomorrow!



Overall, quite happy with how it performed, and I now know what improvements to make! Again, such a fantastic event and I had so much fun there, I really wish I was there again now!