Problem is that (as far as im aware) the power tool drag racing is the main event with the sponsorship for the costs of the venue etc being paid for by silverline. The robot comp is squeezed in alongside everything else so it therefore has to squeeze alongside the drag racing.
I would imagine that would be the case too, based on the tag champs last year. Personally, I'm not so sure the main championship event of the year for featherweights should be squeezed in as an addition to a main event (seemed fine for the tag champs as they weren't a compulsory FRA event) but I don't want to b1tch and moan about it as it's a bit of a catch 22 situation for the guys. Run it as a standalone event with costs for the venue covered by ticket sales (which can mean a severe financial hit if sales are poor) or run it at an event where the venue costs are subsidised/sponsored but where it has to be split to accommodate another event? I know which one makes more sense.

To be fair to James and Grant though, there is a lot of time allocated for the robot combat. Of course this is done by having a large percentage of the fights on a Friday and this does compromise the position of those who have young school-attending members in their team. Will quite rightly says its time to move on from the date problem and find workable solutions.
First step; contact the schools. Even if there is sod-all chance of the child being allowed time off to compete, it's worth asking.
Second step; let's loosen up with the 1 robot 1 driver rule. If getting time off on the Friday is problematic, surely there can be some leniency with regards to who is driving what robot. If the teams with young drivers can get their robots down and have another team member/someone else drive for them on the Friday, that would solve some problems, yes?

Young drivers:
Alex (Team Toon)
Michael (Team Invade)
Tom (Team Cyberus)
Matt (Team Shock)
Shane (Team Tilly)
and some who I have probably missed.
Can we give them some leeway with the driver rule to allow them to compete in the likelihood that they cannot be excused from school?