Technogames - 2002

We arrived at the Shepperton studios in London. We shared a table with the Smith twins (all three of them) and their robot stealth stingray, which looked quite impressive, and later we found that it had a secret weapon.
Our first race was in the quarter finals with Jigosaurus, Turnturtle, Roboduck, and us in lane 4, then Stealth Stingray in lane 5. 3,2,1 go and Jigosaurus shot off at great speed and promptly stopped when his drive chain fell off. Roboduck and Turnturtle were powering away, however Turnturtle turned to the right and started dragging along the pool wall Stealth Stingray had set off at a moderate pace in a very straight line. Our course was rather irratic we shot straight across Stealth Stingray turned shot back into our lane and tried to straighten up again. At this point Roboduck was finishing (19.40 seconds). Stealth Stingray was still powering along, but we had managed to get pointing in the right direction and although we again veered into Stealth Stingrays lane our speed in a straight ish line meant that we overtook and piped then to the post. And so we made it through to the semifinals.
During the interval for dinner we managed to stick Buoyant into the pool to check his trim and discovered that he was too heavy at the back so we tie wrapped a tub of screws and nuts towards the front of our chassis to even our keel, it worked like a dream and buoyant went in a straighter line .
In the semifinals, we had Turtle Duck, Cyber Duck, us in lane 3 and Brutosaurus. From the off Cyber Duck had been aimed into our lane so they cut straight across us causing us to slowdown. Brutosaurus in lane 4 was having technical difficulties. Their team were frantically fiddling trying to start him. Turtle Duck was plodding along. Cyberduck meanwhile had careered off the poolside and was heading back to cut us up again. We were slightly ahead but they were beginning to lean on one of our floats At this point Brutosaurus stormed past and banged into the pool next to the end. I feared we'd be turned round by Cyber Duck so I braked and tried to take a new course, but it was too late our stopping meant that cyber Duck shot past and finished just after Brutosaurus. We finished shortly after, and Turtle Duck strolled in some time later. And so that was it. Time to head home, feeling a little miffed at Cyber Duck. If it weren't for there attentions during the race we may have pipped Brutosaurus and them and been in the final. However that's Technogames, and there's no point crying over spilt milk. We certainly had no chance against Marlin who had set a new world record of 11.13 seconds, but there was always next year!