Thunder Racers

Is that a new series, or a repeat of the ones that started on Discovery well over a year ago?

At least they have an "engineering expert" im some of them.

Si

No idea, I'm a Murdoch-free zone so don't get Discovery. I've seen the one involving wading cars, there's the 6-foot-wheel vans, and recently there was one about making minis wheelie backwards. Ring any bells?

If you mean Rachel, she's just there to say "first, second, third" and to drive them around the course, she doesn't offer any expertise.

That means its at least the 2nd series then, cos Pat someone or other was the bod that drove them round the proposed course in a blue rangie, and then offered "technical expertise" (in the way that back street garages offer it by the looks!)

I remember the "Monster Trucks" one, so it must be repeats

Si

It was filmed 4 years ago and is the second series.

Look out for the "upside down" car episode it was the Anoraks TV debut before we got on to scrapheap.

I still have the car in my yard . . . . . why we wanted to keep it I don't know!

Dunno about you but I reckon I prefer Thunder Racers to Scrapheap Challenge, there's less "oh look we've found just the right diameter bushes for that obscure hydraulic setup we found under a bath in perfect condition".

defo - scrapheap always seems too contrived, thunder races at least seems to involve proper "man on the street" bodges ;-)

Scrapheap was just so much better to make than Thunder Races.

The scrap heap technical team really new their stuff and were fun to work with.

But I can see what you mean, but if they did not plant the stuff you would have a very boring program.

Scrapheap is filmed over 3 days, all finished. As compared to TR which after the build you left the "machines" with them for a week before you came back to race... And then if the director did not like the look of the way a race was going he would stop it and start it again. The "spider cars" race in TR was in fact filmed over 2 weeks because all the cars failed to finish the first time and had to be rebuilt.

In the 6 episodes of SH that we did, that was never the case. What you saw on TV is what happened on the day.

Hehe, so you get a fake scrapyard and real races, or a real build followed by fake races and rebuilding! Don't you just love TV.

Wotcher Geoff,  

Sure, but I meant that she wasn't there in the capacity that the provided "expert" was in other shows, i.e. one per team acting as part of the team. Scrapheap was like that I think.

No pics for over a year now, what's the current wagon?

Hi Ian,   Rachel does/did offer advice and criticism and she knows a hell of a lot more about oily bits then Adrian Simpson does !

Pictures and a writeup are here 

They never had that in Chunder Races in both series you were incharge of your own destiny, in series one they had Pat Jackson who did what Rachel Simmonite did, in that they kick the tyres and say if the build is any good.

That's Lyndons site, current pics are on the main Anoraks site (URL in sig)