Scrapheap Challenge: The Scrappy Races

Four teams of brilliant bodgers have just six weeks and £1,500 to buy and build roadworthy road hogs to travel the length and breadth of Britain. The cars will also need to be readily convertible to face a series of challenges. The first test is proving their hog is truly roadworthy and then racing head-to-head to decide who'll take the early top spot on the leader-board. The judge Peter Lambert is the man who examines the examiners of the SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) test. The SVA makes sure that new or substantially modified vehicles are safe to drive on British roads. Peter is a talented engineer in his own right, having built a number of road-goers himself. He is also a lover of motorbikes and steam engines.

This week, our teams are travelling 100 miles from the start line in Suffolk to 11th-century Rockingham Castle in Northamptonshire. Waiting for them is an appointment with a giant archery circuit. We're providing the arrows but the teams will be building the bows, which they have to attach to their radical roadsters. In order to succeed against our three intimidating medieval targets, our teams need to build some seriously strapping siege engines. The judge Steve Ralphs is a master bowyer and archer, he's the man who taught Legolas (Orlando Bloom in The Lord of the Rings) and Guinevere (Keira Knightley in King Arthur) how to shoot a straight arrow. He's appeared in quite a few films, too. Remember the bloke with the flaming arrow in Gladiator? 'On my signal, unleash hell…' – yep, you guessed it, that was Steve. These days, Steve makes traditional weapons for just about every archery purpose, however, he's built just about every type of projectile weapon imaginable from spear guns in Australia to crossbows crafted from leaf springs. He's obviously ideally suited to being a Scrappy Races archery judge.

Our teams have a mountain to climb in this week's Scrappy Races. They have just eight hours to tweak their street-legal roadsters into vertigo-inducing hill climbers that can race up a precipitous one-in-two hill in the Yorkshire Dales. As they come into the contest, Knuckleheadz are neck and neck with reigning champions Chaos Crew as they scale the leader-board. But Cops and Bodgers and the Tartan Starlets are right behind them, looking for their first wins. The judge This week's judge is Julian Fack, who is one of the best-known faces on the Sporting Trials Car scene. Sporting trials use lightweight cars designed for optimum stability, traction and manoeuvrability – all qualities that our teams' vehicles will need. Julian started in the sport in 1972 and had built his first car by 1973. Since then, he has won the British championships eight times (more than anyone else) and every time in a car he built himself. Julian is also the chairman of RACMSA (Royal Automobile Club Motor Sports Association) Trials Committee and was the Director of the RACMSA 1997 to 2003, as well as being the editor of The Clear Round, the only sporting trials magazine.

This week we're on the banks of the River Tyne where our intrepid bodgers have to convert their roadworthy road hogs into ice cool fire trucks. Our extinguished guests have just eight hours in a Newcastle scrapyard to fabricate and forge their way to becoming the winners this week. There's everything to play for as the Knuckleheadz are only a point behind leaders Chaos Crew and a win for either Cops & Bodgers or Tartan Starlets could lift them right up the leader-board. The judge Our judge this week is Paul Curran, a divisional officer for the Tyne and Wear fire service. Paul began his career as a marine engineer working on oil tankers for about seven and a half years – so he knows a thing or two about bodging pumps. Paul has worked his way up the ranks during his 20 years in the Tyneside fire service and now looks after the Newcastle East area where our 'dockside inferno' takes place. Paul's also in charge of the Tyneside fire boat, so he'd be the first man on the scene if there were any blazes in the docks. Would our intrepid bodgers go out in a blaze of glory?

Our bold bodgers are nearing the end of their 1,000-mile odyssey. Today, our super scrappers must turn their weary wheels into bog-busting, border-breaking Mud Runners as they race through a maze of deep and dangerous muddy moats and across the finish line into Scotland. Reigning champions the Chaos Crew are neck and neck with the Knuckleheadz on the championship table but the competition is wide open because the vehicles must cross the finish line to be in contention for the Scrappy Races title. First the teams must head for a local scrapyard full of useful old junk, where they have just eight hours to repair, reshape and refine their scrappy racers one final time. The judge Our judge is Neal Redpath, Scottish 4×4 champion and tyre expert. He runs Redpath Tyres (with his brother) which is one of the biggest specialist tyre companies in the UK and has competed in some of the most gruelling 4×4 events in the world. He first took to driving in the extremes of the Australian Outback where he lived for two years. Neal soon mastered driving over sandy conditions and when the opportunity arose to compete in the Baja Mexico 1000, he jumped at the chance and remained a team member for three years. A little closer to home, Neal competed in (and won) off-road events all over Europe. Now Neal is concentrating on winning one of the most difficult 4×4 events in the world, the Outback Challenge in Australia.