Scrapheap Challenge

Tugboats (5x9)

: 18, 2002

Boat Buoys bailed out In what was nearly a truly Titanic battle, the Boat Buoys booked a place in the final against the odds. The Boat Buoys' craft was top-heavy and leaked like ... well, like a rusty old skip with lots of holes in it. But the Martial Mechanics graciously helped out: they supplied stabilising barrels and they let the Boat Buoys use an automatic bailer, which stopped them sinking. In race one the Martials built a convincing lead, but a mechanical failure gave the Buoys victory. After a quick repair to a broken drive-line, race two got under way. The Martials were again ahead when driver Dave crashed into a marker buoy, which became tangled up with one of their screws, causing more damage and again handing victory to the opposition. The big points were reserved for the final tug-of-war round, and victory would have put the Martials level and forced a tiebreaker. The Martials were down to one screw, but that was still enough to out-pull the Boat Buoys ... until that screw gave out as well, and the Boat Buoys tugged to victory.