Scrapheap Challenge - building a windmill
Scrapheap Challenge is a TV programme, where two teams compete over two
days to build, and then use, a device to satisfy a challenge set by the
programme makers. (In the USA, the programme appears as
Junkyard Wars).
The fourth programme in the third series, aired on UK television at
6pm, 8th October 2000 on Channel 4, gave the two teams the challenge
of building a windmill.
Build a windmill to power a coffee grinder, with the winning team
being the one which grinds the most in an hour. The site for the test is
Beachy Head, a windswept cliff on the English south coast.
The two competing teams are
- Manic Mechanics, (with Jim Barr as their expert) who build a horizontal
axis device
- Techno Teachers, (with Giles Peterson as their expert) who build a
vertical axis device
Although the programme has already aired in the UK, if you haven't seen it yet
I wont spoil it by giving away the result (though you can find it
here
if you really want to know).
What I will reveal is
-
Jim Barr, the author of "Building Domestic Windpumps", was the
expert to the Manic Mechanics. Read
Jim's early thoughts on the concept.
- Gordon Proven, of
Proven Energy was the expert judge
-
Hugh Piggott of Scoraig Wind Electric was involved at the planning
stage of the programme, and also featured in explaining the science.
- Using the windmill to
raise a car up a hill was considered, but is not the final
version of the challenge.
- There are also further reviews of the program available:
Building windmills from scrap parts
Scrapyard Challenge Links
| Last updated
03/03/2017 |
Text and images © Mark Berry,
1997-2017 -
|