"COMBAT CARS" IS A NEW TV SHOW FOR CHANNEL 5.
THE WORLDS OF RADIO CONTROL AND BANGER
RACING COLLIDE TO CREATE THE ULTIMATE IN 4-WHEELED WEAPONS OF CHAOS AND DESTRUCTION!
This fantastic new TV Series will be filmed at
Northampton International Raceway (located off the A428 at Brafield - 4 miles form
Northampton Town Centre): April 23rd - April 26th
INTRODUCTION:
To take part in this series of 7 x 25 minute shows, 3-person teams of motor-sport
enthusiasts have had to convert full size production saloon or estate cars to be driven by
radio control. The cars can then compete in an outlandish new form of competition
involving speed, manoeuvrability, driving skill and mechanical combat. Combat Cars will be
broadcast on Channel 5 later in the year.
Once the car can be controlled remotely, the fun really begins. Teams can then design and
build the most ingenious and deadly weapons to attach to their vehicle.
CONTESTANT TEAMS:
24 teams from all over England and Scotland are
taking part in the competition, which will be filmed at Northampton International Raceway
in April 2002. Some contestants (including The Ant Hill Mob from Leicester, The Metal
Gurus from Southampton) are members of pre-existing banger racing teams (The Metal Gurus
include a former World Champion driver). Some teams come from the motor industry (e.g:
Heavy Metal, three auto engineers who all work for leading automotive design &
engineering consultancy firm Ricardo Engineering in Shoreham-by-Sea). Other teams have
come together specially to take part in the series, including students from Huddersfield
University and the University of Essex. Male and female, young and old, what all the
competitors share is a passion for motorcars and a desire to take part in a brand new,
larger-than-life form of auto-sport.
THE CONTEST:
The teams will compete against each other in two
stages of competition per episode.
Part One is a skill-based challenge, designed to test the car's manoeuvrability and the
skill of the drivers. Skill tests include Stock Car Soccer (a chance to test their
dribbling skills with giant footballs along a slalom course), First Class Post (a mail
delivery maelstrom) and Ice Hockey Special (with the coolest 'puck' you've ever
seen…).
Part Two of competition is where the cars fight in pairs against one another, to the
death. So at the end of each of the first six episodes, one car will emerge victorious and
claim a place in the Grand Final (episode 7 of the series).
The 6 Grand Finalists will return to the arena one final time, to compete for the Combat
Cars Trophy. The winning team will be the one with the strongest combination of speed,
driver skills and the most ingenious and deadly weapons.
PRESENTERS, JASON BRADBURY & LOUISE BRADY:
Jason Bradbury has presented a variety of programmes
on UK network, cable and satellite TV for the last seven years. His credits include
hundreds of programmes across a wide range of genres from comedy and light entertainment
to investigative journalism. Big Breakfast, Top Gear GTI, BBC TV's The Air Show and ITV's
The Web Review Show are just some of the highly successful series he's fronted. But it's
particularly in the area of Science and Technology that Jason's skills and passions meet,
so Combat Cars looks set to become the perfect vehicle for his talents.
Jason is also well-known as one of Britain's internet 'gurus'. As well as currently
hosting ITV's The Web Review Show, he writes for various magazines on IT, where his
passion for gadgetry complements his talent for making the complex, comprehensible.
Combat Cars is Jason's first series for Channel 5,
but the series will also be broadcast later in the year on Bravo, for whom Jason has
presented a number of highly successful programmes, including Mercenaries (the world's
first hacker game show) and Mission Paintball, both of which he also devised.
Louise Brady is a former model who's developing a
fast-growing reputation as an all-action girl with a healthy appetite for thrill-seeking
on two wheels and four. Her mania for (and knowledge of) motor bikes (she has a full bike
licence) has already been put to good use as presenter of ITV's Pulling Power Motorbike
Special, Car Crazy Lancashire (Granada Men & Motors) and Bangers and Smash for LIVE
TV. Louise has also recently been confirmed as the new TV face of Eurosport's World
Superbike Series for 2002.
In addition to driving bikes and motors, Louise also
writes regularly about them, with feature articles for the London Evening Standard
"ES Wheels" magazine. Before moving into journalism and TV, she trained as a
beauty therapist and she maintains her specialist interest in health matters with a
quarterly feature for lifestyle magazine Vivid.
Since childhood, she's also been a keen
bird-fancier. A recent feature in Marie-Claire Health & Beauty with her beloved pet
budgie "Beebster" led to the development of a new bird show, and she shares her
London flat with an African grey parrot called "LB".
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR:
Jeremy Cross is an experienced TV producer with
numerous production credits ranging from news and current affairs to factual
entertainment. Jeremy developed Combat Cars for Channel 5 through TV production company
Wildfire TV (of which he is a director).
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
Philip Clarke is an Executive Producer and was Head
of Programmes at leading UK independent production company Diverse, before branching out
on his own in 1997. He currently combines the roles of Executive Producer on Channel 4's
award-winning archaeology series Time Team with directorships of indie production
companies Feelgood Fiction and Wildfire TV.
Combat Cars is a Wildfire TV production for Channel 5 Broadcasting in association with
Bravo.
SPECTATOR APPEAL
Combat Cars will be filmed at Northampton
International Raceway between 23rd and 26th April.
Fans of full throttled motorised entertainment are welcome to come and experience this new
form of mad-max motorsport first hand.
Afternoon Filming
Each day, the gates are open from 12.00 noon and the Afternoon Filming starts at 2pm (and
finishes at 5.15pm) - and admission is FREE.
Each afternoon teams will be competing in various tests of skill and manouverability.
Evening Filming
Gates are open for the evening filming at 5.30pm - and that's when the action gets
serious!
Each evening the War Machines will be going head to head in metal-mashing demolition
derbies - full sized cars, controlled remotely, with awesome weapons … fighting it
out to the bitter end!
Admission is £5 Adults and £3 Children (up to 16) - full catering is available and
spectators should prepare for an amazing night!
Evening filming finishes at 9.30pm.
For further information on Combat Cars, please contact Louise Plank (Press
Officer) at Channel 5 on 020 7550 5555. |
