Flaming Flingers

The Challenge This week's challenge is to build motorised flame flingers capable of hurling burning projectiles at our shooting gallery of combustible targets. The projectiles are packed with solid rocket fuel burning at 1,000 degrees centigrade, so it's not just the targets that are at risk; the machines are too! The Anoraks A stroke of genius saw off-road enthusiasts The Anoraks race past the bicycle-building Team Maximus in Power Rowers. With their team captain Geoff Turtell back in harness, Surrey lads Marc Draper and Lyndon Camidge must fancy their chances. Named after their club of the same name, these three can't get enough of off-roading. The lads spend their spare time in Marc's garage, building and restoring Land Rovers and other 4x4 vehicles. Lyndon claims he has broken, crashed and sunk more Land Rovers than he's had hot dinners. Marc likes to think he is the stabilising influence of the team. Lots of experience, slightly batty and a bit posh, these boys are determined to go all the way! The Anorak's expert is Paul Denney. He's an old hand at Scrapheap having appeared on the Egg Shooter (series four) and Giant Darts (series six) episodes. He's an expert in medieval artillery and also an automotive engineer. Up 'n Atoms The last time we encountered the expat scientists from Switzerland, they were stealthily stealing past the bike-mad Bakewell Puddings in their spy car. Ali Day, David McFarlane and Jimmy Ridewood are expats living the life of Riley in Geneva. They work at CERN (Europe's largest centre for nuclear research) and explain their work as Star Trek-type stuff, experimenting with smashing particles together to see what happens. They're science boffins but not in the slightest bit geeky. They enjoy playing on the slopes of Switzerland, rugby, British sports cars and a good pint or 14. They have a background in off-shore work and have nuclear power station training – so there is an extremely solid engineering skills base here. They claim that James is the 'looks' of the team, Ali is the 'brawn' and David is the 'brains'. Up 'n Atoms' expert Richard Little is Paul Denney's nemesis, having beaten him in the Car Flinger (series five) special a couple of years back. He's a Royal Engineer and all-round mechanical whiz. The judge Colin Herriett is a Cornish armourer. He makes and demonstrates authentic medieval weaponry, including cannons and trebuchets, swords and suits of armour. He's a big beardy bloke who's not unlike Brian Blessed. He's appeared on television a number of times for Windfall Films, including Pirates and The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.