Drag Boats

The challenge The challenge this week is to build souped-up drag boats capable of a truly rapid ride along our aquatic drag strip. The winning team will complete the 300-metre, straight-line course in the quickest time. A firm foot on the throttle and a sure hand on the rudder will be essential. The Skids The Skids are our southeast speedsters – a racing driver and his pit crew, ready for anything. This happy, chirpy and energetic team of captain Tony (a reincarnation of Dudley Moore, and Frank Zappa’s biggest fan), Dave and Simon mock, banter and jest so much through the day that it’s a wonder they manage to get anything built! Confident there hasn’t been a challenge so far they couldn’t have tackled, these boys are relishing the chance to get away from precision engineering and use their imaginations. Team expert Simon Woodpower is an ex-professional off-shore powerboat racer who builds many of his own boats. He has several marine businesses, including a Poole-based engineering company called Oval 316. Simon worked on the Virgin Atlantic Challenger boat that beat the previous Atlantic crossing record (held since 1952) by more than two hours. The Rally Renegades The Rally Renegades are motorsports freaks from the North. Captain Kate was 2002 British Ladies Rally Champion and Jason and Gawaine, demon drivers in their own right, now service and repair Kate's car and support her in races and championships. All three know their way around the inside of a bonnet and see their team strength as a quick thinking ability to fix a mechanical problem using whatever is lying around them. Jason is the ‘big’ character of the team, Gawaine is his cynical sidekick and Kate is the organiser that cajoles them into action. They are a team with the drive to win! Team expert Ted Walsh is a powerboat eccentric. He started his affair with all things mechanical at the age of 16, when he rebuilt his first Land Rover. Ted built and raced countless off-roaders over the following 12 years, before moving on to the water. A hugely successful racer, he won the British Formula 2 championship on four separate occasions. Ted is now the commodore of Windermere powerboat club and is also running as a Conservative in the local elections. The judge From the 1930s to the present day, the Campbell family have blazed a glorious trail for Great Britain. Gina Campbell is the third generation of this famous clan and like her father, Donald, and his father, Malcolm, she too is a world record-breaking water whiz.