259 (Heavyweight)

**259** was Adam Clark's entry for Series 6 of Robot Wars. 259 featured a potentially lethal spinning weapon capable of huge destruction, inspired by the American robot Cyclone 2. This disc, which had waves cut through it to reduce weight, spun upwards at 130mph and was driven by an 89HP electric motor. Like its inspiration, it had the potential to fling a robot out of the arena, coming close whilst attacking Infernal Contraption.

In the qualifiers, it disabled all three of its opponents in under 30 seconds, including former Semi-finalists Splinter, but both its losses in the televised show saw the drive belt to the spinning disc break. It was also slow at 9mph and had a fairly high ground clearance. 259 won the Series 6 award for Best Design.

Just as Wowot had been named for his young son's pronunciation of "robot", 259 was named because instead of saying "3...2...1", Adam Clark's son would say "2...5...9."

A Middleweight version, also called 259, was built for the Extreme series 2 Middleweight championship. A featherweight version was also planned, but was never finished.

259 was due to be rebuilt and renamed **259H** for Series 7, in reference to its disc being mounted horizontally instead of vertically. However, it was not finished in time for Series 7.

## Robot History

### Series 6

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In the first round of the Sixth Wars, 259 went in as the favourite for its battle, against veterans Aggrobot 3, and newcomers Infernal Contraption and Infinity. In the battle, 259 immediately charged straight into Infinity, buckling its pincer weaponry. It landed more attacks on Infinity, before Infinity pressed the pit release button and drove itself into the descending pit. 259 then singled out Infernal Contraption, shredding its tires and almost throwing it from the arena, Aggrobot 3 also got a few knocks from 259's spinning weapon, but only for getting in the way of the two other machines. Infernal Contraption finally got away from 259, but was barely moving, and tried to get down the pit as well, only getting one of its wheels stuck. Refbot counted out Infernal Contraption, meaning 259 convincingly won its first round, and went through to the next round along with Aggrobot 3.

259 was then placed up against the number 9 seeds Wild Thing 2. At the beginning of the battle, it seemed like 259 had the fight in the bag, easily flinging the Adams Family's machine around the arena with repeated attacks from its spinning weapon. However, the drive belt to the flywheel slipped off after being loosened by Infernal Contraption earlier in the Heat. 259 went for the pit release, but couldn't pit Wild Thing 2 and so the rest of the battle consisted of the two robots pushing each other around. Nine seconds from the end of the bout, 259 broke down. However, as this happened very late on in the battle, 259 survived to a decision. However the judges' decision was in favour of the seeded robot, due to the immobilisation of 259. This was to the disappointment of many, and Philippa Forrester even spoke to Noel Sharkey in appeal, but the decision stood, and 259 was eliminated from the competition.

259 also made an appearance in the UK vs Germany Special at the end of the Sixth Wars, representing the UK. This episode was also broadcast during German Robot Wars. 259 dominated its first round fight, where it was up against Judge Shred 2 ½, who was also representing the UK. 259 hit Judge Shred several times with its disc weapon, tearing off its panels like tin foil and bending its flipper out of shape. Judge Shred fought back, very nearly flipping 259 at one point, but before long, Judge Shred lost drive down one side and began spinning in circles against the arena side wall. 259 came in on the attack again and forced Judge Shred to a halt. Judge Shred 2 ½ was counted out by Refbot, and 259 went through to the second round.

259 then fought Fluffy, who was also representing the UK, for a place. Fluffy proved to be too much for 259 - not long into the battle, Adam Clark's machine had its drive belt ripped off from one side by Fluffy's flywheel weaponry, which ruined 259's manoeuvrability, the impacts from Fluffy also severely crumpled 259's armour as well. Fluffy then hit 259's side skirt, jamming it upwards. Eventually, the force of Fluffy's blade hitting 259's vertical disc head-on knocked 259 onto its side. With no srimech, Adam Clark's robot was stranded and counted out by the Refbot. The immobilised machine then took punishment from Mr. Psycho's hammer, before being pushed down the pit by Dead Metal, eliminating 259 from the UK vs Germany Special.

## Results

 Heat E
 Round 2
 UK vs Germany (representing United Kingdom)
 Round 2

## Wins/Losses

* Wins: 3
* Losses: 2