The BEST episodes of Scrapheap Challenge

#1 - Snowmobiles

Season 9 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/6/2007

Suffolk builders The Cement Mixers, and Dorset cab drivers The Turbo Taxis build and race snowmobiles.

#2 - Chariots

Season 11 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/1/2009

Dick Strawbridge gives two teams four weeks in which to build racing chariots, before facing Dick and his team in the final at Hever Castle in Kent.

#3 - Muscle Trains

Season 9 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/29/2007

Plymouth's Super Subs vie with Sweet Chariots, a group of rugby players, to construct a train they has powered by the teams muscle.

#4 - Bridging Machines

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/22/2000

Brothers in Arms go up against the winner of Bomber (3 Revs a Minute or Mothers of Invention) in a challenge to build a vehicle that can carry all four members across a 30-foot ravine. The vehicle must also be capable of both deploying a bridge and retrieving it once the team is across. The Brothers go for a van-based bridger, while their opponents use bikes.

#5 - Scooter Shooters

Season 10 - Episode 2 - Aired 5/4/2008

This week's mechanical migraine promises to be a Scrapheap classic. The teams must build contraptions to throw a 100-kilogramme scooter as far as they can, without the help of compressed gas or gunpowder. The Balloonatics, a trio of hot air balloonists from Liverpool, take on The Aquarium Crew, a team of aquarium constructors from Dorset.

#6 - Rocket Railway

Season 10 - Episode 7 - Aired 6/8/2008

Inspired by the sleds used to test supersonic planes and spacecraft, the teams are challenged to build a superfast railway... but all usual forms of propulsion are banned.

#7 - Land Tugs

Season 10 - Episode 11 - Aired 7/6/2008

Two teams have reached the final and now they have just ten hours to build a tow tug capable of pulling a 155 ton jumbo jet along.

#8 - Snow Shifters

Season 10 - Episode 9 - Aired 6/22/2008

The teams are challenged to build super snow shifting machines as well as having to race up a ten-degree slope in temperatures of minus four degrees.

#9 - Scrap Speed Record

Season 10 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/27/2008

To get the series off to a smashing start, the first episode challenges the teams to break one of Scrapheap's longest-standing records. Back in series six, The Catalysts set a top speed of 72mph in the Grand Prix Challenge. Now The Rocketeers, a team of pyrotechnicians from Bath, and The Brum Brums, motor mechanics from Birmingham, are challenged to beat that time, in the scrap speed record attempt. Where better to do it than historic Pendine Sands, the spiritual home of British land speed record attempts? The teams are under expert scrutiny as they attempt to race their way into the 'heap record books - this week's judge is two-time land speed record-holder Richard Noble.

#10 - Rockets

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/18/1998

In this episode the teams must build rockets from the scrap to see who's can go the highest.

#11 - Off Road Buggies

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/4/1998

In this episode the two teams must make Off Road Buggies from the scrap.

#12 - Power Pullers

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/20/1998

In this episode the two teams most make machines capable of moving heavy weights.

#13 - Fire Engines

Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/10/2003

Fire Engine Returning to the 'heap for the first semi-final are Surrey estate agents, Hot Property and Fifties fanatics, Rockin' Rabble. This three-round contest requires the teams to demonstrate the various capabilities of a modern fire-fighting appliance, including rescuing cutesy kittens and battling against raging blazes. Hot Property Ross Lindsay is an estate agent who works for Townends. Craig Smith and Scott House are the company's financial advisors. They are a confident team, great negotiators and have promised to play fairly. Hot Property are as safe as houses and in it to win it! For this fiery task, Hot Property are joined by Yorkshireman Kevin Sedgwick, the laidback engineering manager for Angloco, a fire engine manufacturer that builds anything from tiny water tankers for Guernsey to enormous ladder trucks for Barbados. Kevin has been with them for thirteen years. Many moons ago, he started off as a mechanic, so practical skills aren't a problem. In his spare time, he tinkers around with his two historic racing bikes and the monstrous Guzzi 1100 that rattles the windowpanes in his local neighbourhood. Rockin' Rabble Geoff Bunting, Trevor Cartwright and Philip Lodge are a team of Yorkshire Teddy Boys who intend to bring a touch of retro culture to the 'heap. They are Fifties fanatics and are ready for some rockin' and a rollin'. They've agreed to switch off their jukebox and stop living in the past to concentrate on stepping to Scrapheap success. This time, the Rockin' Rabble's technical consultant is Mike Madsen, the bubbly, youthful technical manager for Emergency One, a leading fire engine manufacturer near Glasgow. He dropped out of school at the tender age of 16 to become a computer programmer but then went back to university to study engineering and business. After his first visit to Emergency One, he fell in love with the big red monsters they build. He tinkers for a hobby and has littered the world with the badly

#14 - Dune Bashers

Season 10 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/25/2008

The teams must build super-swift vehicles capable of racing up and over the Scrapheap's very own desert dunes.

#15 - Semi Final

Season 11 - Episode 19 - Aired 7/27/2009

#16 - Manphibious Madness

Season 10 - Episode 12 - Aired 7/13/2008

It's the grand final of Scrapheap Challenge and the Rusty Regiment go head-to-head with Woof Justice for 2008's Rings of Steel trophy

#17 - Fire Fighters

Season 10 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/15/2008

The teams are challenged to build fire engines in just 10 hours. They have to complete a tight course in the fastest possible time, extinguishing two burning mock jet engines.

#18 - Powerboats

Season 10 - Episode 6 - Aired 6/1/2008

The teams compete to build wave-pounding power boats capable of skimming across the Scrapheap lake. And it's not as easy as it sounds.

#19 - Decoration Dash

Season 10 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/18/2008

It's a decorator's dream as two teams compete to build a mobile painting machine capable of decorating a house from a distance

#20 - Underwater Chariot

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/1/2000

In this challenge, The N.E.R.D.S. (New England Rubbish Deconstruction Society) — the first American team to compete in the show — take on The Dipsticks, three undersea-oil-drilling platform engineers. The task of the day turns out to be a minisubmarine, which can pull two scuba-clad divers around an underwater obstacle course. The Dipsticks create an elaborate vehicle to ride in. The N.E.R.D.S. stick to their KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) philosophy and build a James-Bond-style diver tow, a submersible engine and a propeller, which pulls the divers behind it.

#21 - Cannons

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/12/1999

In this episode the two teams must create fully functional cannons

#22 - Sub-Aqua

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/27/1998

This week the two teams must make diving rings from the scrap.

#23 - Hovercraft (Pilot)

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/12/1998

The teams must build Hovercraft's in the Pilot of the now successful show.

#24 - Sharp Shooters

Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/2/2005

The challenge This week’s Scrapheap Challenge is a test to see who can build the most extreme rapid-fire arrow launcher. The teams will have to build a projectile launcher that can automatically load itself, as well as quickly firing arrows far and accurately. Stage Crew The boys from behind the scenes! Our Bristolian bodgers Pup, Denzel and Jet are responsible for contraptions used in shows such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Mary Poppins and Miss Saigon. Passionate, animated and enthusiastic is the only way to describe them. Captain Pup’s eyes light up when he talks engineering and he is supported by the bearded Denzel with his hearty laugh and Jet, so-called because of his love for jet engines. This team is used to the pressure of having to perform and with their ‘The show must go on’ attitude, is unlikely to disappoint. The Stage Crew’s expert is a friend of the show, Tod Todeschini. Tod began life as a kitchen product designer but he soon got bored. He is now a medieval weaponry expert and maker of special effects for stage and television. This is his third outing to Scrapheap Challenge and having previously tackled Giant Darts and Rapid Fire, this week's test should be a cinch! The Big Dippers The Big Dippers are Lancashire lads responsible for the maintenance of Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Dodgey (he loves car boot sales and ferreting in skips – should be at home on the heap then!), Steve and Brian (nicknamed Two-ey as he only has two front teeth) have been friends for years and have a wealth of experience. Dodgey comes from a family of mechanics, Steve is the electrics supervisor at the Pleasure Beach and Brian claims to be able to weld underwater. So as well as providing a constant level of cheeky banter, these guys are here for more than the ride! In The Big Dippers’ corner is expert armourer John Nixon. John spent 10 years learning his trade as an armourer with REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers), before splitti

#25 - Demolition

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/17/2000

The teams each have to build a machine capable of demolishing a set of industrial outbuildings at an old power station in Norwich. Sadly, no explosives are allowed, but they manage all the same. The Beach Boys, a group of twentysomething surfers, decide on a straightforward, human-powered battering ram, and do something no other team has ever managed — they finish building before time is up. The Chaos Crew keeps the Junkyard Wars tradition alive, with a great, big, nasty-looking machine. They build a big hydraulic claw that can rip down walls.