SEABC 11/15/2003
Pics from the event below! Here to go back
The venue, before the arena appeared in a blinding flash of light.
Actually, people put the arena up. This is a super-fast camera shot of a handful of people  assembling the arena.

I was very surprsed at the speed of assembly, however! The big 8x8 foot box was put up in about 30 minutes.
Uh oh! VCA came at over 112.5% the weight limit, at 1 pound 2.3 ounces. This, I guessed, was due to the thicker base and wedge materials, and bigger chassis.

I took the front wedge off and moved the servo lifter, and patches everything up with duct tape.

VCA came in SECOND PLACE in antweights!
Trophies and prizes! From left to right: Most 0wned award, Antweights behind it, Fairyweights right above Best Engineering, Beetleweights above some ESCs, and 2 Power Wheels motors for each second place(I got two!!!)
Team Test Bot table by mid-competition. 4F^2 and Nuclear Kitten had already lost out of the competiton due to mysterious electrical failures. VCA was still in, this was before my losers bracket finals match.
The beetle bot with the big blade, BOB. RC car motor, large saw, 4.5" wheels, and little armor. But it was good.
Damage to pushybot Fir Darrig from said beetle with big blade BOB, as well as some gouges from Nuclear Kitten.
Antweight brackets. 4F^2 lost to Babe the Blue Bot, then subsequently Destroyer. VCA won against Old Reliable, lost to Babe the Blue Bot, then won against Very Very Crude Ant(inside joke), Rain, Cousin It, Flounder, and lost the championship to the ph33r3d 1, Amdroid A.
The ph33r3d 1, Amdroid A by Dale Heatherington. Undefeated so far, as now. Amdroid wins the antweight division after loosening most of VCA's mounting tape.
What a tournament. Though the ants are now in a rather devestated state, I had LOTS of fun and escaped with the second place prize!

Lessons learned:

Check each and every wire joint on your bots. Both 4F^2 and Nuclear Kitten were taken out of competition by bad wiring.

Get an accurate scale. VCA's new body caused much headache as I weighed it in 2.3 ounces overweight ><

Make sure you use good mounting tape for high-powered servos!