Team Razer, later known as Team Warhead, are a retired BattleBots team from the United Kingdom which competed in numerous US competitions including the untelevised 1999 Long Beach and Las Vegas events. The team also competed in Season 5.0, as well as the first three World Championships on ABC and Discovery. Consisting of two co-captained, Ian Lewis and Simon Scott, they competed exclusively in the heavyweight (initially Gigabot) division with two distinctive and highly damaging machines - Razer and Warhead.
At Long Beach 1999, Razer achieved three victories in the main Gigabot tournament before succumbing against Rhino, and would win the Gigabot rumble via audience vote. It would follow this up with a Round of 16 finish at Las Vegas after receiving a bye, but would be defeated by Voltarc on a judges' decision. This would be Razer's final BattleBots appearance before committing exclusively to the UK robot combat show Robot Wars.
Team Razer returned for Season 5.0 with a brand new robot named Warhead. Warhead reached the quarter-finals in its debut season, securing a famous victory over Nightmare along the way, but would eventually lose to OverKill at that stage via a judges' decision.
With upgrades to make it competitive for the modern era (including an interchangeable set of grabbing jaws modeled on a dinosaur head), Warhead also competed in the 2015, 2016 and 2018 seasons, picking up more wins as well as the Best Design Award for 2015 and a Round of 16 finish in 2016. Ian Lewis and Simon Scott also received additional teammates during this era, including Ian's partner Gillian and Team Robo Challenge co-owner James Cooper in World Championship I, and James Vandervelden for every season thereafter.
Outside BattleBots[]
Team Razer enjoyed the majority of their success in the UK show Robot Wars, where they debuted in the second series with Razer. The team remained the same throughout, with builders Ian Lewis and Simon Scott joined by Vincent Blood from Series 3 onward. A potent threat from its first appearance, Razer was considerably more destructive than much of the field. However, it suffered reliability issues which cost Team Razer in their first three UK Championships.
In this time, however, Razer picked up its first honors as it won the Pinball Warrior Tournament, First World Championship and the International League side competitions. The team also picked up the Best Design Awards for its first two series. Razer followed this up by winning the Southern Annihilator special, the first All-Stars tournament as well as the Second World Championship. Overcoming issues which plagued the team since their debut, Razer put a UK Championship to its name in Series 5, defeating Bigger Brother in the title-decider.
Razer then made a deep run in the following series, only losing to eventual champion Tornado in controversial circumstances after the latter fitted their robot with a large attachment to prevent Razer from gripping its chassis. It returned for the second All-Stars competition, defending its previous win after getting the better of Firestorm 4 in the final.
In the European Championship special which followed, Razer made the semi-finals and was declared the winner by judges' decision over Tornado. However, the team relinquished their win as they believed their robot should have been deemed immobile. This led to the team's split, and resulted in Razer not even entering the seventh and final series before the show's hiatus.
Razer made a handful of appearances at live shows during Robot Wars and during its lengthy hiatus, remaining with the team throughout. As the show was revealed to be returning to the BBC in 2016, Team Razer were one of the first former competitors to be contacted about a possible return. A new-look Team Razer ultimately did return, with Ian Lewis' wife Gillian and daughter Darcie now team members, but Vincent Blood not returning. However, Razer failed to pick up where it left off, losing in its opening four-way battle. This marked the team's final appearance on Robot Wars, though the team continued to compete until 2018 in BattleBots.
Team Members[]
Ian Lewis[]
Driver of Razer and Warhead, Ian Lewis co-captained the team throughout their tenures on BattleBots and Robot Wars. He also fought solo with a miniture, 150g version of Razer designed around one of its toys, named Razzler. He remains in possession of Razer and was also a judge for Season 1 of the Chinese robot combat show King of Bots.
Simon Scott[]
Weapons operator Simon Scott was present for each of Team Razer's appearances in BattleBots and Robot Wars also. The spinning dome of Warhead, still broken, resides with Scott to this day.
He also served as a technical analyst for the BBC show Techno Games.
Robots[]
| Robot | Weight Class | Season |
|---|---|---|
| Razer | Heavyweight | Long Beach 1999 Las Vegas 1999 |
| Warhead | Heavyweight | Season 5.0 World Championship I World Championship II World Championship III |
Win/Loss Record[]
- Wins: 13
- Losses: 8