Andrew Marchant had originally planned to build a caterpillar tracked combat robot called Plague in 1999.
[1] After relocating to Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Marchant met fellow Robot Wars enthusiast Dave Gamble.
They formed a team and, inspired by Robot Wars series two semi-finalist King Buxton,[2] revised Marchant's design to employ go-kart wheels in a four-wheel drive formation.
[3] Bryan Moss joined the team in late 1999 to provide pneumatics assistance for the robot's weapon system.
From the fifth series of Robot Wars onwards, the weight limit for heavyweight competitors was increased to 100 kilograms (220 lb).
Its weapons system was also revised for series five: the pneumatic spike was replaced with an electrically powered 7-kilogram (15 lb) spinning disc.
From Robot Wars series six, Tornado retained the spinning disc but it was now mounted in a removable framework.
In Series 6, it had interchangeable weaponry - the disc, a wedge, a static spike, and a rectangular frame with horizontal blade (intended for use against Razer).
Rather than its weaponry, however, Tornado mainly relied on its speed and strength to push competitors into the pit or slam them into the arena walls.
It featured 24V motors being run at 36V to give it high pushing power - its top speed was only 10 mph, but it had very good acceleration.
In the semifinals, it rammed Chaos 2 around the arena - despite getting flipped against the wall at one point, it won the judges decision.
Being more dominant over Philliper, Tornado won the judges decision and went into the next round, where it met the reigning world champion Razer.
Diotoir then lost the heat final against Spawn Again who went on to the Series Semi-finals, only to lose to the eventual champion Razer.
For the battle against Razer, Tornado was fitted with a large metal frame with a lawnmower blade attached.
Created specially for this fight, should it have occurred, this frame made it impossible for Razer to reach the inner parts of Tornado.
After a 45-minute wait, the judges finally ruled in favour of Tornado because Razer did not release itself from the robot upon its placement on the pit.
Qualifying as UK champion, Tornado faced the Razer-esque Snake Bite from Switzerland but did not use the anti-crusher frame.
Although the UK champions did use the spinning blade and framework, Razer now had a new hook extension, specially designed to grapple Tornado's frame and lift it up.
The World Champion's tactic worked but, suddenly, their motors burned out in an attempt to pit Tornado and the judges went for Razer.
Tornado, equipped with their disc, shredded through Philliper 2's armour and eventually pitted it to claim the European title.
Tornado then let the House Robots do the work, and pushed them into Sir Killalot, then chasing them when they escaped into Cassius Chrome.
When Tetanus Booster escaped this time, Tornado got in underneath and finally pitted it, qualifying for the semifinals again.
As Dead Metal came to Shunt's aid, Tornado slammed Raging Knightmare into another CPZ wall and started pounding on them and ramming them hard.
Armed with a scoop and spinning chain, Tornado pushed Gravity into the guardrail, and then into Sir Killalot.
X-Terminator was in poor shape before the battle, having sustained major damage in the previous fight against Typhoon 2.
X-Terminator's disc clipped Sir Killalot's arm, and the House Robot began leaking fluid onto the floor.
X-Terminator was then immobilised in the CPZ, and Tornado hit the Pit Release button, but they couldn't then push X-Terminator towards the pit: the CPZ was soaked with fluid from Killalot, leaving Tornado with wet tyres and little traction.
Qualifying as European champion, Tornado faced the German Ansgar 3 and fellow UK representatives Storm 2.
Both UK robots teamed up to pit Ansgar then Tornado pushed Storm 2 into Dead Metal.
Storm 2 escaped and slammed Tornado into the side wall a few times, flipping them upside down in the process.