FORKLIFTS & LIFTING EQUIPMENT – GANTRY CRANES
tRhaei sbianrg
Two lightweight gantry cranes from Reid Lifting continue to play an
integral role in ongoing construction and testing as the planet’s most
advanced straight-line racing car, Bloodhound SSC, is prepared for its
landmark world record attempt
The Bloodhound Project is
By Will Dalrymple
an international education
initiative focussed around a
1,000mph (1,609kmh) world
land speed record attempt.
The primary aim is to inspire the next
generation of scientists and engineers
by showcasing science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
subjects in the most exciting way possible.
It is newly-invigorated after receiving new
ownership under of Ian Warhurst, CEO of
Grafton LSR.
Bloodhound SSC is a combination of fast
jet, F1 car, and spaceship. At full speed it will
cover a mile (1.6km) in 3.6 seconds—that’s
four-and-a-half football pitches lay endto
end, per second, or 300m in the blink
of an eye. The current record of 763mph
(1,228kmh) is held by Thrust SSC, a UK team
led by Bloodhound’s project director Richard
Noble and driven by Andy Green.
The project acquired its rst Reid unit, a
2,000kg Porta-Gantry with integrated 360
chain block and geared trolley, from a third
party in 2014. It has a maximum height of
5,829mm and a 4,570mm-long beam. A year
later, a second gantry was supplied, this time
a custom 3,000kg capacity crane, o ering
5,027mm of height and a 8,000mm-long
beam (the beam has a deeper section to
enable the rating over such a length). It was
also tted with a rope control system for
movement of the trolley, wind-up jack legs
for uneven ground, and load spreading for
use when in the desert during testing.
The gantries have already been widely
used at Bloodhound’s technical centre in
Bristol, lifting the upper chassis and jet
engine (weighing up to 1.5 tonnes) on and o
the car during the key assembly phases of
the build. When complete, Bloodhound SSC
is 2m tall, 13.5m long, and weighs 7.5 tonnes.
Nick Battersby, Reid managing director,
says: “It has been a great project to be
associated with, as it is at the forefront of
automotive and aerospace engineering.
The project is very high-pro le, and the
Reid gantries are frequently in clear view
on project media images, exposing us to a
wide audience in the engineering world. We
have also embraced the project’s ethos of
inspiring the next generation of engineers
and we have two young Reid engineers
that present to local schools as STEM
ambassadors for the Bloodhound SSC,
which is a great way for us to engage with
the community.”
Reid’s Tim Battersby, technical sales
engineer, and Luke Rossiter, design engineer,
taught the team how to use the gantry over
a number of visits. In September 2016, for
example, the pair trained engineers on the
3,000kg capacity crane with rope control
system, then witnessed the lift of the SSC
car and its movement on to the surface table
using both gantries in tandem.
June 2019 www.operationsengineer.org.uk 23
/www.operationsengineer.org.uk