When Tim Murrow, UK Sales Manager at BIL Group received a phone call one morning asking if he could help solve a castors problem for a 300mph rocket car he was more than a little intrigued.

“It’s not the usual type of enquiry we get, we’re more used to solving materials handling issues in warehouses and other industrial workplaces, however I was keen to find out more!” said Tim

For the past eight years, UK couple, Carolynne Campbell (no relation to Donald) and David Knight have designed and built a rocket powered car in their back garden. Christened Laffin Gas, it is ten times as powerful as a formula one racing car and can currently reach speeds of over 300mph. Despite having spent more than £50,000 on design, development and build, and overcoming many problems there was one issue that they could not solve alone, that of how to move the car safely and easily whilst in transit.

Carolynne and David developed and built a dolly system on which they installed homemade castors, but they were very hard to steer and unstable, no surprise considering the sheer length and size of the 300mph car. It quickly became evident that those wheels would not be sufficient to manoeuvre the car around which is when Carolynne decided to contact castors and materials handling experts BIL Group. Together, they solved the problem and supplied castors that could carry the rocket car without the instability and poor manoeuvrability of the existing ones.

“The wheels are great – they glide along like silk. BIL came back with an offer to have their experts review the problem and sort it out for us – and at no charge. Brilliant! What a great company!” said Carolynne

When BIL Managing Director Mark Farrell heard about the project he was amazed that someone had been able to create a 300mph rocket car in their back garden and was eager to help:

“The rocket car is a fantastic project and BIL is proud to be a part of it. Our technical department thoroughly assessed the situation to make sure that Carolynne and David received the best possible castors.”

Tim Murrow was very pleased with the successful outcome and alluded to an ongoing relationship between the Laffin Gas team and BIL:

“Every company would jump at a chance to contribute to such an exciting project and we certainly did. Not only were we delighted to help Carolynne and David by supplying some of our heavy duty, high quality castors but we have also offered future financial support to help the development of the car.”

Working together to solve the problem of the castors, Carolynne, David and BIL Group are looking forward to hopefully making history with the Laffin Gas Car. Carolynne plans to smash the UK land speed record and possible hit an incredible 400mph during the course of next year. But now at least, with BIL on their side, they will not have to worry about getting the car where it needs to go.

BIL Group

Tel: 01249 822 222

Email: sales@bilgroup.eu

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