Barloworld Handling sped to the rescue recently when a prototype of the new Bloodhound supersonic car was delivered to Glyndwr University for the Wrexham Science Festival.

Bloodhound is the latest project in Britain aiming to break the land speed record and the university required assistance to safely lift and move the vehicle from its transporter for the special science festival event. Barloworld's local short term hire team broke its own speed records to loan the university a 4,000kg capacity Hyster Fortens H4.0FT forklift truck to move the vehicle.

Developed over the last three years, the Bloodhound car will be powered by a euro-fighter typhoon jet engine bolted above a hybrid rocket. The power unit combination should deliver a thrust in the order of 200 kilonewtons (47,000lb), which is similar to the thrust delivered by one of Concorde's famous Olympus 593 jet engines, but the car will weigh only six tonnes

"I would like to thank Barloworld Handling for its generous support of the Bloodhound Experience Wrexham event" Professor Helen James Chairperson of the Wrexham Science Festival comments. "The event was a great success and we were delighted to welcome so many school and college pupils and members of the public and local community to Glyndwr University to get up close and personal with the Bloodhound supersonic car project."

Nicola Edwards, the local Barloworld short term hire co-ordinator says "We were delighted to be of assistance for this exciting project. Thanks to our full range of forklifts readily available in the region, we were able to respond quickly to this unique request."

Barloworld Handling recently invested £3Million in 140 new diesel and gas powered Hyster forklift trucks for its short term hire fleet to meet growing demand. The company has one of the largest and widest ranges of forklift trucks and machines available for short term rental across the UK, and has recently seen strong demand from all sectors of industry.