by Conor La Grue

It's great to close out 2011 with a key deliverable towards the build of the 5000 part puzzle that is BLOODHOUND SSC. However in this case its not a part for the car itself, but something equally vital that's arrived.

This 6 metre long precision assembly fixture for BLOODHOUND SSC rear chassis has been designed, built, delivered and commissioned in record time by Mark and the Team at Manufax Engineering Ltd.

A kick off meeting on the 29th September at the Bloodhound Technical Centre set the fixture build in motion -  Mark also took on the challenge to have the fixture build measured publicly on the Rolex countdown clock here on the Bloodhound website.

Early in the build, material lead time became a challenge but another Product Sponsor came to our rescue.  Thanks to the team at Tata Steel for the rapid response, the material shipped quickly and kept the tight build schedule on track.

With support from Brian Coombs the Lead Designer on the chassis and Ian Gaskin and the chassis build Team at Hampson Aerospace, the fixture design was signed off and the Manufax team did a truly fantastic job to complete this build on time.

You can see more on the design and build of this precision assembly here.

Huge congratulations and thanks go out to Manufax and Tata Steel from all the team at Bloodhound - top job !

I look forward to seeing the rear chassis assembly begin on this fixture at Hampsons early in 2012.  This fixture is a vital step towards the build of the rear chassis section and it's hugely exciting to see this critical piece of equipment in place.

Merry Christmas and bring on the new year !