J Tomlinson joins ‘world’s fastest man’ at the new land speed record exhibition opening

Thrust SSC - photo Mark Radford/Coventry Transport Museum

A team from Nottingham-based construction company J Tomlinson joined guests at Coventry Transport Museum for the official opening of the all-new permanent World Land Speed Record Exhibition.

J Tomlinson is the contractor for part of the £8.5 million redevelopment of the museum, which got underway in April last year and is due to be completed by Summer 2015, when 12 of the museum’s 14 galleries will have been transformed. 

The Biffa Award Land Speed Record Exhibition is one of the first parts of the redevelopment project to be completed, and forms a stunning new home for the current 763mph land speed record holding car Thrust SSC, along with its predecessor Thrust 2.  Towards the end of last year, J Tomlinson was in the driving seat when the cars were delicately relocated from their previous home in the museum to the new exhibition gallery - a move that involved hoisting the supersonic cars over the rear gates of the museum.

The new exhibition was officially opened by ‘World’s Fastest Man’ Andy Green, who drove ThrustSSC to its 763mph world record in 1997 – a record that still stands today.

Martin Gallagher, Construction Managing Director at J Tomlinson, said: “It was great to be at the official opening of such a fine exhibition gallery, and J Tomlinson is delighted and proud to have been involved in this scheme at Coventry Transport Museum.” 

The company, which is based in Lilac Grove, Beeston, and operates mainly throughout the East and West Midlands, provides a range of services including construction, refurbishment, repairs and maintenance, mechanical and electrical engineering, energy efficiency, fit out and facilities management. The firm’s work at Coventry Transport Museum includes building two new extensions and structural and internal alterations, as well as external modifications.

Gary Hall, Chief Executive of Culture Coventry, the trust that runs Coventry Transport Museum said of the new exhibition: “Coventry Transport Museum has been home to the world’s two fastest cars Thrust SSC and Thrust 2 for many years now, and these seriously mind-blowing vehicles have attracted millions of visitors to Coventry throughout their time at the museum. We are now absolutely thrilled to have been able to give them a fitting new home in a dazzling exhibition – it has been specially designed and built to show off the vehicles, and to tell the amazing stories of the land speed record pioneers who dared to bring their engineering dreams to life.

“When designing the new exhibition we have also made sure that there is the perfect space for Bloodhound – when Richard Noble’s 1000mph car becomes the world’s fastest car in 2016, we would dearly love to offer it a home alongside its ancestors. For the moment though, we are delighted to have a full-scale Bloodhound model in place for the next few weeks, after which it will be replaced by an equally impressive life-sized K’NEX model of the vehicle.”

The new exhibition has been generously supported by Biffa Award, a multi-million pound fund that helps to build communities and transform lives through awarding grants to community and environmental projects across the UK.  The programme administers money donated by Biffa Group Limited, through the Landfill Communities Fund.

The Transport Museum redevelopment is also funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund, Garfield Weston Foundation, Arts Council England and WREN. 

For more information about J Tomlinson visit www.jtomlinson.co.uk
Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

J Tomlinson in the driving seat as world’s fastest car relocates

Image ©Coventry Transport Museum/Mark Radford

Nottingham-based contractor J Tomlinson was in the driving seat of a delicate relocation operation to move the world’s fastest car Thrust SSC into its new home as part of a development project at Coventry Transport Museum. 

Thrust SSC is being given pride of place in an all-new ‘Biffa Award Land Speed Record Gallery’, which is set to open in early 2015. 

As part of the daring relocation manoeuvre, the 54ft long, 10-tonne supersonic car was hoisted over the rear gates of the museum, before being transported to a low-loader lorry and driven at walking pace around the outskirts of the building. The vehicle, which measures almost the same length as two double-decker buses laid end-to-end, was then once again lifted in the air on a crane and placed into position just outside the new gallery, at the front of the museum, before being manoeuvred into the brand new exhibition space. Thrust SSC’s predecessor Thrust 2 had been moved in the same way just minutes before. 

J Tomlinson is the contractor for part of the £8.5 million redevelopment of Coventry Transport Museum, which got underway in April this year and is due to be completed by Summer 2015, when 12 of the museum’s 14 galleries will have been transformed, giving visitors a fresh perspective on Coventry’s fascinating transport history. 

Martin Gallagher, construction managing director at J Tomlinson, the company tasked with managing the base build works and moving the Thrust vehicles, said: “Transferring these two very special cars into their new home was not only a unique operation for J Tomlinson, it also marked a key point in the extension and refurbishment of Coventry Transport Museum. 

“Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC are the two fastest cars in the world, and we are very pleased to have been part of the team that has created a new, prominent gallery for them so that they can be displayed in all their glory. We will now begin work on the area that these cars previously occupied, as J Tomlinson continues the development of the home of this internationally significant transport collection.” 

Gary Hall, chief executive at Culture Coventry, the trust which runs Coventry Transport Museum, said: “This was a fantastic moment for everyone involved. Thrust SSC has lived permanently at Coventry Transport Museum since it was acquired in 2001, four years after it smashed the World Land Speed Record in the Black Rock Desert – and this was the first time it had moved since its arrival. 

“We are absolutely thrilled to be giving both Thrust SSC and Thrust 2 a new home in their own specially designed Biffa Award Land Speed Record Gallery, where they will be joined by an all-new 4D Land Speed Record simulator – the whole thing is set to be a real ‘WOW’ for visitors old and new.”  

The relocation manoeuvre was managed by Leicester-based MFH Construction Projects, and the moves were undertaken by Collett & Sons Ltd, a Halifax-based company specialising in transport, heavy lift, marine services and transport consulting. 

Visitors will be able to see Thrust SSC and Thrust 2 in their new Land Speed Record Gallery from February 2015 onwards. The new gallery has been supported by Biffa Award, a multi-million pound environment fund managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT), which utilises landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services. 

The Transport Museum redevelopment is also funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Garfield Weston Foundation.  

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk