Castle to set the dog on speed record

By PETER RANSCOMBE
Published on 19/01/2013 00:00

VENERABLE manufacturing company Castle Precision Engineering is building the wheels for Bloodhound, the British car trying to break the world land speed record by driving at more than 1,000 miles per hour.

The Glasgow-based firm, which was founded in 1951 and is still run by the Tiefenbrun family, will make 18 wheels at its Castlemilk factory for the car, which is expected to begin its record attempt in a South African desert in November.

Each of the 90kg solid aluminium wheels will spin up to 177 times per second when the car approaches its top speed and will have to cope with the force from a 7.5-tonne jet engine. Team leader Richard Noble has been designing Bloodhound for the past five years.

Yan Tiefenbrun, Castle’s operations director, said: “After 14 months of planning, this is the year when we make the fastest wheels ever. Bloodhound is a huge challenge and an opportunity to be part of something very special.”

PETER RANSCOMBE