With permission, we now have these fantastic images in our HMT400 Gallery.

Please click the link below to view:

https://www.supacat.com/products/hmt/hmt400/2/

 

For many years at Christmas time, an illuminated star shone from the top of St Mary’s church in the centre of Hemyock, which is the neighbouring village to Dunkeswell.  Unfortunately for the last four years the star was not used as it had fallen into disrepair.   Following fundraising and a successful application for National Lottery funding, a new star was commissioned.

Nick Jones, Director and Founder of SC Group and a resident of Hemyock was approached and kindly accepted the challenge of working from the scaled-down model provided to achieve a design which would be structurally safe and strong enough to stand the worst of the Devon weather. One of SC Group’s Mechanical Design Engineers, Tim Stokes soon had the finished design completed and Development Workshop Technician Luke Ridler offered up his own time to fabricate the whole assembly in aluminium, including a very intricate central node which was the key to the whole construction.  Consideration was taken that the star had to be hauled up the church tower in pieces and then assembled in situ for safety reasons.  The church tower is 30 m tall and the star adds another 8 m to that.

All components were delivered to deadline for the morning of the 4^th Dec, one day before the switch on. The construction was so well designed, constructed and finished that with the assistance of willing muscles heaving on a few ropes, the star was securely in place and assembled by midday.  The grand switch-on took place on the night of the 5^th December.  A ‘Lights Parade’ with lanterns, samba bands and local musicians led a procession of over 1000 people to the church where an illuminated flower ascended to the star, using a block and pulley device.  This in turn switched on the six-point 3-dimensional construction, to a great cheer from the crowd.

Nick Jones said: “We’re delighted to help our local community in this way. The star looks simply fantastic at night and is another demonstration of SC Groups capabilities when it comes to solving unique engineering problems in very short timescales. We wish everyone in the local community a very Happy Christmas”!

Supacat, a part of the newly formed SC Group, is the new sponsor of the British Army Motorcycle Racing Team, which is competing in the national endurance championships with four multi-rider entries represented.

Endurance is a challenging, team oriented circuit racing discipline where events are conducted over a number of hours requiring teamwork, preparation and engineering excellence to be successful. The winning team completes the highest number of laps in the allocated time.

Supacat’s relationship with the British Army team started at the Donington Park international race circuit on Saturday 10 October. The four Army teams raced for three hours with two of the teams holding top 10 positions for much of the race. Despite encountering some challenges including injuries and mechanical failures, all of the teams successfully crossed the line with respectable final placings with Army Team 2 finishing in an impressive 12^th place overall. Donington was the last round of the season so the result also secured 2^nd place in the national championship for Team Army 1.

As well as becoming new sponsors, Jamie Clarke, Head of Marketing and Communications for SC Group took part as a guest rider with Team Army 1 riding a Suzuki GSXR 1000. Himself a former British Championship rider, Jamie coordinates the Group’s marketing activity including Supacat’s sponsorship of Army sport through the charity, Team Army.

Jamie said: “We’re exceedingly proud to be involved in such a fantastic venture. It’s great to see four Army branded teams out there pushing the limits and achieving so much and even better that they now have the Supacat logo on their bikes”.

He added: “to guest ride has been a particular honour and I’m very grateful to the team for offering up this opportunity. It’s been 13 years since I last raced so taking part has been a challenge but we overcame a number of issues to cross the line at the end of three exceedingly hard hours. I’d like to wish our 3^rd rider, Loz Williams, a swift recovery after badly breaking his leg in a qualifying accident and congratulate Team Army 1 for securing 2^nd place in the championship as a result of our ride”.

Major General Mark Gaunt, Chairman of the British Army Motorsport Association said: “I never cease to be impressed by Army motorcyclists. Clearly this is a sport that requires the ultimate concentration and bravery as well as a true commitment in terms of time and money. Motorsport is expensive and we need sponsorship.  Without it soldiers would not be able to compete at this level.  We are therefore hugely grateful to Supacat and Team Army for their help.  I am also very pleased that Jamie Clarke was able to ride for us and that he and the team finished safely and so high up the rankings.  Superb news and a great way to complete the 2015 season, we look forward to continuing the relationship in 2016”.

Click on the images below to open a larger sized viewer:

Please follow the link to see an interview conducted at the recent DSEi Exhibition:

https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/landwarfareintl/dsei-2015-supacat-upgrades-4×4-offering/

Supacat is unveiling the LRV 400 `Mk2` at DSEi 2015, an all-new, all British lightweight reconnaissance vehicle.  Designed as a versatile tactical capability for special forces, the LRV 400 can be transported inside a CH-47 Chinook fully equipped and loaded so the user can “drive on, drive off” the aircraft operationally ready.  The LRV 400 has the unique feature of being convertible from 4×4 to 6×6 to provide a flexible alternative configuration that increases payload, capacity and range to meet different operational requirements.

LRV 400 is a high performance off-road vehicle for rapid intervention operations in harsh environments by special forces, border patrol or strike forces.  It can achieve speeds of up to 100mph/160km and operate up to 800km from the point of insertion, offering a true special forces long range capability.  It is designed for a crew of 3 or 4 supported by an operational payload of 1700kg with a gross weight of 4200kg.

In 2012 Supacat launched the LRV 400 `Mk1` as a new concept to fill a gap in the market for an agile off-road vehicle sized between Supacat’s HMT Series (Jackal, Coyote, HMT Extenda) and quad bikes.  Having proved the concept, Supacat has evolved the design to develop the LRV 400 `Mk2`.

The significant design change is a move to a well-known, mass produced base automotive platform, adapted by Supacat for specialist military applications.  The automotive platform delivers proven performance, reliability and cost efficiencies to the LRV 400.  In addition, the vehicle is ITAR free and can be supported via the existing globally available spares network enhanced by Supacat’s established military vehicle through life support service.

“For the first time the user has the ability to deploy from a Chinook fully operationally ready.  Coming from the Supacat stable, LRV 400 offers a scaled down version of Jackal with its acclaimed all terrain tactical performance in all environments”, said Phil Applegarth, Head of Supacat, part of SC Group.

The LRV 400 has been developed with a common user interface to its HMT `big brother` to maximise inter-operability and minimise training.  A variety of lightweight armour solutions, weapons and communications systems can be fitted to meet each customer’s requirements offering a multi-role capability.  The LRV 400 has front and rear independent double wishbone air suspension offering variable ride height and lock out – bump stops for stable firing and high power to weight ratio.  Powered by a V6 3.0 turbo diesel providing 256 bhp and 600Nm Torque , it has an 8 speed automatic transmission and high and low permanent 4WD with centre diff lock. Cross-axle diff locks are also available as an option.