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LiteStructures in Pole Position for Tour of Britain
Ninety-six cyclists, competing as 16 professional teams, battled it out over a total of 800 gruelling kilometres to be the first under the Tour of Britain finish gantry, which had been designed and built by LiteStructures.
The internationally renowned event was set over five stages, starting in Manchester - the home of British cycling. The transient nature of the event meant that the gantry had to be lightweight for easy transportation, free standing so that it left no trace once removed and of an adjustable width because the finishing line was a different width for each stage.
With the gantry having been so well received on the Tour, Mick Bennett, technical director at the Tour of Britain and also show director of Cycle, The International Cycle Show, chose to use it again as the gateway to Cycle. He said: “The public reception of The Tour of Britain showed it to be a resounding success. We had hundreds of thousands of people at the side of the road, right through to the finish in London. The gantry took just one hour to put up and it was a great piece of kit to have. It looks handsome and is very flexible in its format and design.”
Measuring in at 6.5 metres high and 13 metres wide, the stability of the structure was of paramount importance for Dave Evans, of LiteStructures’ design team, and Mick Bennett. Dave said: “We chose to use LitePro 4 truss in the towers and LitePro 3 in the horizontal section. Both are lightweight products, so we also called in a structural engineer to calculate how it should be stabilised.” Four steel water ballast tanks were fundamental to the design of the gantry, and Dave developed the bottom half of the rig accordingly, while screw-in feet were used on the base of the gantry to ensure that it was always level, regardless of the location and terrain.
The Tour of Britain race, which returned after an absence of five years, culminated in a frantic ride through the streets of London, with Colombian Mauricio Ardila being presented with the coveted yellow jersey as the overall winner.
http://www.litestructures.co.uk
27th January 2005
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