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Some people may be under the impression that almost all of the precision engineering that goes on in the UK is located in the Midlands or the North of England. However, these people may be missing a great opportunity, by not considering Norfolk as an alternative region for precision engineering services.

It is true that the Midlands and the North of England were once the backbone of the engineering sector in this country. These areas had traditionally been extremely biased towards manufacturing, to the extent where a huge percentage of the local workforce in these areas would be employed in this sector. Large engineering factories were widespread in these parts of the country, and therefore most of the country’s engineering focus was centred around them. However, in the last 20 or 30 years all this has changed, and there are various reasons for this. The decline in the industry as a whole, and the changes to working practices that this has brought, has hit large companies hardest. With such a concentration of companies in one or two areas, and with so many engineers moving out of engineering and into other sectors, customers have been forced to look elsewhere for their precision engineering.

One area which has benefited from this is East Anglia, and Norfolk in particular. No longer just a rural area which was entirely devoted to farming, Norfolk has developed into a thriving engineering base. The Oil and Gas industry is very involved in Norfolk, and other sectors such as meat and crop processing, automotive engineering and the chemical industry play a large part in the Norfolk economy. All of these sectors are very heavily biased towards engineering, and require very high levels of precision. This has led to a situation where there are some excellent precision engineering companies in Norfolk, with very highly skilled engineers.

One such company is Machined Precision Components Ltd, based in Watton in Norfolk, who can list a number of customers in these sectors who are locally based. They can also boast customers all over the country who have a requirement for their precision engineering services.

As director Nick Overton explains: “We provide a highly professional service to many sectors of precision engineering, not only in Norfolk, but throughout the country. We place great emphasis on three areas: Firstly we produce a top quality component, we provide it for a competitive price, and we do this with very short lead times.”

In fact their lead times are so short that they sometimes can provide a next day delivery to customers for items which may be produced at very short notice. “We can often receive an order on one day, produce the components on the same day, and then deliver it to the customer the next day” explains Mr Overton. “We can do this for any customer within the UK, wherever they are based, and with no compromise in quality. This flexibility means that we can provide a quality service to customers that they may not be able to find elsewhere”

Precision Engineering in Norfolk continues to go from strength to strength, and sometimes this area of the country can provide a quality of service that cannot be found elsewhere.

For the legendary Lamborghini sports car stable of fantastic ultra high performance and styled vehicles it all started with ordinary Fiat automobiles and tractors.

Mr. Lamborghini – fully named – Mr. Ferruccio Lamborghini got his start with Fiats and then went on to a large successful manufacturing concern that grew from a small manufacturing shop into a major producer of tractors. However at a certain point in every person’s life they search out to complete what their real passion is. In the case of Lamborghini was finely styled and crafted motor cars. At 60 years of age, an established manufacturer of agricultural tractors – Mr. Lamborghini – decided that he could a better job of building a high end, beautifully styled, performance racing automobiles than either of the two dominant Italian auto firms of that auto industry sector – Ferrari and Maserati.

The first product out of the door had a chassis that was multi-tubular; the engine was front mounted sporting a 3.5 liter 12 cylinder V-12 engine. The V-12 engine itself was fitted with six Weber carburetors and ran four overhead camshafts. It all clocked at 360 ultra smooth horsepower with the transmission drive being through five speed stick shift. Suspension involved a coil and wishbone independent suspension set up. In one word it was wow – both in terms of performance of the hop as well as the automotive styling.

Although the styling of those early Lamborghini models may be considered standard Italian sports car design – designs which have worked their way into the so called standard “sport scar designs “and “sport scar flair”, at the time it was new and innovative and for the most part if was twenty five years ahead of anything produced in the good old U.S.A. . The one American sports car which might be considered an exception to that point was the Chevrolet Corvette. For years to come nothing else really matched or was similar to the clean aerodynamic lines and styling of the early Lamborghini classic autos.

Even then Lamborghini had such innovative products the establishment and reputation of the Lamborghini product line was no easy road to hoe. Although the first cars were produced in 1963 it was not for two years later – at the Turin Motor Show that the car began to attract solid interest and for the reputation of the car and its studio to grow and begin to become accepted for what it should be.

The first real product of record for Lamborghini was what was marketed as Miura T 400 model automobile. Its first year of manufacture was the 1966 model year. The basic layout and design of the Miura T 400 was a mid-engined coupe with a slightly larger version of the overhead cam engine – the classic V-12 laid out transversely behind the two seats of the car. The rear wheels were then driven by this engine through” spurs gears”. Interestingly the gear boxes and rear axles were Lamborghini products all by themselves -so they shared a lineage that was unique and not the same as any other of the competitor’s models.

What was performance of this little cat? The V-12 engine could pour out a total of 385 barrel horsepower. Top speed of this little coupe was over 180 miles per hour. It could more than carry its weight with the local Italian contenders – even the famed Ferraris.

If the was one complaint from drivers or riders it was of noise levels in the car’s cockpit. It can be said that this was the price to be paid for success or in this case speed and performance. If you cannot stand the heat don’t stay in the kitchen. Certainly the buyers of Lamborghini fine motor cars who bought the product and established the revered name for its performance and advanced styling and forgo this small shortcoming or foible as the car as an assumed fact – even a luxury.

The next model in the Lamborghini stable was introduced approximately two years later. The entire life of the production run of the popular Miura model was nine years – with two cars being produced a week ( a production figure of only 100 or so cars a year). The name of this vehicle was the Espada. For the new Lamborghini model, the Espada, Lamborghini went back to a more standard front engine layout. Perhaps this was in response to concerns over noise levels in the cockpit of the Miura and the need to produce a more “standard” or “civilized “vehicle product. No one really knows what went on in the mind of the genius Ferruccio Lamborghini. However what was retained for sure were the Lamborghini basics – the four liter V-12 massive highly tuned engine with whizzy overhead cams and multiple choke carburetors all putting out massive automotive performance and handling.

In the end it can be said that the Lamborghini automotive and automotive styling and performance legends are more than unique and reek of power, thrust and acceleration.