A ROCKET-propelled three wheeler has gone where no car has ever gone before.

A specially-converted Reliant Robin - the make of van made famous by Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses - was given a Space Shuttle-style facelift.

Then it was strapped to an 88ft rocket assembly and blasted into the sky for the hit motoring BBC TV show, Top Gear.

Presenters Richard Hammond and James May were on hand to explain the amazing flight.

Hammond narrowly escaped death last year when another stunt went wrong - and he crashed a jet-powered car at almost 300mph.

Stockport-based firm Rocket Men, which designs aerospace components, was challenged by the BBC programme to do the stunt.

The company's Damian Hall and Colin Rowe called in Mottram Engineering from Hyde to ensure the idea really did take off.

Mr Hall and Mr Rowe first appeared on Top Gear when they launched a rocket-propelled Mini Cooper down the 1994 Olympic ski jump at Lillehammer in Norway.

This time, the team was given four months to build the massive rocket and attach it to the Robin.

Space

Peter Bryan, who runs Mottram Engineering, helped get many of the materials and provided space in his factory so that the rocket - one of the largest flown from Britain - could be built.

He said: "Never in Del Boy Trotter's wildest dreams would he have imagined a beloved Reliant Robin soaring into space."

The car was stripped of its interior to reduce its weight. Lighter wheels were added, along with wings, rocket motors and flight systems to enable the car to be flown remotely once it separated from its booster set-up.

Its final flying weight was reduced to 250kg - just over a third of its usual weight on the road.

Mr Hall, from the Rocket Men, said: "Peter and his team were incredibly flexible in their approach and added real engineering expertise to the project.

"We needed a laser cutting machine and it was perfect for us that the different elements could be manufactured, assembled, welded and spray-painted on site.

"It was also a real bonus that we found a company so local to us who could provide such a `one-stop shop' service.

"It was a very tense and time-consuming project."

It was assembled at Otterburn Artillery Range in Northumberland, with a flight engineer on hand for the launch.

The blast off Robin will be screened by Top Gear on BBC 2 on February 18.