fbpx
Print this page
Wednesday, 08 July 2015 06:00

Track through 50 countries

Written by 
The 1.5km test track replicates 100 potholes and surfaces from 50 countries. The 1.5km test track replicates 100 potholes and surfaces from 50 countries.

We all know it’s easy to make money selling cars: get a clever geek to design something using CAD, build it, sell lots, bank the money and live the life of Riley with a bevy of dusky maidens, or toy-boys, in the Cayman Islands. Yeah right!

In reality the lifespan of a car is seven-eleven years, so on the day you drive that new model out of a dealer’s showroom some clever geek is working on a new model that will take four-six years to develop.

As well as creating a new look, incorporating the latest engines and transmissions and paying homage to the newest audio visual technologies, designers are having to pay special attention to handling and comfort as customers become increasingly more critical of these areas.

Once a design has been engineered, pre-production vehicles are handed to test engineers for final refinement, and testing. The Ford test facility at Lommel in Belgium is a good example.

Here a 1.5km test track replicates 100 different potholes and surfaces from 50 countries – speed bumps that can wreck suspensions if taken too quickly, cobblestones from Paris streets, typical Asian monsoon-swept roads with deep ruts, un-made roads that wreck wheel rims and burst tyres….

The diary of a test driver at this facility must include regular visits to an osteopath during the development of a new vehicle. They typically cover 5000 laps of the 1.5km test track during a development cycle, and encounter potholes up to 14cm deep, and at speeds of up to 70km/h. In six months of testing at the Lommel facility they can replicate 10 years of hard driving, or abuse, while using $1.4 million dollars of hi-tech equipment to record their findings.

So next time you hit a pothole on the Desert Road and shake your bones, give a thought for the man from Ford who has probably driven through a replica of the same hole 5000 times – and does it for a living. – Mark Daniel

More like this

Mako goes after Raptor

With Ford holding the reins of the ute market since about 2014, it was always going to be a case of when – not if – Toyota NZ would deliver a model to compete.

Raptor for fun, not work

The Ford Ranger Raptor is not the truck you buy for heavy work; payload and towing capacity are significantly less than a standard Ranger or any other working-clothes ute. But that's not the point.

Ranger soon on the prowl

Having dominated the ute market for the last three years, Ford NZ says it will launch its 2019 Ranger in October.

Featured

Sheep drench resistance costly

Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.

Dairy sheep and goat turmoil

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.

Hurry up and slow down!

OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.

National

Govt urged to reduce ETS units

The Climate Change Commission wants the new Government to reduce NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction volumes as son as…

Dairy sheep, goat woes mount

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand…

Machinery & Products

All-terrain fert spreading mode

Effluent specialists the Samson Group have developed a new double unloading system to help optimise uphill and downhill organic fertiliser…

Can-Am showcases range

Based on industry data collected by the Motor Industry Association, Can-Am is the number one side-by-side manufacturer in New Zealand.