HANOVER, Germany—The international jury of the Automotive Testing Technology International Award has named Continental's Contidrom, located north of Hanover, the “Proving Ground of the Year” for 2013.
Continental invested heavily in the development of its tires with a range of pioneering approaches and state-of-the-art test facilities at the Contidrom.
Among the key factors in the jury's choice were the testing facilities offered by the Automated Indoor Braking Analyzer, where the braking properties of up to 100,000 tires a year can be tested year-round in any conditions, with no test driver involved.
The new facility is located in a hall about 1,000 feet long and 100 feet wide, where a linear drive system can accelerate unmanned test vehicles to a top speed of 75 miles per hour in just a few seconds. The braking maneuvers take place on a variety of road surfaces in about 245-foot sections of track which, despite weighing around 120 tons each, can be interchanged in a matter of minutes by hydraulic lifts.