CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Camber Ridge L.L.C., a technology firm headed by a former college professor and one-time Michelin North America Inc. researcher, has begun trial testing of its $60 million tire testing enterprise in Charlotte.
The company claims its testing method—which incorporates a moving test sled operating at speeds up to 62 mph on a paved half-mile long indoor track, as opposed to the traditional method of a fixed tire rolling on a test wheel or a moving flat track—will deliver more realistic results than is possible in existing facilities.
Camber Ridge originally floated the idea in 2009 of building the tire testing facility. Now, nearly seven years later, the company is close to opening the business—by the fourth quarter—at a 400,000-sq.-ft. former warehouse north of the Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
The project gained momentum in 2014 when Camber Ridge secured financial backing from Teton Capital L.L.C. of Jackson, Wyo., according to James Cuttino, CEO of Camber Ridge, who also is a former director of the North Carolina Motorsports and Automotive Research Center.
“Our approach is to combine the best features of traditional laboratory testing with the best features of proving ground testing, such that tire measurements are both repeatable and accurate,” Cuttino said.