Camber Ridge launches €55 million indoor tire test track facility

Charlotte, North Carolina - Camber Ridge LLC is to launch a new facility for tire testing which will begin operation in 2016, the company announced on 5 August.

The “vehicle tire characterisation” facility, said the statement, will try to test real tires on real surfaces, with the precision, environmental control and repeatability of a laboratory environment.

The new facility is located in Charlotte, North Carolina close to the region’s growing automotive research and manufacturing cluster.

Teton Capital will provide financial backing for the commercialisation of Camber Ridge patented tire testing and characterisation technologies.

The new technology is set to deliver new scientific insights into tire performance, fuel efficiency, safety and future technologies such as autonomous driving.

The testing facility is said to feature an indoor test track, a paved 0.5 mile oval, using specially developed test carriages that are propelled along a guide rail system.

“Operations will begin with Camber Ridge’s ‘Genesis’ tire test carriage, a 9,000N capacity force and moment testing rig intended for passenger vehicle and light commercial tires up to 34 inch diameter and at speeds up to 65mph,” the statement said.

“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,” said James Cuttino, CEO of Camber Ridge.

Today's vehicle designers, he added, “are faced with big challenges -- mostly related to regulatory compliance and complex on-board systems -- both of which demand accurate simulation during the product development stage.

“Teton Capital’s funding allows us to implement a number of advanced technologies that have been in the internal R&D stage since 2009.”