Everything about Ford Proving Grounds totally explained

Ford Motor Company operates several proving grounds worldwide, for development and validation testing of new vehicles. For Ford/Mazda Proving Grounds in Japan see Mazda Proving Grounds

North America

Volvo Arizona Proving Ground (VAPG) - Wittmann, Arizona

Latitude and Longitude:
Volvo Arizona Proving Ground opened in 1985. The Proving Grounds consists of 1,498 acres (6.06 km²) located one hour northwest of the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport at an elevation of 1,650 feet (500 m). Volvo Arizona Proving Ground is operated year round. The climate is of a desert type with low annual rainfall and low relative humidity. Daytime temperatures are high throughout the summer months. The winters are mild. Nighttime temperatures frequently drop below freezing during the three coldest months, but the afternoons are usually sunny and warm.

Michigan Proving Ground (MPG) - Romeo, Michigan

Latitude and Longitude:
Ford's Michigan Proving Grounds of Romeo, Michigan sits on 3,880 acres (15.7 km²), and contains a total of over 100 miles of roads. These grounds hold events like the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Formula car competition (FSAE). This involves teams from colleges and universities around the world to compete in a competition involving both design and performance.
With the purchase of APG, Ford decided to consolidate operation of both facilities to Romeo. Major Facilities: High speed track, durability/special surface roads, grades, EMC facility, road simulators, fire resistance facility, vehicle dynamics area Purpose: Car and truck durability, performance

Dearborn Development Center (formerly Dearborn Proving Ground)

Latitude and Longitude:
The Dearborn Development Center was built on the site of Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan. The facility, formerly known as Dearborn Proving Ground (DPG), completed major reconstruction and renovations in 2006.

Florida Evaluation Center (FEC) - Naples, Florida

Latitude and Longitude:
Stats: 530 acres (2.1 km²), 6.2 miles (10 km) of roads
Major facilities: Straightaway, lane change area, handling course, sound test area Major testing: Warm weather performance and handling

Extreme Cold Weather Test Facility (ECWTF) - Thompson, Manitoba

Latitude and Longitude:
The facility is located at the nearby airport in Thompson, Manitoba, Canada. The Extreme Cold Weather Test Facility offers vehicle testing in extremely cold weather conditions, and with ice and snow, during the winter months from around November 1 to April 30.

Features

600 foot (180 m) diameter skid circle
Ride & handling course
1600 foot (490 m) straightaway
1500 foot (460 m) variable friction surfaces
Ice skid pads
500 foot (150 m) snow run up
900 foot (270 m) ice straightaway
200 foot (60 m) snow braking
18,000 square foot (1670 m²) indoor facility with vehicle hoists
729 feet (222 m) above sea level
Packed snow surfaces
Access to ice road on Moak Lake

Cuautitlan Proving Ground - Ford of Mexico - Cuautitlan, Mexico

Stats : 245 acres (1 km²), 5 miles (8 km) of roads
Major facilities: High speed track, special surface/low speed track, straightaway, handling course, grades, corrosion/salt bath, twin rolls Major testing: Performance, ride, and handling; corrosion testing; emissions certification

Cold Climate Test Facility - Bemidji, Minnesota

Stats: Avg. temps are -30F to +10F during winter months
Major facilities: Cold start positions, snow ingestion building Major testing: Cold weather starting/drives, snow ingestion

Automatic Transmission New Product Center - Livionia, Michigan

Major facilities: High speed track. Park paw test ramp. Cold soak chambers

South America

Tatui Proving Ground, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Stats : 1,200 acres (4.9 km²), 33 miles (53 km) of roads
Major facilities: High speed track, special surface/low speed track, handling course, grades, salt bath, environmental exposure area Major testing: Performance, ride, and handling; environmental simulation, corrosion testing

Europe

Dunton Technical Centre - Basildon, Essex, England

Proving ground for Ford UK. Currently under Visteon UK control.
Year Opened: 1988
Latitude and Longitude:
More information coming soon

Lommel Proving Grounds (LPG) - Lommel, Belgium

Latitude and Longitude:
Stats: 800 acres (3.2 km²), 39.3 miles (63 km) of roads
Major facilities: Humidity chambers, salt water/mud baths, straightaway, high speed track, durability road, special surfaces, side wind facility Major testing: Car and light truck durability; performance, ride, and handling

Australasia

Lara/You Yangs Proving Ground - Ford Australia - You Yangs, Australia

Latitude and Longitude:
Stats: 1,752 acres (7 km²), 24 miles (39 km) of roads
Major facilities: High speed track, special surface/low speed track, handling course, grades, salt/mud bath, environmental exposure area, crash test site, climactic test chambers and NVH Labs Major testing: Performance, ride, and handling; environmental simulation, corrosion, and NVH testing

Former Proving Grounds

F.M.C. G.T.O Cold Climate Test Facility - Raco, Michigan

Latitude and Longitude:
Facility now owned by Smithers Scientific Services

Arizona Proving Ground (APG) - Yucca, Arizona

Latitude and Longitude:
Arizona Proving Ground (APG) was sold to Chrysler in 2007. This is no longer a Ford facility. -- See Chrysler Proving Grounds

External links

Link to Ford Media

MPG Web Site

LPG (Lommel Proving Ground) Web Site

Lommel Proving Grounds Fan Site (only available in Dutch )

On this site you can see the new tracklayout at LPG : new track 16 (VDA), modified tracks 3, 4, 7 and 8. Click on the link named "podrobnější plán"

Iowa State University - ISU Formula SAE

Further Information

Get more info on 'Ford Proving Grounds'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://ford_proving_grounds.totallyexplained.com">Ford Proving Grounds Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.