Pirelli opens tyre-test lab
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• Development and research work on Pirelli tyres is now being carried out at a new tyretest site just opened by the concern. at Vizzola, 40 miles from Milan. Because of the widescale use of electronic equipment, Pirelli calls the facility an "open-air tyre-test laboratory''.
Facilities provided at the test ground are designed to allow complete evaluation of all aspects of tyre performance and of experimental tyre design to be obtained.
There are seven straight and circular multisurface tracks covering an area of 12.4 acres. About 6.5 acres of the test area can be sprayed continuously with purified water to simulate anything from light rain-showers to torrential cloud-bursts.
Test information from vehicles under test is beamed to the laboratory's computerized control tower by radio telemetry while they are in motion. Test data from instruments fitted to vehicles' steering and suspension units is translated into electronic signals and transmitted to the control tower. Magnetic tape decks and computer equipment record test information in special codes and taped results are taken to the mathematics and physics division of Pirelli's Milan factory to be put through its computer system to produce tables, graphs and indexes for full evaluation.