General Motors Desert Proving Ground in Yuma County, Arizona
Desert Proving Ground Yuma is a facility co-built and leased by General Motors located within the US Army's Yuma Proving Ground, near Yuma, Arizona. The facility came fully online as of July 2009. The site contains an inner facility sitting on 2,400 acres (970 ha) with a 24-acre (9.7 ha) campus containing 98,000 square feet (9,100 m2) of building area and also has 40 miles (64 km) of roadway. One of the main reasons that this site was chosen was the already imposed no fly zone which helps prevent unwanted photography of pre-production prototypes undergoing testing. The facility is also used by the US Army for their own testing requirements.[1]
Aerial photograph of the GM proving grounds in Michigan
The General Motors Milford Proving Ground was the industry's first dedicated automobile testing facility when it opened in 1924. It is the longest continuous operating proving grounds in the world. It is located in Milford, Michigan and covers 4,000 acres (1,600 ha). 4,800 staff work in its 142 buildings today. The proving ground includes the equivalent of 132 miles (212 km) of roads representative of conditions found on public roadways and other specialty surfaces for vehicle testing. Some roads are open only to drivers who have passed special performance driving training. The saying goes that each mile driven on the grounds is the same as 5 miles (8.0 km) in the real world.
Facilities
Milford Proving Ground main gate, General Motors Rd.
The VDTA ("Vehicle Dynamics Test Area"), also known as "Black Lake", is a 67-acre (270,000 m2) pad of blacktop for vehicle dynamics testing. Waterfowl have been known to try to land on this "lake" of asphalt. At the ends of the VDTA are two semicircle tracks used for accelerating vehicles up to high speed before entering the pad. A controlled low-friction area made of ceramic tiles is on one side of the pad. Another area is coated with the asphalt sealant Jennite and can be watered down to produce a low friction surface.
The Oval Track is a 3.8 miles (6.1 km) circuit
The Circle Track encloses the VDTA and is a 4.5 miles (7.2 km) banked circle. It has five lanes posted with speed limits increasing towards the outermost lane. The speed limit for the outermost lane is 100+ MPH (160+ km/h). Due to the banking, each lane can be driven at its posted speed all the way around the circle without needing to touch the steering wheel, given proper wheel alignment and tire pressures. The track surface is extremely hard "dolomite" concrete for wear resistance.
The North/South Straightaway is 6.225 miles (10.018 km) in total length and includes two 2.5 miles (4.0 km) straightaways
The East/West Straightaway is 3.1 miles (5.0 km) around and includes two 1.2 mi (1.9 km)straightaways
"Seven Sisters" is a short course featuring seven tight curves, some level, some banked. It is one lane that can be driven in both directions, so only one car is allowed on the course at a time. This is used for testing vehicles under transient lateral acceleration loads.
12 Mile Road is a straight section of pavement which duplicates the historical surface texture of a section of 12 Mile Road near Detroit.
The Ride and Handling loop is enclosed by the Circle Track and has varied surfaces and turns.
The Vehicle Safety & Crashworthiness Lab includes a recently added rollover test facility.
General Motors Proving Ground Cupuan del Rio is situated between Lázaro Cárdenas and Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico. The facility opened in 2006 and features a circle track, several off-road courses, and is primarily used for testing HVAC systems.
As of 2011 the grounds are mostly abandoned, and only a local security staff remains. This is due to the volatile, potentially unsafe situation in the region and the access routes to/from Cupuán.
It is the largest and most comprehensive proving ground in Latin America, and the second largest in the General Motors Corporation. It comprises the most advanced test tracks, which precisely replicate the most varied and demanding road conditions. [2]
GM do Brasil is committed to the preservation of forests and the animal species that live there. Cruz Alta Proving Ground for example, has test roads and tracks that sit amid a forest reserve of 4,600,000 square meters (50,000,000 sq ft), including 22,270,000 square meters (239,700,000 sq ft) of reforested trees. The Proving Ground also features 100,000 square meters (1,100,000 sq ft) of Atlantic Forest original vegetation; 10,000 planted fruit trees and more than 1,000,000 square meters (11,000,000 sq ft) of lawns. In addition, GM do Brasil recently partnered with IBAMA, the Brazilian Environment Protection Agency, to monitor the abundant proliferation of capybaras at that location.
Opel operates a proving ground near Dudenhofen, Germany[3], opened in 1964. Facilities include a 4.8 kilometers (3.0 mi) high-speed circuit, a 900 meters (980 yd) section of Belgian pavé and a hill circuit with gradients up to 30%.
Opel operates a winter climate proving ground near Arjeplog, Sweden. Most of the tracks are on the lake ice. Arjeplog has an average temperature of −11 °C (12 °F) in January.
It was opened in 1957 by Holden on a 2,152 acres (871 ha) site off the Bass Highway.[3] It was used to test every Holden model from the Holden FC onwards. It is a dedicated 877-hectare site with 44 kilometers (27 mi) of road systems, including a 4.7 kilometers (2.9 mi) 4 lane circular track (speed bowl), 5.5 kilometers (3.4 mi) and handling course, a 1.8 kilometers (1.1 mi) noise road and 98 meters (107 yd) diameter skid pan. It is also equipped with an Emissions Laboratory and Safety Test Facility with crash barrier and HYGE sled.[citation needed]
In February 2020 GM announced the test track and design centre would close with all jobs being redundant to reflect the GM decision to quit global right hand drive vehicle production.[4] In September 2020, it was sold to VinFast. It will continue to be used by GM Specialty Vehicles.[5] In October 2021, VinFast disbanded its local engineering operations and put the Lang Lang Proving Ground test track up for sale.[6] Its official website is llpg.com.auArchived 2021-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
GM's proposed facility at Mezcala, Mexico was terminated in the planning phase due to breakdown in land negotiations. The facility was to take over Desert Proving Ground tasks when GM announced DPG's closing in 2000. DPG is still operating as of late 2008. Soon to be closed and replaced with the new facility in Yuma, Arizona.
GM Desert Proving Ground in Mesa, Arizona, USA was a General Motors facility for the testing of HVAC, propulsion, and various automotive systems in a harsh climate. Opened in 1953, the closure of this facility was completed in 2009. It was replaced by a new facility in Yuma, Arizona, known as the Desert Proving Ground Yuma.
