Pirelli – Test Track
Through the stunning
hills and country side of Milan there is an all too familiar sound. The sound
of tyres being put to the ultimate test smack bang in the middle of a national
park. Pirelli’s Vizzola Ticino test facility is the breeding
ground for the tyre giant’s famous reputation. It’s where tyres like the
Cinturato & high-performance P-Zero are put to the test before being released onto the consumer market.
While the test facility is mainly used for testing wet and noise characteristics
of the modern car tyre, some racing and rally tyres are tested here too.
Tyres that have come straight
off the high speed or rolling resistance testing machines are put to the test
on a wide range of vehicles from Fiat to your classic Italian sports cars like
Ferrari. The facility is an open-air lab and can test its tyres on just about
every surface of road that it’s consumers may encounter. Open aggregate, closed
aggregate, tarmac, cobble stones and concrete. All to evaluate tyre performance
and the different sounds the tyre makes while travelling on such surfaces.
(Image: Pirelli)
The facility, built 30
years ago is state of the art with a few tech improvements, as you would
imagine. The track is a wet testing circuit, an instrumented braking and
vehicle dynamics track. Following the trends of vehicle manufactures dedicated
tests, over the years Pirelli have re-designed the track to meet the needs of
the modern car. The original track never had corner aquaplaning as it wasn’t a
characteristic use of the time. OEM manufactures love this track and for very
good reason! They test for noise, comfort, wet grip and performance.
Pirelli have
instrumented testing equipment fixed into the surface of the track and
telemetry testing equipment in the towers including lap time, speed and
cornering dynamics including measuring G-Force. It’s a completely controlled
environment. Pirelli can change the depth of the water on the surface of the
road for aquaplaning testing with ultra-high speed under surface photography.