India gets Asia’s longest high speed test track – NATRAX
The newly inaugurated facility is 11.3 km long, 16 metres wide and has four independent lanes. Already getting interests from Volkswagen, FCA, Renault, Peugeot and Lamborghini.
Time to revise those GK books folks! India is getting the title for having the longest high-speed test track in Asia, which has been inaugurated in the Pithampur district of the state of Madhya Pradesh.
The newly opened world-class NATRAX facility is 11.3 km long, 16 metres wide and has four independent lanes. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar virtually inaugurated the new facility on June 29. The oval-shaped test track will facilitate future automotive and component testing in the country. During the launch, the minister informed that this track is the fifth largest in the world and also, more equipped than facilities in China and Japan. He assured that with the development of the NATRAX (National Automotive Test Tracks) Indore facility, domestic vehicles are not needed to be sent abroad for testing.
The just-launched high-speed track is designed for neutral speeds of 250 kmph and maximum speeds of up to 375 kmph on curves with no limit to maximum speed on the straight patch. Moreover, the track benefits from the zero percent longitudinal slope that basically helps in improving the accuracy of the measurement of the performance of vehicles. The new track is now also open to foreign automakers to get their vehicles evaluated here as a part of the testing process. The minister said that the high-speed track shall carry out development and homologation tests for all kinds of vehicles.
Thje track allows for a wide variety of tests to be done, like maximum speed, brake performance, constant fuel consumption, emission test, high-speed handling, and also, durability testing. Needless to say, the high-speed test track can also be used for testing high-end cars. The project NATRAX is being built under NATRiP (National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project) of the Heavy Industries Ministry.
NATRAX happens to be one of the automotive testing and certification centres in the country. NATRAX has confirmed that the new facility can also be used for commercial events like product launches, dealer events and also, racing. It further added that Volkswagen, FCA, Renault, Peugeot and Lamborghini have shown their interest in using the new facility. Nürburgring scenes in India! Oh yes.
