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Tough Tests Have Long Tradition at Opel

2011-06-29

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Rüsselsheim.  Before new car models are launched today, their prototypes cover thousands of kilometers under the toughest conditions, many of them on specially constructed test tracks. Opel has several such facilities, the largest of which is in Dudenhofen, approximately 50 kilometers from the main plant and in Rüsselsheim.

60 years ago in 1951, the company began operating its first fully-fledged testing ground in the immediate vicinity of the Rüsselsheim production plant. This made Opel one of the first German automobile manufacturers with such a modern facility. Construction of the 150,000 square-meter grounds took five months. Upon completion, Opel was able to move a part of the test drives from public roads to these grounds and so protect the prototypes from unwanted attention and prying eyes. 

In addition to a 1,500 meter-long high-speed track and an “everyday” road, Opel models also had to undergo tests on the block paving stretch. At that time the test grounds featured many special test sections, including a hump profile track and the undulated asphalt stretch to test chassis, wheel suspension, shock absorbers and steering. A gravel and tarmac road, as well as a grit trough and deep wade through were also part of the test area. The various steeply sloping sections with inclines of up to 30 percent – important for testing transmission stepping, climbing performance as well as drive-off and braking effect – created a sort of central axis on the compound. On the skid pad, a slippery area on a concrete surface, Opel experts were already able to check steering geometry, determine slip angles and test under- or oversteering behavior in very tight curves.

1920: Opel racetrack for model testing, motor sports and promotional events

Vehicle tests at Opel in Rüsselsheim started in 1903. The small oval on the facility grounds, which was mainly used as a testing circuit for automobiles and bicycles, soon became too small. So the automaker opened the 1.5 km-long Opel race track at the “Schönauer Hof”, south of the production plant, in 1920. It was also used for motor sports and cycling events, and Fritz von Opel’s rocket-propelled vehicle experiments originated here as well. The oval race track’s steeply banked curves (up to 32 degrees) permitted speeds of 140 km/h, making the motordrome one of the world’s fastest courses at that time, and ’s first permanent car and motorcycle racing track. Occasionally, special promotional events also took place there, such as the presentation in 1924 of an entire day’s production of more than 100 units of the 4/12 hp model, better known as the “Laubfrosch” (tree-frog). The remains of the circuit can still be seen today and are a frequent destination for hikers and walkers.

1966 to today: High-performance test center Dudenhofen

As the successor to the Opel test grounds of 1951 – where development facilities such as the laboratory for electromagnetic compatibility, the crash test center and additional testing benches are located today – Opel built a completely new test center in Dudenhofen in 1966. An ingenious combination of roads and trails with an initial total length of 33 kilometers was built here to test vehicles for endurance and durability under extreme conditions.

During the last ten years, the track section of the test center has grown by 50 percent so that there are now about 60 kilometers of test tracks, ranging from comfort and noise measurement stretches, “torture” tracks and mountain routes to the high-speed circuit.

New developments in technology and engines also influence the infrastructure and the day-to-day operations in Dudenhofen. For instance, the new filling station on the grounds now has 18 different types of fuel available and charging stations have been set up for electric vehicles. Environmental friendliness plays an important role in terms of the tested powertrains and also the facilities themselves. For example, 90 percent of the water used for the car wash is recycled.

The brain of the Dudenhofen test center with its roughly 300 employees is its ‘Electronic Proving Ground Management’. For example, the system controls the traffic and access authorizations to the tracks and provides exact weather information. Also new is the event management team, which makes the area accessible to the public as well. With great success: in the meantime, the Dudenhofen test center welcomes up to 10,000 visitors per year for events and driver trainings.

Chassis development on Pferdsfeld test grounds

Since 2005, the Dudenhofen test center has been complemented by the Pferdsfeld testing grounds near Bad Sobernheim in Rhineland-Palatinate. The area once used to be part of a German air force base, and the former runway was modified for test purposes. While endurance testing and tests with prototypes are the focus in Dudenhofen, in Pferdsfeld the specialists work primarily on chassis development.