Milford Ground: A torture chamber for cars

As the bus rumbles onto the campus of General Motor's historic Milford Proving Ground, we're greeted by an odd sight; an Audi A3 pivots monotonously in a tight circle as if navigating the world's smallest roundabout ad nauseam à la Chevy Chase in European Vacation. What the engineers at GM were trying to glean from this test is difficult to imagine—perhaps they were simply torturing the little car for sport. But mostly what you see at Milford is a mélange of current model GM products, spy-proofed future models in garish wraps and even the odd classic car speeding down any one of Milford's various tracks.

Founded in 1924, Milford Proving Ground is located amid a sleepy suburb some 65km northwest of Detroit where it was established as the automotive industry's first dedicated testing facility. On this dry winter day, we pass over the grey surface of Milford's Circle Track atop a service road, surrounded on all sides by every imaginable shade of brown. But you won't want for colour, as sundry Corvettes and Camaro's buzz by from time to time in shades of red, yellow, and orange.

This 7.2-km banked circle has five lanes each with a posted speed limit that increases outward. The track's top speed of 192kph is permitted only on the outermost lane where, due to the banking, the lane can be driven at 192kph around the entire circle without turning the steering wheel. Each subsequent inner lane has less bank, and a lower top speed. There is a catch though; the "no hands" approach (not that we recommend this) only works with proper wheel alignment and tyre pressure. The track surface itself is specially made from Dolomite concrete to decrease wear.

The Circle Track is just one of many test venues on this 1,600-hectare campus with its 107 buildings, including the Vehicle Safety and Crashworthiness Lab, where crash test dummies and new models routinely meet immovable objects at highway speed. While Milford is a novel place to visit; tyres often squeal as test drivers push cars to the limit, various models can be seen drifting across patches of wet tarmac, it is in fact a very serious working endeavour where test drivers log more than 19 million kms a year on the 212km of roads representing a variety of surfaces and driving conditions. Many of these areas are restricted to drivers who've completed special performance training.

In addition to the Circle Track, Milford also features a 6.1km circuit called the Oval Track , as well as 14 combined kilometres of straight-aways. One of particular interest is the Vehicle Dynamics Test Area (VDTA), also known as "Black Lake." Black Lake's 270,000 square-metre pad of blacktop provides ample space to safely test vehicle dynamics. At either end of the VDTA are two semicircle tracks used for accelerating vehicles to high speeds before entering the pad.

There's a controlled, low-friction area made of ceramic tiles on one side of the pad, while another section is coated with the asphalt sealant Jennite and is often watered down to produce a slippery test surface.

Black Lake is so convincing from above, that migratory birds commonly land on the "lake," thinking it's water. Perhaps this explains the A3; some deranged engineer intended to sink the Teutonic hatch to the depths of Black Lake.