Page 42 - Commercial Vehicle Engineer - June 2021

TEST WORLD
TESTING TIMES
Test World in Finland has the only indoor test centre using real snow the year round and the company continues to innovate, such as with its new Traction Truck,
which aids tyre testing By Dan Parton
hile the weather around Europe is warming up, and people around the
While Test World makes the best
of the plentiful snow that falls on Ivalo
– the town is 300 kilometres inside the arctic circle – in the winter with a range of
Test World offers two types of service for tyre testing; the first where manufacturers send tyres to Test World, whose team then carry out the testing and compile a report
A
continent are ditching
their winter clothes and looking forward to some summer sun,
in a corner of Northern Finland, the team
at Test World are still focused on winter.
outdoor tracks, it has a unique facility that enables it to run winter testing indoors on real snow once the weather warms up.
Tyre and vehicle development work is conducted on its five indoor test tracks, all
for the customer. The other option sees the manufacturer send their own test team to use the facilities and tracks. “This is about 50-50 at the moment,” says Jukka Antila, technical director at Test World.
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round and the company continues to innovate, such as with its new Traction
complex in Ivalo, winter tyre testing is in wind energy. All manner of tyres are tested, initially focusing on car tyre tests for
full swing, even though the snow outside from car tyres right through to those for magazines, before quickly moving into tyre
Truck, which aids tyre testing.
has long gone. HGVs and specialist vehicles. development for manufacturers.
42 JUNE 2021 > COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ENGINEER