Fed2 Star - the newsletter for the space trading game Federation 2

The weekly newsletter for Fed2
by ibgames

EARTHDATE: April 10, 2016

Fed2 Star last page Fed2 Star: Official News page 5 Fed2 Star next page

REAL LIFE NEWS: MAKING THE WORST ROAD IN THE WORLD

by Hazed

Why would someone deliberately set out to create a road that could be called the worst in the world? Filled with potholes and stretching for 1.2 miles, this road is intended as a test. It’s been built by Ford so the company can test its vehicles in real road conditions.

The test track, in Lommel, Belgium, replicates some of the worst potholes and road hazards found around the world. It’s part of 50 miles of test tracks the company uses at its test facility.

UK motoring organisation the RAC says that last year it responded to more than 25,000 breakdowns related to potholes. Holes in the road can damage tyres, wheels and suspension on a car, which can prove expensive for motorists.

Ford is developing various technologies to reduce the damage done by potholes, such as suspension that adjusts when it detects a wheel has dropped into a hole. That’s why their engineers drive over their deliberately bad roads: through potholes and over surfaces as diverse as granite blocks from Belgium and Parisian cobbles. Their test cars are fitted with sensors similar to those used by seismologists studying earthquakes, so they can record the loads and strain on the cars’ suspension systems.

“From a rutted traffic junction in China to a bumpy German side-street, this road is a rogues’ gallery of the most bruising surfaces that our customers might encounter,” said Eric-Jan Scharlee, Ford’s durability technical specialist.

“By incorporating these real-world hazards into our test facilities we can develop vehicles equipped to deal with these challenging conditions.”

Sounds great, but don’t you just wish as much effort could be put into actually fixing the holes in the roads?

Source: http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2016/feb/potholes-ford-road.cfm

Fed2 Star last page Fed2 Star next page