Treadmill for Your Car

Posted by Alex in Car & Vehicle, Pictures on August 1, 2007 at 3:09 am


You’re looking at the world’s first rolling road testing facility at WindShear, Inc., which is used to test the aerodynamics of race cars:

The one-millimeter thick continuous steel belt will roll at over 180mph, and features sensors under the bed that can take readings at each wheel. At top speed the wind tunnel fan will circulate 2.85 million cubic feet of air per minute!

Link – via Random Good Stuff


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7 comments to "Treadmill for Your Car"

  1. Nora
    August 1st, 2007 at 4:16 am

    I think I'd have serious anxiety problems if I had his job.
    *track is going to stop, car is going to kill me*
    *track is going to stop, car is going to kill me*
    *repeat for 8 hours*

  2. Will
    August 1st, 2007 at 8:38 am

    Definitely NOT the *first* - Formula One teams have been using these for years. Just another thing F1 does better than NASCAR.

  3. A.Non.E.Mous
    August 1st, 2007 at 10:05 am

    I think that looks unnecessarily dangerous.

  4. Patrick M
    August 1st, 2007 at 10:55 am

    The question is, will the car take off?

  5. Ali S.
    August 1st, 2007 at 1:41 pm

    I hope the guy is wearing ear protection.

  6. Sid Morrison
    August 1st, 2007 at 2:23 pm

    As an engineer who frequently works around cars on chassis dynos, I echo Ali's sentiments. The whole "makeshift" nature of the operator's "control room" looks pretty scary.

    Also, I'd have to see more details, but the wide-open nature of the setup makes it difficult to perform effective fire-suppression in the event something "bad happens". It's interesting, but it looks to be in the "in progress" stage, rather than a fully developed cell ready for testing.

    Finally: it's too bad they don't show the massive air handling at the front of the setup. To be honest, though, I wonder if this is an under-build picture rather than the final setup ready to perform testing. Normally, to move that quantity of air, you need to have a (large) closed chamber around the vehicle under test so that the air which passes the vehicle can be reducted back into the air handling inlet. The fact this is shown completely open & up in the air leads me to believe a drive-in room will probably be built around it -- that's how wind tunnels and other environmental chassis dynos are done in the industry. The operator dude would then be safely "removed from the action" behind some very heavy glass.

  7. Terry
    August 2nd, 2007 at 2:03 am

    I call BS! Totally PS'd. Who would create a work area like that?! No safety gear? In a "lab!?" No way. If it is real, I'd set up a video camera to catch the look on that guy's face when that car reaches 180 mph then launches out the opposite wall.

    It looks like something Ricky Bobby dreamed up.


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