Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has inaugurated the Eric Platford Testway at its Goodwood base in the UK. The testway was officially opened by The High Sheriff of West Sussex, Gary Shipton, DL, at an event hosted by Gunther Boehner, director of manufacturing at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
“Named in honor of Sir Henry Royce’s chief tester, the Eric Platford Testway reflects our constant endeavor to uphold the standards that have defined Rolls-Royce for more than a century,” said Boehner. “It represents a further investment in our pursuit of perfection, strengthening our ability to deliver the refinement, composure and effortless experience for which Rolls-Royce is renowned.”
“It was an enormous privilege to officially open the new Eric Platford Testway at the Home of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars at Goodwood where more than 2,500 people are employed,” said High Sheriff of West Sussex Gary Shipton DL. “The Testway is testament to the expertise of Rolls-Royce engineers and it was a pleasure to meet them and to understand the considerable research and technical innovation that has made it possible.”
The facility is named after Eric Platford, Sir Henry Royce’s first chief tester, whose expertise contributed to Rolls-Royce’s early engineering development. Platford also played a role in the marque’s motorsport history, helping Don Carlos de Salamanca secure victory at the 1913 Spanish Grand Prix. The facility’s name commemorates his contribution to Rolls-Royce’s early history.
The Eric Platford Testway forms part of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ investment in its Goodwood facility and enables engineers to introduce controlled inputs to the chassis, suspension, body structure and interior components in a repeatable environment.
It comprises four parallel lanes, each 90m long, with eight surface profiles designed to stimulate specific vehicle responses. Each surface is driven twice: once at a fixed speed and once across a range of speeds.
The Testway’s surface profiles are designed to replicate driving conditions encountered around the world, including small and large cobblestone sections for identifying potential rattles and assessing ride composure; random concrete waves with expansion joints at 2.4m intervals, to introduce vertical variation; angled twist humps that apply torsional loads through opposing axle movement; paired railway tracks that generate sequential front- and rear-axle inputs; alternating circular iron covers to assess asymmetric responses; sine waves measuring 12mm in height and spaced 300mm apart to produce high-frequency resonance; and smooth tarmac.
Turning areas at either end of the Testway provide the opportunity to test a roundabout style change of direction, which the auto make says is especially useful for testing the stability of any loose personal items in the cabin.
Before entering the Eric Platford Testway, vehicles pass through an aero-acoustic chamber for static wind-noise testing. High-pressure, variable-speed air jets mounted on a movable gantry simulate speeds above the UK national limit of 70mph (112km/h), including conditions comparable with unrestricted roads in some markets.
Engineers will continue to validate a sample of vehicles on a longstanding eight-mile (13 km) route on local roads surrounding the ‘Home of Rolls-Royce’.
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