Complementing and completing the existing test track range, the new handling circuit will allow difficult corner manoeuvres as well as tricky left and right hand combinations to be carried out to exact customer specifications. Detailed test results can be derived for TRW systems such as Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) and Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) which will serve to prove and further enhance performance.

An active safety system, VSC is an enhanced development of ABS which proactively applies the individual wheel brakes to stabilise the vehicle during lane change and cornering manoeuvres, if required. VSC is planned to be the first system to be tested on the new circuit.

Built to detailed specifications, the handling circuit, comprising intricate combinations of road bends at a wide range of pre-defined radius, provides a firm basis for quantitative testing of VSC performance. Unlike ABS, where performance can be measured by stopping distance, VSC needs a novel approach to assessment.

"What makes this circuit so advanced are the bends and corners which all have detailed radius specifications which we designed. When we perform a test we want to know exactly at which radius, gradient and surface the vehicle did what and how well the system performed and responded - even the amount of snow, the time of day and at what temperature," said Josef Knechtges, chief engineer, vehicle stability control, Europe, TRW Chassis Systems, Koblenz, Germany.

"It is important to have a valid method which can measure VSC performance. Up until now, this has been done by subjective driver feel. This new facility means we can compare all systems according to a well-defined standard, something which will prove that our systems have a high performance in this complex but real environment and, most importantly, can perform to the same level when on a real road," he added.