Automotive Intelligence - the web for automotive professionals and car enthusiasts
August 06, 2008
This Week:
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FORD FOCUS surprises with 26% sales up year-to-date versus last year
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Lotus launches Evora replica at the British International Motor Show
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Citroen will present the custom designed C-Crosser at the British Motor Showy
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New Porsche 911 with Glass Roof and Tailgate coming in Autumn
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BMW invites to the 7 Series Days in Miramas Dynamic driving performance is created not only in Development Centres through BMW's engine and suspension specialists, but also on all kinds of test tracks and in various trial areas. This is where all innovations are put through their paces in a long series of tests and under the toughest conditions, where all features are carefully coordinated and refined.
The BMW Group has its own test area in the south of France for particularly intense and thorough testing - Autodrome de Miramas. This former race track located between Marseille and Avignon offers ideal conditions to test and optimise the driving dynamics of a new model so typical of BMW under all kinds of conditions.
The Miramas Test Centre also played a key role in the process of developing the new BMW 7 Series, with a wide range of tests conducted on the new car, applying all kinds of requirements and the toughest standards. In the process the suspension technology of BMW's new luxury performance saloon was put through diverse tests and examinations, the knowledge gained in the process then being implemented in practice in the course of series development. |
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The result is a standard of driving behaviour able to comply in full with the most stringent demands and requirements made by the development engineers, exceeding the expectations of even the most demanding customer and, there-fore, fulfilling all challenges in creating a new BMW in every respect. BMW has been testing new models and innovative suspension technology in the Miramas Test Centre for more than 20 years. BMW France bought the area covering a total of 473 hectares or 1,168 acres in 1986, the test tracks and facilities being consistently updated and enlarged in the years to come. |
Today Miramas offers test tracks measuring more than 52 kilometres or 32 miles in length as well as office workstations for 328 associates. To ensure fast, reliable and secure transmission of data, the development engineers are able to use high-performance permanent landlines connecting the Autodrome de Miramas with the BMW Group's Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ) in Munich.
Today both BMW cars and motorcycles are tested round-the-year at the Miramas Test Centre, with up to 250 vehicles being put through intense and thorough test schedules every day, covering millions of test kilometres in the course of time.
Accounting for approximately 50,000 man-days a year, the workload at the Miramas Test Centre impressively confirms the significance the BMW Group gives to the development and ongoing optimisation of drivetrain and suspension technology. At the same time the high-speed track as well as the handling circuits in Miramas offer ideal conditions for testing both BMW Sauber F1 Formula 1 racing cars and other BMW motorsport vehicles.
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Before building the site in Miramas, the BMW Group commissioned experienced experts and specialists in many areas to conduct comprehensive surveys and topographic tests serving, among other things, to ensure optimum ecological compatibility. Hence, the building plans take all the findings of experienced biologists into account, naturally providing an appropriate habitat for animals and plants in the area. |
The ongoing development of the Test Centre and its various test tracks shows clearly how the BMW Group consistently enhances its internal testing processes to reflect both the high quality standards of the Company and the constant change in conditions to be fulfilled by modern vehicles in today's world. Testing and confirming innovations in the area of suspension technology time and again, therefore, the BMW Miramas Test Centre is becoming an increasingly significant highlight in the overall process of development.
Photos: BMW
(July 27, 2008)
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