Navistar acquires test track, proving grounds facility

Navistar Inc. is establishing its own 668-acre proving grounds along the farmlands of northern Indiana at a site purchased from Robert Bosch LLC; a facility that includes a three-mile paved and banked oval track where the OEM will test its entire portfolio of Class 5 through 8 commercial trucks, school buses and military vehicles.

Located about 90 miles from Navistar’s headquarters in Lisle, IL, the close proximity of the new Navistar Proving Grounds in New Carlisle will complement the company’s validation center in Melrose Park, IL, by allowing more test capabilities to be managed in-house, noted Bill Kozek, president of Navistar Truck and Parts, in a statement.

Other testing capabilities featured at Navistar’s New Carlisle Proving Grounds location include:

• Brake testing, which includes infrastructure, complete instrumentation and computerized data acquisition;
• Structural durability testing/accelerated mile accumulation with road profile capability using accelerometer and strain gage data and multiple road surfaces including chatter, impact, cobblestone, undulating, resonance road surfaces, high speed oval, gravel, body/chassis twist event and off- road surfaces; center-of-gravity, rollover and roof crush testing, grade-ability up to 60%, traction control and powertrain durability, among others.
• Specialized vehicle noise and handling testing, along with center-of-gravity, rollover and roof crush testing, grade-ability up to 60%, traction control and powertrain durability, among others.