Pirelli – Test Track

Through the stunning hills and country side of Milan there is an all too familiar sound. The sound of tyres being put to the ultimate test smack bang in the middle of a national park. Pirelli’s Vizzola Ticino test facility is the breeding ground for the tyre giant’s famous reputation. It’s where tyres like the Cinturato & high-performance P-Zero are put to the test before being released onto the consumer market. While the test facility is mainly used for testing wet and noise characteristics of the modern car tyre, some racing and rally tyres are tested here too.

Tyres that have come straight off the high speed or rolling resistance testing machines are put to the test on a wide range of vehicles from Fiat to your classic Italian sports cars like Ferrari. The facility is an open-air lab and can test its tyres on just about every surface of road that it’s consumers may encounter. Open aggregate, closed aggregate, tarmac, cobble stones and concrete. All to evaluate tyre performance and the different sounds the tyre makes while travelling on such surfaces.

(Image: Pirelli)

The facility, built 30 years ago is state of the art with a few tech improvements, as you would imagine. The track is a wet testing circuit, an instrumented braking and vehicle dynamics track. Following the trends of vehicle manufactures dedicated tests, over the years Pirelli have re-designed the track to meet the needs of the modern car. The original track never had corner aquaplaning as it wasn’t a characteristic use of the time. OEM manufactures love this track and for very good reason! They test for noise, comfort, wet grip and performance.

Pirelli have instrumented testing equipment fixed into the surface of the track and telemetry testing equipment in the towers including lap time, speed and cornering dynamics including measuring G-Force. It’s a completely controlled environment. Pirelli can change the depth of the water on the surface of the road for aquaplaning testing with ultra-high speed under surface photography.

(Image: Pirelli)

With major OEM manufacturers using the facility, Pirelli essentially can see into the future with special secretive vehicle testing. This enables the tyre company to see into future solutions and come forth with new designs that we the consumer will see in the years after. Pirelli has a look into the future with car development, it’s this window that allows Pirelli to have the jump on their competitors with their leading tyre developments.

Don’t forget that Kogarah Tyrepower is your Sydney Pirelli specialist. If you need Pirelli tyres and you’re in Sydney, give us a call first on (02) 9587 3366. 

(image: METZELER)

The connection between your production tyres and the relevance of racing, has never been closer. For years, the process and approach to designing a safe and comfortable consumer tyre, whether it may be passenger or performance is directly related to racing. The next time you look at purchasing a new set of tyres for your passenger vehicle, you can think of all the controlled testing of compounds, performance and data collecting that went behind the closed gates of the Vizzola Pirelli testing track.

Because it all comes back to racing!

Come and see us today at Kogarah Tyrepower and ask about our full range of Pirelli tyres and how we can make that next purchase of tyres your best yet!