Yokohama Cuts Ribbon on Thai Proving Ground

Less than two years’ after being granted approval by the Thailand Board of Investment, Yokohama Rubber has officially opened its ‘Tire Test Center of Asia’ proving ground in Rayong Province. Work began on the 2.5 billion yen centre in September 2007 and the site was ready for use last December. Although the opening ceremony was not held until April 30, tyre testing has been performed at the proving ground since January 2009.

Sponsored by Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd., the opening ceremony was attended by a total of approximately 130 invited guests including Rayong Province administrators, constructors and automotive industry journalists from Asian countries, who were welcomed by Yokohama Rubber managing corporate officer Takashi Fukui and other Yokohama Rubber executives. “With its completion, the Tire Test Center of Asia has become the second comprehensive development base owned by Yokohama Rubber Group, in addition to an existing base in Japan, making it possible to drastically improve the Group’s tyre development capability in terms of both quantity and quality”, said Fukui in his greeting speech. “We are committed to upgrading brand value of Yokohama tyres around the world by utilising these two bases as the core.”

The proving ground covers a 1.69 million square metre area and contains a 4.1 kilometre high speed track – including a one kilometre long straight section for high-speed running tests, a kilometre long and 100 metre wide multi purpose track featuring a 9,000 square metre wet test course and a course to evaluate driving comfort and noise on a variety of road surface conditions encountered around the world. The site also includes a 4.2 kilometre long general road track that reproduces road conditions typically found in Asia, and this will be used to conduct more realistic durability tests.

At present, Yokohama Rubber evaluates its tyres at the D-PARC and T-MARY proving grounds, the second of which specialises in the testing of winter tyres. Both of these sites are located in Japan. Yokohama also utilises contract proving grounds in Japan, Europe and the US. Completion of the Tire Test Center of Asia proving ground, says Yokohama, brings about many “unprecedented advantages” including expanded tyre test processing capabilities, shorter test periods, easier choice of an evaluation site best suited to each test purpose, and consistent evaluation of tyres under the same conditions throughout the year, including wet performance evaluation.