ICAT inaugurates new facilities at Manesar Centre

Manesar – International Centre for Automotive Technology of India (ICAT)¹ of Haryana, India has inaugurated its new facilities at ICAT Centre-II with test track and administrative and auditorium block located at Sector M-11, IMT Manesar.

The new test track will facilitate the testing and validation agencies to expand its scope of services offered to automakers and suppliers in India. The test track measures 1.85 km in circumference that includes two 700m straights stretches and two 250m banked portions that make high-speed cornering possible without the need to apply brakes.

The angle of banking² varies from 35 degrees to 55 degrees that support a maximum speed of 90km/hr while cornering. While one can reach a top speed of 160km/hr on the straight patch.

There are multiple tracks built in the inner periphery of the test track for different testing purposes. Some of the tests that track supports are a wet ABS testing track, steering pad track that helps to measure and test the steering torque. Also, there is an external noise track built as per the ISO-standard bitumen that will help manufacturers to test tyre and road noise at speeds up to 50km/hr.

Two other tracks built are an elevation track that tests starting gradeability, descent and hand-brake test and the other track is a water wading track that tests underbody seepage and battery security in an electric vehicle.

The test track took almost one year to finish with an investment of USD 7.14m to the NATRIP (National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project) which acts as a parent to ICAT. The cost excludes the expenditure of land procurement, equipment, and a test track management system (TTMS) which has yet not been fully installed.

On the facility’s inauguration event, Arvind Sawant, Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, said, "ICAT is very rapidly going in the direction of ensuring vehicle safety in India. The vehicles coming on the roads should be safe, and as a certification agency, ICAT can now test and validate these models with more capability at hand."

¹The International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT), Manesar, located in the northern automotive hub of India, is a world class automotive testing, certification and R&D service provider under the aegis of the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) for the Government of India. It is engaged by the government in the areas of automotive testing, certification and R&D services.

²angle of banking can be defined as the angle at which any vehicle becomes inclined around its longitudinal axis with respect to the horizontal.