Construction on the center, which began in September 2007, was completed in December 2008. The center already started evaluation of some tires in January this year. Yokohama invested a total of 2.5 billion yen for the facility.
The 1.69-million square meter site includes a high speed track with a total road length of 4.1 kilometers and a longest straight line of 1 kilometer, as well as a multi purpose track of approximately 100,000 square meters. The multi purpose track has been equipped with a wet test course of approximately 9,000 square meters and a special test course that enables the evaluation of driving comfort and noises in a variety of road surface conditions. These test courses are used to test passenger car, light truck, truck and bus tires manufactured at Yokohama Rubber Group plants in Japan, Asia and the United States, the company said. (Tire Review/Akron)