In good news for driving enthusiasts (but bad news for Top Gear's James May), Hyundai has just opened its new Nürburgring testing facility, a €6.62-million purpose-built structure adjacent to the legendary race track, from which Hyundai's European R&D team can venture out onto the 73-corner 'Ring to tweak and tune the chassis of upcoming models.
Of course, it's not just about sharper steering and harder ride quality. The 3.6-million square metre, four-storey facility (which was completed in less than 15 months) is equally there to help Hyundai's engineers work on the cars' durability - there's nothing quite like hot laps at the 'Ring to expose any weaknesses in a car's mechanical makeup.
The idea is that each car that passes through the facility will lap the Nürburgring 480 times, in all possible weathers, simulating a 100,000-mile durability test in less than six weeks. The cars are wired up with a battery of sensors to read steering, chassis and engine inputs, and Hyundai hopes that it will be able to use the setup to better tweak the feel of future models to European driving tastes.
Allan Rushforth, Senior Vice President and COO of Hyundai Motor Europe commented: "The Nürburgring is a unique challenge for any vehicle, so it is the perfect location for our new facility. The new European Test Centre is a natural extension of our Technical Centre in Rüsselsheim, and enables Hyundai Motor to more quickly and more accurately test the reliability and drivability of our vehicles. The emotional appeal of being 'tested at Nürburgring' will also help to further build the brand's reputation across Europe."
Anything else?
Well, it's an odd story but a couple of years ago we were given a chance to drive a pair of late-in-the-day Hyundai i40 prototypes, each with different chassis settings - a 'soft' one and a 'sporty' one. Hyundai asked us for feedback, which was duly given, and the 'Sporty' model got a massive thumbs up. It was seriously good to drive. When the production i40 arrived though, it was much closer in feel to the 'soft' car, which was a shame. But with a test team now permanently camped at the 'Ring, given how good the prototype i40 was, Hyundai could soon be challenging Ford for the mass-market drivers' car crown.