Richard Yarrow’s opinion for www.startrescue.co.uk, providing low cost Breakdown Cover.
Spent a fascinating few hours with Ford earlier this week, getting a whistlestop tour of its Environmental Test Laboratory (ELT) at Dunton, near Basildon, Essex. It’s the place where engineers put development prototypes into a deep freeze for days on end to make sure owners don’t need to reach for their car breakdown cover at some point in the future.
The above picture shows what the new Focus looked like after a session at -40 degrees, though it’s slightly misrepresentative because the layer of frost wouldn’t normally be there. That’s added by the Ford team spraying a mist of water droplets on just before they close the chiller door. If they didn’t do that it would look like any other Ford Focus and you’d just have to take my word for the fact it was -40 in there! Yes, we faked it slightly… but it’s a cracking image.
I spent an hour in -5 degrees doing a photoshoot for an article I’ve written for Metro, the popular free commuter newspaper. I was wrapped up in a £600 insulated arctic suit and gloves to keep me toastie, but I felt a bit sorry for the snapper. She was wearing a decent coat, but she couldn’t do her job with gloves on so it was bare flesh fingers on show.
The ELT is a fascinating place, where Ford can simulate pretty much anything Mother Nature can throw at a car – heights well above and below sea level, years of sunlight in a matter of days and strong winds, as well as the cold. And I’ve a new found respect for the people that work there. Woolly hats are part of the uniform.
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