In a recent video that was published online Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari was seen testing The Thrie Beam Crash Barrier At NATRAX. The Minister was being driven spiritedly around the NATRAX test circuit as a part of a testing session. The minister has been often seen, being driven around in Special vehicles, such as the Toyota Mirai, Mercedes S-class , but in the new video the Minister was seen being driven around the NATRAX test track in a Ferrari Roma.
The video was shared by the minister on his Youtube platform. Along with the Ferrari Roma that the minister was being driven in there was a Porsche as well as a Lamborghini Huracan present as well. No normal car could have recorded the Roma from outside in that speed, hence a Porsche was used to take a video of the car from outside. The official speed that the Roma reached on the NATRAX was not revealed.
NATRAX- A High Speed Test Track
NATRAX is a highspeed test track that has been professionally constructed to test high speed vehicles. The track is considered to be of instrumental importance for India’s position as a leading manufacturer of automobile technology. The current pursuit that has been recorded on camera was rigorous testing session of the Thrie Beam Crash Barrier that has been implemented at the Natrax.
Ferrari Roma
Ferrari Roma is the successor of the Ferrari California. The car is powered by a Turbocharged V8 engine, and a 2+2 seating arrangement. In the overall line of vehicles at Ferrari the car has been placed between Ferrari Portofino and the F8 Tributo. Considering that the Roma reaches the speed of around a 100 Mph in just 3.8 seconds when driven in a enthused manner the vehicle that Nitin Gadkari was in, must have been doing above a 100 km/h while testing the Thrie Beam Crash Barrier. The car has about 690 PS of power coupled with a peak torque figure of around 760nm.
NATRAX Vs Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien Test Track
While India has now focused on having test track considering its global role as a automotive manufacturer. Countries like Germany and Britain have a already existing well constructed ecosystem of test tracks and proving grounds where vehicles are taken for testing.
One of the most famous track that became synonymous with the Bugatti Veyron’s record of being the fastest vehicle in the world was Ehra-Lessien Test Track.
Ehra-Lessien Test Track.
Egra Lessien is a municipality of Gifhorn in Germany. The Bugatti Veyron Super sport was driven here to set a speed record of around 420 kmp/h. This is only a few of the places where a McLaren F1 or a Bugatti Veyron can reach its top speed. The Bugatti Veyron super Sport that was driven here had 1200 Horsepower and reached a speed of 431.072 Km/h. Beyond that in 2019 Bugatti used a modified Chiron and broke the record they had set earlier and took the car to a top speed of around 490.48 km/h. The total length of the track is around 96 km.
Comparing to this the NAXTRACK is around only 11.3 km of length, with four Fast lanes. But its establishment is a welcome step in testing vehicles high speeds, and overall durability at increasing speeds. May be in the future the test track might be extended for better adaptability for faster vehicles as well.
