Unusual test equipment.

[Jon39]

Wonder what test is being carried out?

Perhaps it is another DVSA crackdown. No that cannot be right.
They will still be sipping tea back in the office, recovering from their day out jolly to Kineton.





One wag has suggested that they are wheel spacers, and the wheels have been put on the wrong way round. -

Edited by Jon39 on Monday 29th January 19:06

[FMOB]

This is endurance testing so marketing can say it was tested till the wheels fell off with a straight face.

The extra bits are safety restraints for when the wheels really do fall off.

[LTP]

I think it's a Rotating Wheel Dynamometer; it measures and records road load data at each wheel so the tyre and suspension engineers know exactly what speeds, forces and accelerations the wheel and tyre are experiencing over various surfaces and at different speeds. I believe they can also be used to measure tyre slip angles. The cables and arm are more likely to be slip rings and data cables than tethers.

If you're interested; https://www.autospeed.com/cms/a_111230/article

[TR-Spider]

I would guess ABS and ESP calibration or verification thereof.

[Simpo Two]

I thought it was illegal to have anything projecting beyond the wheel arches, so is this an official 'test vehicle' and exempt?

Perhaps it's an automatic wheel-changing system

[LTP]

Simpo Two said:

I thought it was illegal to have anything projecting beyond the wheel arches, so is this an official 'test vehicle' and exempt?

An interesting point. So I donned my anorak with the slogan "I'm not an expert in this field so may be wrong" emblazoned across its back and I took to Google.

UK Construction and Use (C&U) Regulation 63 "Wings" states: "Subject to paragraphs (3) and (5), every vehicle to which this regulation applies shall be equipped with wings or other similar fittings to catch, so far as practicable, mud or water thrown up by the rotation of its wheels or tracks.

Paragraph 3 makes no provision for test vehicles, but paragraph 5 says "Instead of complying with paragraph (2) a vehicle may comply with Community Directive 78/549."

Aha! Pausing for a moment to adjust my deerstalker and light my Meerschaum, off to legislation.gov.uk we go. Annex 1, Section 1.2 of Council Directive 78 /549/EEC says:
"The wheel guards must be so designed as to protect other road users, as far as possible, against thrown-up stones, mud, ice, snow and water and to reduce for those users the dangers due to contact with the moving wheels.

So the EEC Directive goes even further than the UK C&U in that it not only mentions water, mud and debris being flung up, it also says the wings should protect other road users against contact with moving wheels. The Directive goes on to give various dimensions that need to be met, and there is no derogation for test vehicles.

Bang to rights, you'd think

However, Google also unearthed a UK Department for Transport Guidance document entitled "Prototype road vehicles: construction requirements" This says:
In normal circumstances, all vehicles used on the public road have to comply with the ‘Road vehicles (construction and use) regulations 1986’ (known as C&U), ‘Road vehicles authorised weight regulations 1998’ and ‘Road vehicles lighting regulations 1989’ (RVLR)’. However certain exemptions are available for vehicles which are prototypes or which contain prototype equipment."

It then goes on to give the usual legalese definitions of what the guidance is, but then helpfully adds:
"In other words, if manufacturers are testing new models of vehicle before they are put on sale, or new equipment is being tested in current vehicles, then the law allows certain exemptions from the normal construction requirements.

It then lists those C&U regulations that must still apply to prototypes even when testing, and Regulation 63 is not amongst them. So the requirement for wings covering the wheels and tyres does not seem to apply to prototype test vehicles on UK roads.

I'd be willing to bet that the small white sticker on the bottom edge of the bootlid of the car in Jon's original post says something like "Prototype Vehicle" to avoid any doubt.

Time for a couple of lines and a quick tune on the violin

If anyone is as OCD as I am, the original documents can be found at:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1986/1078/cont...
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/1978/549/pdfs/...
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prototy...

Slang fixed

Edited by LTP on Tuesday 30th January 14:19

[Simpo Two]

LTP said:

So the requirement for wings covering the wheels and tyres does not seem to apply to prototype test vehicles on UK roads.

Me win!

But well done on the detective work; I shall bear your sleuthing skills in mind for the future!