Rolls-Royce Opens New Testway To Simulate Road Conditions And Speeds Above UK’s 70mph Limit

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has officially inaugurated the new Eric Platford Testway, a bespoke, state-of-the-art facility at its Goodwood headquarters in the UK, strategically engineered to enhance the final validation process for its hand-built luxury vehicles.

Named after Eric Platford, Rolls-Royce’s first Chief Tester, the Testway will play a pivotal role in refining current ultra-luxury models like the Ghost, Phantom, Cullinan, and Spectre, while preparing the groundwork for the brand’s upcoming 2027 electric SUV.

The Testway features four parallel lanes, each measuring 90 metres, which together offer eight different surface profiles designed to reproduce challenging road conditions encountered around the world.

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The surfaces in the new testing facility include small and large cobblestones, concrete waves, twist humps, smooth tarmac, and railway-track sections. Turning areas at either end provide ‘roundabout’-style changes of direction to test the stability of loose items in the cabin.

Before reaching the Testway, Rolls-Royce cars being tested pass through an aero-acoustic chamber, where high-pressure, variable-speed air jets are used to conduct wind-noise testing. The system can simulate conditions at speeds exceeding the UK’s 70 mph (112 km/h) speed limit.

Rolls-Royce says engineers will continue to validate a sample of vehicles on an established eight-mile (13-km) route around Goodwood. The new Testway will complement this real-world testing by allowing engineers to assess important aspects of vehicle performance before they reach customers.

“It represents a further investment in our pursuit of perfection, strengthening our ability to deliver the refinement, composure and effortless experience for which Rolls-Royce is renowned,” Gunther Boehner, Director of Manufacturing at Rolls-Royce, said of the new Eric Platford Testway.

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