Cold, dry winter weather makes city ideal for testing Jaguars.Cold, dry winter weather makes city ideal for testing Jaguars The safety belt on Laura McCurdy-Wakeford's Jaguar Sovereign sedan Sedan (sədäN`), town (1990 pop. 22,407), Ardennes dept., NE France, on the Meuse River. A noted textile center since the 16th cent., Sedan also has metal and brewing industries. The town became part of French crown lands in 1642. automatically tracks around the window casing as she closes the door. It settles over her shoulder. She matches it with a lap belt lap belt n. A seat belt that fastens across the lap. and steers for the road. "JC-3 to JC-base for radio check," she calls into her radio phone. This is old hat for the veteran Jaguar test driver in Timmins. For five years, four months per year, her work has been packaged into eight-hour shifts. Her opinion of vehicle performance is as much of an asset as her driving skills. Jaguar has been cold-weather testing in Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron (including Georgian Bay), the French River and Lake Nipissing. Northern Ontario has a land area of 802,000 km² (310,000 mi²) and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it since about 1982, basing itself out of rented facilities in Timmins. During the cold months, the company runs three shifts of vehicles to get a feel for car performance during all weather and traffic conditions. The short-legged driver, the one with the sensitive back, the person wearing contact lenses contact lenses contact npl → verres mpl de contact contact lenses contact npl → Kontaktlinsen pl contact lenses npl - all of these representatives of the consumer-at-large are valuable behind the test-car wheel. Northern Ontario, and Timmins in particular, has become a hub for cold-weather testing. Peak months are January and February, as automobile companies compete for the leading edge in cold-weather technology. Some companies, such as General Motors, have established permanent bases in the north. The GM centre is in Kapuskasing. Other companies work through independent test companies which serve clients on a contract basis. Such a company is KTC KTC Kentucky Transportation Cabinet KTC Kentucky Transportation Center KTC Knoxville Track Club KTC Kosovo Transitional Council KTC Kadamba Transport Corporation (Goa, India) KTC Key Translation Center Testing and Development Inc., situated on the former Lowther air force base near Opasatika. All of the companies like Northern Ontario because of its cold, dry climate and its proximity to fair-sized towns. These provide amenities and service. Although cold tests can be done in Scandinavia, there isn't the population base in those northern regions. Andrew Smith Andrew Smith or Andy Smith may refer to:
"We sell cars in Canada. Consequently, we see it as an important part of our business to test there and prove the cars are capable of withstanding the conditions," said Smith. He also likes the privacy. His company, like all the others, is testing prototype components, including shocks, engines or transmissions. Sometimes the cars themselves are prototypes. When Jaguar first began testing in Northern Ontario, the company was testing a new body design and had to keep the vehicles under cover, said McCurdy-Wakeford. Apparently, in Europe, there are professional spies spies n. Plural of spy. v. Third person singular present tense of spy. who flush under-cover prototypes out from under wraps. This is not a problem in Canada. Jaguar is more open than many other companies. Its quarters are no secret. However, the Rover group Rover Group plc was the name that was given by the British government, in 1986, to the state-owned vehicle manufacturer British Leyland or BL. After divesting of its commercial vehicle and bus manufacturing divisions the company by then consisting of the car manufacturing testing in Timmins was more cautious. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion