Scorpio intro	Styling	Design & engineering	Manufacturing	Marketing	Service & maintenance	About my Scorpio
1988, 1989	1995	Variants	(Future)	(Future)	(Future)	(Future)
Specs	'88 Survey	Design	Engineering	Testing	(Future)	(Future)

As soon as there were some early prototypes available, the test engineers pounced on them. With on-board sensors, recorders and analyzers they checked ride, handling, noise, vibration, harshness, maximum speed, acceleration, aerodynamics, heating, cooling, ventilation, splash effects, emissions, load capabilities, economy, brakes, coachwork integrity, and the many other factors that add up to owner satisfaction. Back in the laboratories these evaluations joined an expanding database to permit more accurate computerized simulation for future designs.

I've always fancied being a test driver of prototype dreamcars, but my eagerness declined when I realized that some of the testing occurs in unpleasant places. This photo shows a Ford driver trying to get an early Scorpio to reveal some previously unsuspected weakness of the car's design in the Finnish winter's extremes above the Arctic Circle. That's a tough area for getting out and hitching a ride. I wonder if there's an Eject mechanism for blasting the driver out through the sunroof or if the rear bumper is reinforced for one final try at grabbing the car as it sinks majestically through thin ice?

Ford's Arizona Proving Grounds site is another favorite venue for testing in extremes. Visits to Arizona weren't frequent, as Ford's Lommel Proving Grounds are handier for Europeans and have the advantage of carefully structured driving surfaces that permit standardized testing over extended periods of time. Its water troughs and deliberately sculpted trackbeds allow direct comparisons before and after modifying the car's design. It's much harder to assure repeatability on Arizona's graded dirt tracks. I guess Arizona's more useful for testing under environmental conditions such as heat, dust, and the exported Los Angeles smog.

Return to the top of this page.