Evening star., 1923-06-24
FIAT AUTOS TESTED
ON TRACK IN AIR
Every Car Given Careful Try
out Before 1t Is Listed
for Delivery.

From the earliest days of the motor
movement it has been recognized that
a car should be carefully tested on
the road before being delivered to its
future owner.
When output was small this prac-
tice of testing chassis on the road
had everything in its favor, but when
production exceeded a certain figure
it became exceedingly difficult to
unite the necessary number OF really
skilled drivers who could be trusted
to carry out all the trials and ad-
justments the manufacturer might
desire. but which he was not in
position TO control. Further, 1t was
often necessary to cover consider
able distance in order to reach
suitable testing ground, with a conse-
quent waste of time and money.
All the inconveniences and short
comings of chassis testing on the
road have been overcome by system
recently perfected by the Fiat COM
pany. the counterpart of which does
not exist anywhere else In the world.
AS they leave the assembly shop all
Fiat chassis are put on an elevator
and carried to the roof of the factory
in which they have been built, where,
more than 100 feet above the level
Of the ground. there is a test track
seventy weight feet wide and nearly
three-fourths of a mile round, on
which they can be run under the d.
rect control of the staff engineers.
Formed of two straight stretches
united by banked curves twenty feet
high. the track allows the cars to be
run at their highest possible speeds.
Roof of Factory.
The Fiat aerial speedway forms
the roof of the immense rectangular
factory building at Lingotto. in the
suburbs of Turin, In which all Fiat
cars are now built. The works con-
Eist of two main parallel blocks
united at their extremities and meas
uring 1870 yards round. The. space
between the two main blocks of build
ines is divided into four big courts
by three transverse buildings. which
give connection with the five main
floors of the factory, and in each of
which there are four electric eleNa-
tors capable of carrying an eight
ton load. Together with smaller ele-
vators in other parts of the building.
connection between the ground floor
and the roof track is maintained by
total OF seventeen electric lifts.
The track, which is constructed
throushout of armored concrete. with
special type of asphalt as top
dressing. is made safe by thick con-
crete wall FIVE feet in height on each
side of the two StratghtaWay
stretches and on the inside of the
curves and by a wall nearly ten feet
in height on the outside OF the bank
ing. Advantage is taken of the very
high banking to install workshops un-
der 1t, where the testers can carry
out such adjustments as may be
shown necessary after their test runs.
There is direct entrance to these
shops at the end of the straightaway
and cars can come out of the shops
and enter the track again without
interfering with others going by at
speed.
Tests All Year.
The straightaway stretches are
slightly cambered in order to allow
water to run off into the cutters on
each side. As the hot-water heating
pipes are carried on the ceiling of
the shops Immediately under the
track, there is sufficient heat to melt
snow as 1t falls. consequently testing
can be carried out on the roof all the
year round and under any weather
conditions.
When the cars come up from the
assembly shop they are discharged
from the elevators into the three
transverse buildings uniting the two
main legs of the track, and which are
specially fitted up for their special
work.
Base chambers. gear boxes. rear
axles and all accessory organs Of the
chassis are fabricated in the assem-
bly, department. Tanks and radiators.
however, are dry, and are filled only
after the chassis has reached the roof
track. All petrol Is maintained in a
f1reproof underground tank and is
brought up 10 the roof by air pumps,
which deliver just the quantity re-
quired, so that except when the
pumps are working there Is no petrol
on the roof track.
OIL Distribution System.
There is a similar system of oil
distribution from an underground
tank, which is steam heated in win
ter. Provision is made for electri-
cally heating the water supply for
the car radiators. this being quite