Never Lose Your Cool
Living in an environment so cold that even a polar bear thinks twice about popping out for a pint a milk can have its advantages. The lawn doesn’t need mowing very often and there’s no real cause for concern if the tub of ice cream is left out overnight. Plus, if you just happen to be in the business of testing winter tyres, nature will bless you with ideal working conditions day after day.
Test World is located in such a place. Based in Ivalo, Finnish Lapland, some 300 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, Test Word is the world’s northernmost winter testing facility. Every year when it gets cold in Ivalo – which, given its balmy May average temperature of 5ºC, is most months – tyre, vehicle and other manufacturers and importers, regulatory authorities, technical institutes and intrepid media representatives rug up and head north in order to put tyres, not to mention a huge range of different products, through their paces.