Way back in 1924, during the early days of the automotive industry, General Motors began testing on their new four wheel braking system was deemed invalid, as it was conducted on public roads that were later repaved. Due to a need to control the conditions of the roads they were testing on, General Motors opened the world’s first dedicated automotive testing facility under the guidance of then president, Alfred P. Sloan. That facility was what we know today as the Milford Proving Ground. And it was the first of its kind.
The Milford Proving Ground originally consisted of a few buildings, a water tower and some test roads. Though over the years, more land was acquired, additional buildings were constructed and new test roads were built, resulting in what is today one of the largest facilities of its kind.
Milford consists of many different types of testing roads, including 3.8 mile oval track, a 4.5 mile banked circle, the 6.25 mile North/South Straightaway, the Milford Road Course, which is dubbed as the “Lutzring” and more. If you want to know more, check out this official GM video we stumbled across from a few years back which details the history and all the facilities located at Milford at length.
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I remember seeing a video a while back on the development of the first Holden at the Milford Proving Ground (made approx. 1945 or 1946)