Tata Motors sets 360 endurance and efficiency records

Tata Motors embarked on a grueling endurance and a mileage run on 14h March, 2016 with cars randomly picked from its plant. . All vehicles were in OE stock condition, except for safety fitments such as an emergency engine kill switch, auxiliary driving lamps and a fire extinguisher. The location was the 4.2 km long NCAT (National Centre of Automotive Testing) high-speed test track at the Vehicle Research & Development Establishment (VRDE) test facility in Ahmednagar and the goal was to achieve multiple record-breaking distances culminating at 50,000km each. All four cars cars broke all existing Indian records for 24 hours with the Bolt making a new milestone of 3161km at an average speed of 131.7km/h.

The drive was grueling to say the least as the tough high-speed circuit has steeply banked curves of varying degrees on all four corners that put the basic structure of and suspension components of the car under immense stress The engines too face the heat as they are run flat out lap after lap, day and night. Apart from short pit stops every 2 hours for driver changes, fuel fill-ups, routine checks, and cleaning of the windshield/ headlamps, the 4 cars racked up the kilometers at speeds between 130 -140 kmph. All four cars have completed the 50,000 km mark in record time, each of the record-breaking cars covering more than 11832 laps of the NCAT circuit, with the total distances covered by all four cars amounting to 200,000 kilometres.Besides the endurance test, another four cars similar to the Endurance cars also ran at a constant pace of 45-55km/h until each ran out of fuel. The Zest and Bolt clocked-in a mileage of 29.89kmpl and 28.32kmpl respectively, monitored under the ideal conditions. Tata Motors will announce the Tiago fuel economy test results at the car’s launch event.

The sporting and technological conduct of the event was in the hands of Godspeed Racing run under the NCR (National Competition Rules) of the FMSCI (Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India). Over 60 professional drivers, racers and auto experts from 22 cities, participated in this event to push these cars to their limits. The pit stops were managed by a team of engineers and technicians from Tata Motors, and assisted by teams from JK Tyres / JK Motorsports, and IOCL (Indian Oil Corporation Ltd).

The records are for the following categories:

Indian National Record for Indian-built sub-compact sedans with petrol engines up to 1200cc

Indian National Record for Indian-built hatchbacks with petrol engines up to 1200cc

Indian National Record for Indian-built mini-hatchbacks with petrol engines up to 1200cc

Indian National Record for Indian-built mini-hatchbacks with diesel engines up to 1100cc