Photo: Vadim SKRYABIN / NEFU Newsroom

The test site of North-Eastern Federal University and the Japanese corporation Bridgestone will be constructed in the village Vladimirovka of Yakutsk in 2017. NEFU Rector Evgenia Mikhailova and company manager Chiaki Oyama have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation today, on November 17.

The administration of Yakutsk has allocated land for the construction of the test site area of ​​119 hectares. Currently, there is a topographic work on the site. "Previously, the corporation conducted tests in New Zealand at the site with artificial snow, agreement with them shall remain in force until 2017. They have encountered a problem due to the fact that global warming has shifted the temporary schedule of tests", said Aleksey Ermakov, NEFU Vice Rector on Technical Development and Information Technology.

"We have been conducting tests since 2012 on the basis of NEFU testing track. The university fulfills all obligations in full, a total of seven tests have passed", Chiaki Oyama said. The tires will be tested at different seasons, in different conditions, and, NEFU Rector Evgenia Mikhailova noted that the company wants to do it at the same time, either in the summer in a special "cold" hangar, simulating the conditions of the Yakut winter, or in the winter in a warm hangar where spring-summer temperatures preserve.

By the end of December 2015, the university plans to complete the survey and project work. The Japanese party has already sent terms of reference to experts of the university: the corporation has special requirements for the quality of the route, the configuration of the tracks, hangars and premises. "I think 80% of the work will be carried out by the university itself, with the help of our small innovative enterprises. The equipment of the university allows to operate multiservice testing site all year", Aleksey Ermakov said.

The test site is a car route with different test tracks, types of road surfaces, slopes and turns. According to Vice President of Bridgestone Tatsuro Hamada, the construction of a modern test site will allow the federal university to cooperate not only with the Japanese corporation, but with other manufacturers of tires and vehicles. For example, the university has already preliminary agreement with KAMAZ and other companies.