Context: Recently, Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises has inaugurated the 11.3 km NATRAX- the High-Speed Track (HST) in Indore which is the longest such track in Asia.

NATRAX

• NATRAX, developed in an area of 1000 acres of land is a one-stop solution for all sorts of high-speed performance tests for the widest categories of vehicles from 2 wheelers to heavy tractor-trailers.
• It has multiple test capabilities like measurements of maximum speed, acceleration, constant speed fuel consumption.
• It can conduct emission tests through real road driving simulation, high-speed handling and stability evaluation during manoeuvred such as lane change, high-speed durability testing, etc.
• Also, it is a Centre of excellence for Vehicle Dynamics.

Features of the HST

• The vehicle can achieve a max speed of 375 Kmph on curves with steering control and it has less banking on ovals making it also one of the safest test tracks globally.
• It is the one-stop solution for all sorts of high-speed performance tests, being one of the largest in the world.
• It can cater to the widest category of vehicles; say from two-wheelers to the heaviest tractor trailers

Its significance

• HST is used for measuring the maximum speed capability of high-end cars like BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Tesla and so forth which cannot be measured on any of the Indian test tracks.
• Being centrally located in Madhya Pradesh, it is accessible to most of the major OEMs.
• Foreign OEMs will be looking at NATRAX HST for the development of prototype cars for Indian conditions.
• At present, foreign OEMs go to their respective high-speed track abroad for high-speed test requirements.