by Tom Leaning
CaravanTimes spent a glorious day at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire this week, as we followed Bailey of Bristol putting one of their caravans through its paces, performing thorough tests and checks all over the 700 acre site.
It was a surreal experience to be filming a Bailey caravan being tested to its limits round Millbrook, while Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Aston Martins and Rolls Royces were sharing the same tracks and roads as us – at considerably faster speeds of course!
Caravan testing at Millbrook involves driving over cobbled stone roads, pavement curbs, diagonal speed bumps and round speed tracks. All of these procedures are designed to test the strength and durability of each caravan’s chassises and individual components, in order to comply with government safety regulations, so caravanners like you won’t experience problems out on the open roads. Each caravan is put through 100 hours of individual testing.
We even caught up with Millbrook’s Chief Commercial Officer, Jonathan Eaton, who discussed the history of the site, the importance of testing leisure vehicles and how testing has developed over the years and what features he believes can improve comfort and safety in caravans and motorhomes in the future.
This interview and our adventures at Millbrook will all be available to view on the CaravanTimes website and social pages next week, so please keep an eye for them – in the meantime, have a wonderful weekend!
