Peter Palmer: Honda Proving Center Returns To Action Following Renovation

Following a complete renovation, the Honda Proving Center (HPC) is open again and ready to function as a full on testing ground for future Honda and Acura products. Located in the Mojave Desert, near Cantil, California, HPC is an ideal place for Honda to test and develop a wide range of automobiles, motorcycles, side-by-sides, and ATVs.

“The enhancements we made at the Honda Proving Center will play an important role in advancing the performance capabilities of our products for our customers,” said Jeff Conrad, Senior Vice President, Automobile Division, American Honda.

The remodeled HPC features a 7.5-mile banked oval track where vehicles can exceed 200 mph during testing. A 4.5-mile winding road course accompanies the oval track, and incorporates 28 curves and six different hills. The new and improved HPC now has a 1.3 million-square-foot vehicle dynamics area and a modified powersports complex to support the development and testing of Honda motorcycles and other all-terrain vehicles.

The renovation of the 3,840-acre warm-weather testing facility provides Honda with two key proving grounds in the United States. In addition to HPC, Honda also conducts verification testing at the Transportation Research Center, an automotive proving facility located in East Liberty, Ohio.

“HPC has long played a valuable role in the development of our products and this renovation will ensure it continues to do so,” Conrad added.

Interesting enough, all original and existing asphalt at the old HPC site was recycled and used for the renovation of the new and improved site. The video below shows more. Just for the record, if we worked for Honda, we would want to be assigned here, preferably with the Acura NSX. The Civic Type R would’t be half bad either.

Carl Anthony is Managing Editor of Automoblog and resides in Detroit, Michigan.