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Four decades of White Hell: the Ivalo test center celebrates its 40th anniversary
This year we have a cause for celebration as our Ivalo Test Center, also know as White Hell, turns 40 this year. The center is the largest and most diverse winter tire testing environment in the world. The facility in Finnish Lapland has been the epicenter of Nokian Tyres’ quest to lead the world in winter driving safety since it opened in 1986.
“The Ivalo Test Center is at the core of our expertise – the place where our practical knowledge of extreme winter conditions originates and evolves,” says Nokian Tyres President and CEO Paolo Pompei. “For forty years, Ivalo has been the proving ground for many pioneering innovations, and it will continue to play a key role in our research, development and testing processes.”
The Ivalo Test Center is at the core of our expertise
In the beginning there was just winter
The renowned tire test facility has come a long way since its early days, growing from a remote outpost to the epicenter of Nokian Tyres’ testing operations.
“There was just a frozen lake when White Hell opened in 1986,” says Nokian Tyres Ivalo Test Facility Manager Matti Suuripää. “A couple guys from the testing department came here with a trailer full of tires and made a track or two on the ice. There wasn’t a facility, there were just winter conditions.”
White Hell includes tracks made on icy lakes
5,000 tires tested each year
Today, the test center is thriving. Nokian Tyres tests approximately 5,000 passenger and heavy tires each year in Ivalo, which is located approximately 235 kilometres (150 miles) north of the Arctic Circle and covers more than 700 hectares (1,700 acres). Frigid winter conditions enable operation in Ivalo for approximately 180 days every year. Between November and April, Nokian Tyres products are tested on the facility’s 20-plus tracks.
The company maintains more than 40 kilometers of test tracks at White Hell, including a 700-meter-long ice hall, frozen lakes, rural roads and courses curated to test every aspect of a tire’s performance in snow and ice. Courses include a circle track that measures lateral grip, snow tracks that test handling, and a steep hill for acceleration and longitudinal grip exercises, among many others.
One of the tracks in White Hell is a 700-meter-long ice hall
Ivalo is also crucial to the development of new technologies
Testing to deliver peace of mind
Winter tires sold in all Nokian Tyres market areas are not the only products tested in White Hell; Nokian Tyres also subjects its all-season, all-weather and all-terrain tires sold in the Central European and North American markets to testing at Ivalo in combination with wet and dry testing at its Hakka Ring facility in Spain and testing in Nokia, Finland. This allows Nokian Tyres to simulate every aspect of the driving experience in the most extreme circumstances, delivering peace of mind to consumers that their tires are prepared for every situation.
Testing at Ivalo is also crucial to the development of new technologies that keep drivers safe and strengthen Nokian Tyres’ leadership in innovation. In recent years, experts have focused their energy on preparing products for exposure to changing winter conditions.
“Our test methods have been refined over the years to become more diverse,” says Suuripää. “We have adapted our testing methods to account for different winter weather and more varied conditions. We work hard to develop products that make driving predictable.”
The beauty of White Hell
