Fifty years ago Land Rover picked the Eastnor Castle estate in Herefordshire for its off-road testing and development center. The estate's 500 acres has provided the automaker with the diverse terrain needed to continually perfect its SUVs' suspensions, brakes, and four-wheel-drive systems.
The company has also used the facility to develop technologies such as anti-lock brakes, adjustable air suspension, electronic traction control, Hill Descent Control, and Terrain Response. Land Rover asserts that many of the technologies were world firsts for four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Today, Land Rover is still using the facility to tune its rigs -- including the new Range Rover Evoque -- Motor Trend's 2012 Sport/Utility of the Year. The automaker says it used the grounds surrounding Eastnor Castle to tune the Evoque's MagneRide dampers for a variety of surfaces such as driving in mud, ruts, rocks, sand, grass, gravel, or snow.
In 1989, Land Rover added off-road training for emergency services, explorers, and humanitarian organizations. Recently on- and off-road driving experiences for the public has been added as well. The company says that Eastnor Castle attracts more than 5500 visitors a year to participate in half- and full-day beginner and intermediate training courses. Approximately one-third of its visitors come from other countries.