Grench boast: Dean Slavnich takes an exclusive look around the impressive PSA Centre Technique de Belchamp, which is home to Peugeot and Citroen crash test development programs

摘要

Tucked away in a corner of eastern France is Belchamp, a small area that is home to PSA Peugeot Citroen's impressive Center Technique de Belchamp - a 450ha (1112 acre) park where the French car maker's design, development and test programs are undertaken. Nearly all of PSAs annual 600 crash tests are conducted here. In addition, the PSA group conducts some 25,000 crash tests in virtual reality representing about two million hours of computing. We were welcomed to the site by Eddy Coulmier, head of car body testing. Some 50 of the 1,300 PSA employees at Belchamp are devoted to crash. Past the high-security reception area, the crash test facility is about a five-minute drive into PSAs vast Center Technique.