I had the rare chance to take a spin around Tesla's test track — here's what it was like

Hang on!Matthew DeBord/Business Insider

Tesla has an actual test track near its factory in California.
The company uses it to test out vehicles before they're delivered to customers.
Tesla's track is modest — but it is also a lot of fun.

Big carmakers typically maintain serious test tracks to evaluate their vehicles and put them through various stress tests and performance challenges. General Motors has operated its Milford Proving Ground in Michigan since 1924, and Ford has done likewise at its own Proving Ground in the Detroit area.

Perhaps the most famous manufacturer test track in the world is Ferrari's Fiorano Circuit, located near the automaker's factory in Maranello, Italy. It's where Ferrari puts supercars, hypercars, and Formula One machines through their paces.

Tesla doesn't operate at the same scale as those guys, but it does have a test track. Located behind the company's factory in Fremont, CA, from the air it resembles a tied shoelace, with a pair of banked loops joined by two straightaways.

I've checked out Tesla's track twice — one last July and again in January. It's nothing fancy, dating as it does to the era when Tesla's factory was jointed operated by GM and Toyota. But it does serve as a sort of Tesla-rano, enabling the company to perform quality control on vehicles before they're delivered to customers and also to sample the performance characteristics of various designs.

Have a closer look.

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