New tire center to help transform Southside

Local leaders and researchers say establishing the National Tire Research Center at Virginia International Raceway will help transform Southside into an automotive research and technology leader.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Saied Taheri, director of the Intelligent Transportation Lab at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. “It will have a big impact on the local economy.”

The National Tire Research Center is expected to generate more than $12 million within five years and create up to 183 jobs locally by 2020.

A partnership between Virginia Tech, General Motors, the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, the Virginia Tobacco Commission brought the project to fruition, Virginia Tech announced in a Thursday news release.

Funding includes $5 million from General Motors, $5 million from the Tobacco Commission and $4 million from Virginia Tech.

“This facility will be the only one of its kind in the world and will generate world-class tire research data while generating significant revenue and high tech jobs in Southside Virginia,” said Tom Dingus, director of the Transportation Institute, which will manage the center.

The research center will provide the automotive industry with the testing capability to engineer and develop tires that will provide higher fuel economy and improved vehicle safety, like preventing rollovers. NTRC will house the latest and custom equipment, which can test passenger, light truck and racecar tires.

“It will help the tire and automotive industry take a leap into the future,” said Taheri, associate professor in mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech who has been working on tire research.

GM engineers and scientists will work together with Virginia Tech scientists. Taheri hopes said the facility could attract researchers and scholars from around the world.

Steve Southward, director of the Virginia Institute for Performance Engineering and Research at VIR, agreed the center adds to the region’s testing assets and strengthens what the region can offer for the automotive industry.

“This is what makes companies stand up and pay attention to what’s going on down here,” Southward said.

Dick Dell, executive director of the Advanced Vehicle Research Center, said he hopes AVRC can work with the center for its tire expertise. AVRC specializes in electrics, hybrids and green energy technologies. The NTRC will also research green tire technologies.

“Tire technology is far more advanced that people realize,” Dell said. “We want to choose a tire that gives a maximum performance and good fuel economy.”

The center would attract more companies and as they come in, Dell would like to see a group form for all of the people interested in automotive technology in the region.

Mike Sexton, executive director of the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority, said Halifax County is also working with Virginia Tech in applying for a $1.1 million Economic Development Administration grant to add equipment to test tires at high speeds.

Sexton said the center brings more awareness to VIR and the performance engineering in the region. Attracting more high tech industry could help “rebuild the middle class,” he said. Sexton hopes to work together as a region to recruit industry.

“It’s a huge deal,” Sexton said.