The transport ministry tests new road surface with 12 ton lorry on a pivot. In the search for improved road surfaces and, incidentally, road safety, the Ministry of Transport has many intricate machines at its Road Research Labrstory in Harmondsworth, Middlesex, near London, on a circular track made up of different road surfaces, a heavy lorry chassis weighing 12 ton hurtles round hour by hour. The chassis is attached by a heavy girder to a centre turntable, and makes 600 revolutions of the track every hour, making 15 revolutions to the mile. It has already covered 70,000 miles and has provided engineers with a valuable statistics concerning the road surfaces on which it runs. Photo shows, preparing the pivoted 12 ton lorry chassis for test on the circular track. 30 November 1937