The North Carolina Center for Automotive Research, or NCCAR, is North Carolina’s first automotive testing site. The facility is designed to meet the ever-evolving product research, testing and development demands of the automotive industry. Located on 620 acres in Garysburg, North Carolina, NCCAR is sponsored by the state of North Carolina, USDOT, Northampton County, North Carolina’s university and community college system, and other public development agencies. Affiliation with North Carolina’s university and community college system offers opportunities to match the talents of the world’s automotive industry with the research capacity and business development resources of the state.
NCCAR provides the tools needed to test any kind of road vehicle, from a medium-duty truck to a single-seat autonomously controlled people mover. It is the only automotive testing facility on the East Coast, and its location along I-95 places it within a 12-hour drive of Detroit. The project team visited 57 sites before selecting the site in Northampton County.
Phase 1A of NCCAR includes a 2.03-mile ride and handling course, an integrated vehicle dynamics area, six private garages with lifts and integrated office, storage and support areas; and private engineering suites.
For this award-winning project, McKim & Creed provided master planning, site development, landscape architecture and civil engineering services, and orchestrated the activities of 15 subconsultants.