[vincesanity82]

Windshear Inc. is developing a $40 million, 180-mph rolling-road wind tunnel that will be the first of its kind in North America and only the third rolling road wind tunnel of its scale. The company also says the facility near Concord Regional Airport will be the world's first to open its doors to all users for a fee. For the city of Concord and the Charlotte region, which claims that 90 percent of NASCAR's teams reside within 50 miles of Lowe's Motor Speedway, this looks like a Next Big Thing. John Cox, who heads the Cabarrus County Economic Development Corp., envisions Formula One teams flying cars into Concord Regional Airport and hauling them over for testing. The location in the midst of NASCAR country is a plus, he said, but he sees Windshear's potential market as larger: "any automotive manufacturer who wants to test a part." Two other motorsports wind tunnels are operating in the region, and a competing company has announced plans to start a $63 million wind tunnel next year in Rowan County. -- Charlotte Observer

Charlotte Observer | 12/04/2007 | Expect high winds in Concord

[Racer Duck]

seems I remember hearing Penske was building a wind tunnel in the Charlotte area...

[wingkey1]

"Man made wind tunnel" - at the risk of demonstrating incredibly stupid (one again), he asked - is there other than "man made"? Can't for the life of me think of another kind.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by wingkey1

"Man made wind tunnel" - at the risk of demonstrating incredibly stupid (one again), he asked - is there other than "man made"? Can't for the life of me think of another kind.

There are a few made by nature, but they are characteristically hard to control. The area between Denver and Boulder comes to mind...