A village at Denmark's northern tip has clout with car makers. Andrew Hamilton, who has been going there for 27 years, explains why
Imagine if you can, all the new car models on sale in Europe this year being tested on the roads around Malin Head in Co Donegal. It's difficult, of course, but this kind of exercise has just finished at another unlikely location.
It's been going on for 27 years in a tiny village called Tversted at the northern tip of Jutland and is dubbed "the world's greatest independent car test" by organiser Rogers Sogaard, a 73-year-old retired Danish motor magazine editor.
Officially called the Tannistest, after the Tannishus hotel complex where it is located, participants include motoring journalists and engineers from many car manufacturers. This year 21 of the 58 European Car of the Year journalists attended: they are the jurors who will decide the winner of the 2005 accolade.
A key feature of the Tannistest is testing on a nearby airfield. Cars are put through emergency swerving and braking by simulating an exercise beloved of Scandinavian journalists - avoiding a mighty elk that might dash into the roadway from a forest.
"It's very often a real experience for our Swedish and Norwegian friends," says Sogaard.
The elk test developed a certain fame six years ago when it forced Mercedes to recall its small A-Class car. At the Danish airfield, it alarmingly went on two wheels, coming close to turning over.
Mercedes engineers at Tannis, however, insisted there was no problem. Two months later, on a Swedish airfield, the car did indeed turn over doing the same kind of test and the Swedish journalist occupants were injured.
"Mercedes could have usefully learned from our Tannis test but they chose to ignore what we told them then," says Marianne Sterner, from Sweden, one of the two women journalists on the European jury and a yearly Tannis attender. "They had to recall the car, do retro fitting of features like ESP," she says. "It cost them dearly not just in money but image."
The second generation A-Class which was tested at the same location last week evoked no such controversy and it passed the elk hurdle convincingly.
This year's Tannistest model line-up included new cars not yet launched such as the Citroën C4 which includes a novelty addition to its specification armoury, a spray offering a variety of after-shave and perfume sprays. A bit of a novelty too was the Renault Dacia Logon, Romanian-built and intended for east European markets. It has a price tag of around €6,000.
With 21 of the 58 European Car of the Year jury members attending, the Tannis test experience obviously has a major influence on the final outcome which will be known in mid-November. But industry folk find it useful as well. Claude Satigny, boss of Citroën, flew in to promote the C4. "It's useful to see such a fine array of product that can be driven and assessed," he said. "In a way, it's far better than a motor show."
If there's a criticism, it's that the roads of northern Jutland are flat, straight and impeccably maintained, offering little chance of testing dynamic qualities. The roads around Malin Head would present a better challenge!
Andrew Hamilton has been attending the Tannistest for over 20 years. He represents Ireland on the European Car of the Year jury