You could easily spend six months exploring the gigantic Milford Proving Ground, but GM has compressed the tour down to 100 seconds in this neat video.

In 2024, General Motors celebrated the 100th anniversary of its Milford Proving Ground, the world’s first dedicated facility for the outdoor testing of motor vehicles. Constructed on a 4,000-acre tract about 50 miles northwest of downtown Detroit in 1924, it was approved by GM chief executive Alfred P. Sloan, who saw that with increasing traffic and residential development, public roads were no longer practical or suitable for the purpose.

Since then, the facility has been expanded to include nearly 150 miles of roads with a 3.8 mile oval, a 4.5-mile banked circle track, and Black Lake, a 67-acre asphalt expanse officially called the Vehicle Dynamics Test Area (VDTA). Around 4,200 people work in more than 150 buildings at the MPG, and as the video notes, every GM development since 1924 was tested here. At only 100 seconds, this short film doesn’t begin to tell the entire story, but it does capture the flavor. Video below.