Original sketches shared by Instagram user matt_lebarre offer a look at the development of EPCOT’s first Test Track ride vehicles, including proposed features that never made it into the attraction.
Original Test Track Vehicle Concepts
The images feature work by longtime General Motors designer Pres Bruning, who passed away this year on June 10, 2026, at age 88. His career at GM focused on experimental vehicles and futuristic transportation concepts.
Bruning designed the original Test Track ride vehicle, his final contribution to GM’s EPCOT projects. His involvement with the pavilion stretched back to World of Motion, where he developed transportation concepts for its Transcenter exhibits and contributed to the exhibition area’s layout and interior design.
The newly shared sketches document his exploration of Test Track’s vehicle appearance, seating, restraints, weather protection, and boarding arrangements.
Test Track replaced World of Motion, the General Motors-sponsored opening-day attraction that closed on January 2, 1996. Following development delays, Test Track began soft openings in December 1998 before its official grand opening on March 17, 1999.
“Test Sled” Features and Trade-Offs
The first image pairs a vehicle rendering with a handwritten list titled “TEST SLED.” Beside the proposed features are columns labeled “Good” and “Bad,” denoting the advantages and drawbacks of everything from seating and restraints to rain drainage.
The full bullet point list describing the “TEST SLED” suggests the ride vehicle was not originally envisioned as a typical car body, but rather a “carlike” design. As development continued, however, the optimal ride vehicle features lent themselves to a format that more closely resembled a recognizable carlike silhouette.
| Test Sled Feature | Good | Bad |
|---|---|---|
| 6 bucket seats | Carlike + secure | — |
| Seat/shoulder belts | Carlike | Added complex |
| Open roof | Easy load/unload | No rain protection |
| Windshield | Rain deflection | — |
| On board elec. motor | Play up graphics | — |
| No suspension | Ride excitement | Harsh ride |
| Power pickup from track | Protected | — |
| Clip-on inst. panel | Test sled like | — |
| Black boxes | Realism | — |
| Camera | Souvenir pic | Costly? |
| Hand grips | Easy entry exit; grips for violent maneuvers | Added complexity |
| Modular body panels | Sled like | — |
| Low slung vehicle | Maneuver handling | Limits body types to Corvettes only |
| Rain drainage | A must! | — |
| Step pads | Ease of entry exit; no slip | — |
| Mirrors | Realism | — |
| No 5th wheel | Carlike | — |
The notes show how the vehicle’s appearance and guest experience were considered together. An open roof would simplify boarding but leave riders exposed to rain, while eliminating suspension would increase the excitement at the expense of a harsher ride. A proposed camera could provide souvenir photographs, although its cost was flagged as a concern.
The accompanying rendering depicts an open vehicle that’s not too dissimilar from the final Test Track 1.0 design, though several surfaces and features do stand out. The concept art depicts a vehicle with a much larger rear bumper, more pronounced back and headrests along the front row, a shallower windshield angle, different decal arrangements, and a variety of smaller differences compared to the final product.
Restraint and Boarding Studies
Another image collects sketches exploring how guests would sit in the vehicle and how restraints would move during boarding. Blue accents highlight a proposed restraint structure, with one drawing showing it raised above the seats and another showing it lowered around a rider.
A close-up depicts a seated passenger holding grips near their lap. Other drawings show the vehicle from the side and attendants handling a blue canopy panel over the passenger compartment.
These studies illustrate the boarding arrangements being considered alongside the vehicle’s overall shape.
Folding Transparent Canopy
A separate photograph provides a closer look at the proposed ride vehicle canopy. One drawing shows the vehicle covered by a blue-tinted roof, while another demonstrates how an attendant would raise and lower the canopy into place before and after guests boarded.
Handwritten annotations identify a “foldable see thru plastic plastic” would be used for the canopy material. Smaller side-view sketches along the top show different roof positions.
The canopy would have created a substantially different appearance from the open-air vehicles that ultimately carried guests through all three iterations of the attraction to date.
The final image features a commemorative miniature Test Track vehicle, as it appeared on the final attraction, inside a clear display case. A plaque on the base reads “DEDICATED March 17, 1999,” suggesting this was a dedication gift to attraction designers and General Motors contributors for the ride’s official debut at EPCOT.
Of course, Test Track as we know it today has undergone two major renovations, with the most recent retheme debuting just last year. Check out our POV multi-cam coverage of the updated ride experience below:
For a look at how the finished vehicles and full attraction experience appeared for Test Track 1.0, revisit WDWNT’s POV ride-through of the original Test Track on YouTube.
Which of these proposed vehicle features would you have liked to see on Test Track? Share your thoughts with us on social media.
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The post Original Test Track Sketches Reveal Proposed ‘Test Sled’ Design, Ride Vehicle Roof, and Other Unused Concepts appeared first on WDW News Today.
