{"id":102998,"date":"2022-10-20T19:12:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T19:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/why-are-racing-cars-driving-up-and-down-an-abandoned-railway-tunnel\/"},"modified":"2022-10-20T19:12:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T19:12:00","slug":"why-are-racing-cars-driving-up-and-down-an-abandoned-railway-tunnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/why-are-racing-cars-driving-up-and-down-an-abandoned-railway-tunnel\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are racing cars driving up and down an abandoned railway tunnel?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<figure class=\"intro-image intro-left\">\n  <figcaption class=\"caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-text\">enlarge <span class=\"sep\">\/<\/span> A Mazda RT-24P emerges from the Catesby Tunnel.<\/div>\n<p>Multimatic<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside id=\"social-left\" class=\"social-left\" aria-label=\"Read the comments or share this article\">\n<\/aside>\n<p><!-- cache hit 1516:single\/related:1dbe85d24bccc8eb3d8be4f2a28c1413 --><!-- empty --><\/p>\n<p>A tip of the hat to the editor over at Dailysportscar this morning <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dsceditor\/status\/1583029328903688192\" target=\"_blank\">for reminding me<\/a> of one of the cooler bits of industrial repurposing in the automotive world.  It&#8217;s a Victorian railway tunnel in England that saw its last train in 1966 but is now entering its second life as an advanced aerodynamics test facility and an interesting alternative to a wind tunnel.<\/p>\n<p>The Catesby Tunnel can be found in Northamptonshire, but more importantly it&#8217;s in the heart of what&#8217;s sometimes called the UK&#8217;s motorsport valley because of the concentration of Formula 1 teams\u2014Mercedes, Aston Martin, Alpine, Williams, and Red Bull\u2014and their suppliers.  Originally built in 1897, it was part of the Great Central Line and connected London with the industrial cities of Manchester and Sheffield.<\/p>\n<p>But the UK&#8217;s train network was devastated in 1963 by the Beeching cuts, where 3,000 miles of railway were torn up, market towns and villages were cut off from the rail network, and the nation\u2014like so many others\u2014started becoming much more car- centric  Ironic, then, that the tunnel is, too, more than 50 years later, thanks to a company called Aero Research Partners.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad_wrapper\" aria-label=\"In Content advertisement\">\n    <span class=\"ad_notice\">Advertisement <\/span>    <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<figure class=\"image shortcode-img full-width\" style=\"width:980px\"><img alt=\"No, not a screenshot from <em>Gran Turismo<\/em> but the view Andy Priaulx had while testing the Mazda RT-24P in the Catesby Tunnel. &#8221; when=&#8221;&#8221; it=&#8221;&#8221; comes=&#8221;&#8221; to=&#8221;&#8221; pure=&#8221;&#8221; aerodynamic=&#8221;&#8221; testing=&#8221;&#8221; i=&#8221;&#8221; used=&#8221;&#8221; engineers=&#8221;&#8221; studying=&#8221;&#8221; static=&#8221;&#8221; car=&#8221;&#8221; models=&#8221;&#8221; in=&#8221;&#8221; wind=&#8221;&#8221; tunnels=&#8221;&#8221; with=&#8221;&#8221; no=&#8221;&#8221; involvement=&#8221;&#8221; from=&#8221;&#8221; the=&#8221;&#8221; drivers.=&#8221;&#8221; at=&#8221;&#8221; start=&#8221;&#8221; felt=&#8221;&#8221; a=&#8221;&#8221; little=&#8221;&#8221; odd=&#8221;&#8221; jump=&#8221;&#8221; into=&#8221;&#8221; race=&#8221;&#8221; and=&#8221;&#8221; drive=&#8221;&#8221; flat-out=&#8221;&#8221; through=&#8221;&#8221; km=&#8221;&#8221; tunnel=&#8221;&#8221; but=&#8221;&#8221; team=&#8221;&#8221; assured=&#8221;&#8221; me=&#8221;&#8221; that=&#8221;&#8221; end=&#8221;&#8221; was=&#8221;&#8221; very=&#8221;&#8221; clearly=&#8221;&#8221; marked=&#8221;&#8221; catesby=&#8221;&#8221; is=&#8221;&#8221; an=&#8221;&#8221; incredible=&#8221;&#8221; facility=&#8221;&#8221; doesn=&#8221;&#8221; surprise=&#8221;&#8221; all=&#8221;&#8221; know=&#8221;&#8221; multimatic=&#8221;&#8221; chose=&#8221;&#8221; be=&#8221;&#8221; early=&#8221;&#8221; adopter=&#8221;&#8221; primary=&#8221;&#8221; client=&#8221;&#8221; of=&#8221;&#8221; priaulx=&#8221;&#8221; said.=&#8221;&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-20-at-6.28.04-AM-980&#215;551.png&#8221; width=&#8221;980&#8243; height=&#8221;551&#8243;\/><figcaption class=\"caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-text\">enlarge <span class=\"sep\">\/<\/span> No, not a screenshot from <em>Gran Turismo<\/em> but the view Andy Priaulx had while testing the Mazda RT-24P in the Catesby Tunnel.  &#8220;When it comes to pure aerodynamic testing, I&#8217;m used to engineers studying static car models in wind tunnels with no involvement from the drivers. At the start it felt a little odd to jump into a race car and drive flat-out through a 2.7 km tunnel, but the team assured me that the end was very clearly marked! Catesby Tunnel is an incredible facility, and it doesn&#8217;t surprise me at all to know that Multimatic chose to be an early adopter and primary client of the facility, &#8216; said Priaulx.<\/div>\n<p>Multimatic<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Its new life is as a controlled environment for straight-line vehicle testing, away from the vagaries of wind and rain.  In a wind tunnel, the car stays where it is, and the air is blown over it.  But here, the car moves under its own power.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Compared to conventional wind tunnels, this is better because it&#8217;s real,&#8221; said Larry Holt, who runs Multimatic, a Canadian engineering company that has had a hand in carbon-fiber supercars like the Aston Martin One-77 and Ford GT, working concept cars like the Aston Martin DB10s used in <em>Specter<\/em>as well as race cars like the Mazda RT-24P and now the new Porsche 963. (It also has a very advanced simulator, which it kindly let me drive back in 2018.)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In a moving ground plane wind tunnel, the car is stationary, and the wind is blown over it by a massive fan and flow conditioning set-up, and a belt is arranged to move under the car at a coordinated speed. It&#8217;s a very sophisticated configuration, but the car is still stationary, and that constitutes the &#8220;not totally real&#8221; piece.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>enlarge \/ A Mazda RT-24P emerges from the Catesby Tunnel. Multimatic A tip of the hat to the editor over at Dailysportscar this morning for reminding me of one of the cooler bits of industrial repurposing in the automotive world. It&#8217;s a Victorian railway tunnel in England that saw its last train in 1966 but &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/why-are-racing-cars-driving-up-and-down-an-abandoned-railway-tunnel\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Why are racing cars driving up and down an abandoned railway tunnel?<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101175,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/james-franklin-demands-tunnel-policy-change-after-penn-state-michigan-shouting-match\/","url_meta":{"origin":102998,"position":0},"title":"James Franklin demands tunnel policy change after Penn State-Michigan shouting match","date":"October 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"With Michigan leading Penn State 16-14 at halftime, the two programs exchanged words in the tunnel. Michigan would go on to win the game 41-17. The tunnel chatter turned comical when team dietitian Abigail O'Connor posted on Twitter that Penn State players threw peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at Michigan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":112436,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/michigan-football-player-assaulted-by-msu-players-in-stadium-tunnel\/","url_meta":{"origin":102998,"position":1},"title":"Michigan football player assaulted by MSU players in stadium tunnel","date":"October 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"ANN ARBOR, Mich. \u2014 Michigan football beat rival Michigan State, 29-7, on Saturday night \u2014 and then it got ugly. After the game, the two teams started scuffling on the field, and then it perpetuated moments later. While the bulk of the Wolverines were still on the field, one Michigan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolverineswire.usatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2022\/10\/Michigan-football-v-MSU-1876.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":112682,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/players-brawl-in-tunnel-following-michigans-win-over-michigan-state\/","url_meta":{"origin":102998,"position":2},"title":"Players Brawl in Tunnel Following Michigan&#8217;s Win Over Michigan State","date":"October 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Following Michigan's 29\u20137 victory over rival Michigan State in the Big House on Saturday night, reports surfaced of an ugly brawl in the tunnel between players of both teams.Chris Solari of the Detroit FreePress was one of several media members who witnessed the fight as players from both teams left\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":112445,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/michigan-msu-football-players-have-postgame-altercation-in-tunnel\/","url_meta":{"origin":102998,"position":3},"title":"Michigan, MSU football players have postgame altercation in tunnel","date":"October 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"What started off as typical end of the game chippiness turned ugly, the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans had some words that turned physical in the Michigan Stadium tunnel after the game.One of the videos showed several Spartans, including Itayvion Brown, Zion Young and Angelo Grose, attacking Michigan defensive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/10\/30\/PDTF\/c452d5d4-e020-4c7d-9270-4204054909de-GTY_1244338043.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":96288,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/ios-16-vpn-tunnels-leak-data-even-when-lockdown-mode-is-enabled\/","url_meta":{"origin":102998,"position":4},"title":"iOS 16 VPN Tunnels Leak Data, Even When Lockdown Mode Is Enabled","date":"October 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"iOS 16 continues to leak data outside an active VPN tunnel, even when Lockdown mode is enabled, security researchers have discovered. 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