Unique testing tunnel in South Northants celebrates first year

Rob Lewis from Catesby Tunnel Ltd has seen the testing tunnel take shape over the last six years

Everything from radios to racing cars have been put through their paces in a unique test tunnel during its first year of operation.

Catesby Tunnel, near Daventry, was part of the Great Central Railway until its closure in 1966, but it has now been reopened as a modern testing facility.

The owners say they want it to become "the worldwide benchmark for aerodynamic testing".

An open day has been held to showcase the site and encourage firms to use it.

Built in 1897, the tunnel was constructed with thirty million bricks and is perfectly straight.

Catesby Tunnel Ltd, which runs the test track, had a flat and smooth surface installed, as well as a network of cameras to allow test runs to be monitored.

Sergio Rinland, who was at the open day, wishes the facility had been around years ago. He designed F1 cars for Williams, Brabham and Sauber amongst others and has been involved in the Catesby Tunnel project since day one.

Sergio Rinland was a F1 designer before he got involved in the tunnel project

He said: "We always had the problem of [finding] straight-line testing, of looking where in the world had the best weather, where the road was flatter.

"If we had had a facility like this, that would have been brilliant."

Phil Mason of RML with a car based on a Ferrari Maranello

Phil Mason from the Wellingborough-based automotive company, RML, is leading a project to create a restomod (restoration and modernisation) of an old-style Ferrari Maranello.

He said: "It's been brought up to date with a lot of technology in terms of the suspension and the aero package, and the reason we come down to somewhere like Catesby Tunnel is that we can verify and prove the computer simulations we do on the car in a real-life condition in this unique feature of an old railway tunnel."

A network of cameras follows vehicles through the tunnel

Rob Lewis said the first year of the track had been "promising despite Covid" with "customers coming from all over the world".

One rather unusual job for the tunnel was testing radios for a train company from mainland Europe. Rob said: "Their alternative was to close a live tunnel overnight for two or three hours a night which is a lot more tricky and more expensive."

He hopes more foreign companies will head in the direction of the tunnel: "We've got to shift these car makers' testing and development cycles to include Catesby. It'll take time but we hope to grow next year".