Oulton Park
Engineering Under Pressure

Engineering doesn’t happen in isolation.
It happens under pressure. With constraints. With consequences.

At Oulton Park, racing alongside the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), those pressures arrived quickly.

Following the first outing at Snetterton, where the car proved its reliability in competition, the next step was development, by identifying limitations and improving performance where it mattered.

The Alfa‑Sud was being pushed harder than ever. The pace of the field had stepped up. The environment was more demanding. And one limitation became clear almost immediately.

Brake temperature was becoming the limiting factor.

The Problem

Oulton Park is hard on brakes.

A natural terrain circuit, constantly loading and unloading the car through fast, cambered corners, it builds heat lap after lap. Cooling is critical. Consistency depends on it.

But the challenge here wasn’t just managing temperature.

Regulations restricted changes to the original bodywork.
Packaging space was limited.
Airflow paths were constrained.

The solution had to work within those limits.

The Approach

Rather than adapting an off-the-shelf solution, a new brake cooling duct was developed from first principles in SOLIDWORKS.

The aim was not simply to move air, but to manage it.

The design introduced:

• A front-mounted intake, positioned to capture high-pressure airflow
• Internal vanes, dividing and directing airflow through the duct
• A controlled transition from rectangular intake to round outlet
• A geometry that could be installed without modifying the car’s bodywork

This wasn’t cosmetic.
It was airflow management, tailored to the car, the circuit, and the constraints.

From Model to Part

With limited time between sessions, traditional manufacture wasn’t viable.

The duct was produced using the Bambu Lab H2S, in PETG, based on material and process advice from the team at Solid Print3D.

The part was printed overnight, removed and prepared in the morning, and installed on the car ahead of the next session

No tooling.
No lead time.
No compromise on design intent.

From CAD model to working component, ready to run within hours.

Tested Where It Counts

Motorsport doesn’t reward intention.
It rewards outcome.

With the new duct fitted, the car returned to the circuit.

The difference was immediate.

• New duct: ~160°C
• Previous setup: ~210°C

Same car.
Same circuit.
Same conditions.

A reduction of around 50°C in brake temperature.

Not simulated.
Not estimated.
Proven on track.

The Race Weekend

The results came at a race meeting of a different scale to the rest of the season.

The BTCC support event at Oulton Park brought large crowds, a full programme, and a busy, professional paddock.

Qualifying took place in damp conditions, allowing the Alfa‑Sud to compete strongly despite a power deficit, securing a mid-field grid position in a mixed field.

Across three races, the car ran consistently with close racing throughout the pack, incremental gains in lap time across sessions, and a growing confidence in the car under braking.

The final race, televised live, delivered the most competitive running of the weekend. A sustained battle within a pack of more powerful, rear-wheel-drive machinery, with the Alfa‑Sud holding its own under pressure.

Through it all, the braking remained consistent.

Why This Matters

This wasn’t a theoretical exercise.

It was a defined problem, addressed through targeted design in SOLIDWORKS, rapid manufacture through 3D printing, and real-world validation under race conditions

No controlled environment.
No repeatable lab test.

Just design, build, and evaluation under pressure.

This is where engineering becomes accountable.

What Comes Next?

Development doesn’t stop here.

The brake duct will be refined further, with additional iterations and spares prepared ahead of the next event.

Attention is already turning to the next limitation – driver cooling – with new airflow solutions being developed using the same process.

The next test takes place at the Silverstone Classic, 24th–26th July.

A faster circuit.
Higher loads.
Different demands.

Watch the Races

Further onboard footage and race content can be found on the Fish Fabrications YouTube channel.

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