Thought I'd throw a few pictures up of my new to me Clio 172 Cup. I've been a life long Vauxhall fan, owning everything from a 1ltr Nova 1st car, onto Mk 4 Astra GSi and SRi turbos, aswell as my long term 2ltr, twin carb'd, Quaife Diff'd Nova.
After buying our first house 4 years ago money started getting a bit tighter, so the turbos were sold leaving just the Nova, and after a trip to the Nurburgring for my stag weekend and a track day at Croft in it, I decided I'd spent enough on the car, had my fun with it and was time to break it
So after a couple of years of sensible motoring, I was getting the itch for something entertaining to drive again, and hopefully if money allows (now have a 3 month old son and an expensive mortgage) be able to do a few track days, and a return to the Nurburgring ASAP!!
I narrowed my search down to either a Civic Type R or a RenaultSport Clio. After weighing up insurance costs, and the price to buy a decent condition car it was decided to buy a Clio, and use the money saved to pay for some mods and pay off the insurance on both the Clio and the family Laguna.
After road testing a few cars, I found the ideal car I was looking for, a low milage, Mondial Blue 172 Cup. I loved it straight from the 1st drive, reminded me a lot of my old Nova with it's big engine, light weight body, but crucially it also handled fantastically, especially in the wet when in a converted Vauxhall you'd be cautions pressing the throttle mid bend!!
Anyway, enough talking, here's some pictures of the car and some of the mods that have already been carried out in my 1st week of ownership!
How I first spotted the car - a trade in at a local Fiat Dealership.
Got the car home after a quick wash, needs a few jobs sorting.
First job was to remove the Scorpion exhaust for a custom made stealth exhaust by local legends AAS!
Also fitted some Eibach Sportline springs, slightly disappointed with the lack of drop, but at least it's levelled out the suspension and still looks fairly standard which I like.
Next up a quiet day at work (I'm a mechanic at a Volvo main dealers) meant I could give the car a proper clean and also fit the wheel stud conversion kit from my Nova, complete with Blue anodised nuts!
That's where I'm up to at the minute, next jibs are to remove the Blue side repeaters, a proper refurb of the wheels and upgrade the pads and discs, then fingers crossed a track day before the end of the year!
Here's some pics of my old Nova too - love them or hate them it was a fantastic car to me!
And the reason for the bonnet scoop - function over form! Hungry carbs!!!
After buying our first house 4 years ago money started getting a bit tighter, so the turbos were sold leaving just the Nova, and after a trip to the Nurburgring for my stag weekend and a track day at Croft in it, I decided I'd spent enough on the car, had my fun with it and was time to break it
So after a couple of years of sensible motoring, I was getting the itch for something entertaining to drive again, and hopefully if money allows (now have a 3 month old son and an expensive mortgage) be able to do a few track days, and a return to the Nurburgring ASAP!!
I narrowed my search down to either a Civic Type R or a RenaultSport Clio. After weighing up insurance costs, and the price to buy a decent condition car it was decided to buy a Clio, and use the money saved to pay for some mods and pay off the insurance on both the Clio and the family Laguna.
After road testing a few cars, I found the ideal car I was looking for, a low milage, Mondial Blue 172 Cup. I loved it straight from the 1st drive, reminded me a lot of my old Nova with it's big engine, light weight body, but crucially it also handled fantastically, especially in the wet when in a converted Vauxhall you'd be cautions pressing the throttle mid bend!!
Anyway, enough talking, here's some pictures of the car and some of the mods that have already been carried out in my 1st week of ownership!
How I first spotted the car - a trade in at a local Fiat Dealership.
Got the car home after a quick wash, needs a few jobs sorting.
First job was to remove the Scorpion exhaust for a custom made stealth exhaust by local legends AAS!
Also fitted some Eibach Sportline springs, slightly disappointed with the lack of drop, but at least it's levelled out the suspension and still looks fairly standard which I like.
Next up a quiet day at work (I'm a mechanic at a Volvo main dealers) meant I could give the car a proper clean and also fit the wheel stud conversion kit from my Nova, complete with Blue anodised nuts!
That's where I'm up to at the minute, next jibs are to remove the Blue side repeaters, a proper refurb of the wheels and upgrade the pads and discs, then fingers crossed a track day before the end of the year!
Here's some pics of my old Nova too - love them or hate them it was a fantastic car to me!
And the reason for the bonnet scoop - function over form! Hungry carbs!!!
