Advice needed Clio 172 trackday car on a budget

[andys3]

Hi All!

Me and a friend have just started looking into picking up a PH1 clio 172 for a trackday car. I had a few questions for the regular trackday lot....

1) What are the options on brakes? Are the standard calipers up to the job? What are the options on brake upgrades that fit under 16'' wheels (are there any choices for 15'' wheels?)? Really want to keep the cost of consumables as low as possible so 15'' wheels would be the preference if decent brakes fit under them.
2) What do you guys go for suspension wise? Is it coilovers(which ones?) or do most people just go for spring/damper kits? Also, do you play about with the ARB sizes on 172s. Are there any hidden costs like adjustable topmounts/tiebars to sort the geo out after swapping the suspension?
3) Roll Cages - what's the choices? I've only seen the OMP and saftey devices ones and they're both pretty pricey.
4) What garage do people in the south east use??
5) Are there any major service items to look out for when we buy the car? (don't want to pick it up to find we've got to spend £500 on a steering rack etc straight away)
6) Are there any good build threads budget built track 172s?

We've got a budget of around £1500-£2000 for the initial car so probably looking at one with 90-100k. Then will look to do 1,2 and 3 as funds allow.

Sorry - I know alot of this could probably be found out with a few hours of searching, but if someone that knows all this already could point me in the right direction it would help massivley as we're also looking into a few other cars!

Thanks!

 

[Adam G]

Worth searching as loads of threads but in a nutshell.
Keep original wheels as tyres are cheaper.
Brakes - Brembo HC discs off G172, a trader on here. Pads are a minefield with varying opinions, braided lines and good fluid.
That's all you need to start, anything else is personal choice on how much you want to throw at it. Worth checking all your suspension and refreshing if needed.
check cambelt history and dephaser as these are costly.

 

[andys3]

Worth searching as loads of threads but in a nutshell.
Keep original wheels as tyres are cheaper.
Brakes - Brembo HC discs off G172, a trader on here. Pads are a minefield with varying opinions, braided lines and good fluid.
That's all you need to start, anything else is personal choice on how much you want to throw at it. Worth checking all your suspension and refreshing if needed.
check cambelt history and dephaser as these are costly.

Cheers Adam... Clio is looking more and more tempting!

 

[Daniel]

Buy a ph2 Cup imo. No ABS, No aircon. Both things that you'll want to remove on a track car anyway.

 

[andys3]

Buy a ph2 Cup imo. No ABS, No aircon. Both things that you'll want to remove on a track car anyway.

Thanks! Guess our budget has just gone up by £500 for the car as sorting the brakes is cheaper than expected!

 

[Daniel]

You can get Cups for under a grand now. Needing work obviously, but if it's a track car who cares!

 

[andys3]

You can get Cups for under a grand now. Needing work obviously, but if it's a track car who cares!

Really - where?! Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places!

Was looking at 172s...£1500-£2000 172 Cups £2000-£2600?

I dont care if every panel is dented, scratched or a different colour!

 

[busterkins]

you must be looking in the wrong places then... try ebay!?

 

[r&skxa]

http://www.cliosport.net/forum/show...t-in-Monaco-Blue-Spares-Or-Repairs-%A3750-ONO

£500!! Somebody needs to buy it before I convince myself I need to :/ Sure the misses would love 2 track cars

 

[andys3]

Cheers guys, I dont think buying one that needs alot of mechanical stuff doing works for us tho??... One concern is buying a car and having loads of little costs pop up before we've even had it on track. I can see that £500 car adding up to nearly £1500 by the time it's through an MOT with everything sorted?? Then you're left with a car on 180k and could have had one on 90k for the same money?

When you start factoring in the costs of having to collect it on a trailer... Cost of an MOT/6 months tax etc it all starts to add up pretty fast? Neither of us are that good with spanners... Can do the basics and planning to learn more, but will have to pay labour on some stuff to begin with.

Unfortunatley its going to have to stay road legal as the cost of a trailer/towbar/trailer licence rules that out... atleast for this year anyway.

Different situations I can see it being a bargin.... Not for us I dont think tho

 

[andys3]

Just to explain what we're trying to achieve.... is a car that we can do approx 10 track days in over the summer (and keep for next year) at a cost of around £200 per person per day for the car/consumables/getting the car to the day (trackday fee excluded)...

So budget wise we've got £3000 to:
buy the car,
tax/mot/insurance(Quoted £400)
Sort the brakes.

Then there's £1000 left for consumables etc over the year.... If there's any suprise bills over that then we just wont be getting out on track untill the extra money is found which could be months....

There's also the option of just doing 5 track days and getting a rental for like £750 per day (split 2 ways so like £375 each per day)... But I prefer the idea of having a car paid for and ready to go mad in 2014...

Hope this makes sense! Clio is winning btw!

 

[andys3]

Car has been found. Will hopefully have a 172 cup sat on the drive by Saturday afternoon

Thanks for all the help/suggestions. Will post up pics when it's here!

 

[sonny172cup]

Nice one Andy, any pics of the new Cup? The Cup is a great car out of the box, just uprate your pads and brake fluid job done. However like all "budget track day cars" the budget normal goes out of the window lol.

 

[msa197]

Car has been found. Will hopefully have a 172 cup sat on the drive by Saturday afternoon

Thanks for all the help/suggestions. Will post up pics when it's here!

Could of brought nick172cups 182!

Then seen you budget!

 

[Nick172Cup]

Yeah my cup is up for £3,000. But does come with a full cage, bucket seats, coilovers, good brakes, etc etc. Cheaper to buy one pre done then build one.

 

[Tony Hunter]

It would cost you more than 3k, just to get as far as Nicks got with his. Seems a good deal to me.

 

[Chip-mk1]

The single most important thing for a trackday clio 172 is the refreshing of worn suspension and steering components. Allow a few hundred for that too, you can have the worlds best coilovers but your car still wont handle right if there is play in the components like track rods or steering rack bushes etc.

 

[Nick172Cup]

The single most important thing for a trackday clio 172 is the refreshing of worn suspension and steering components. Allow a few hundred for that too, you can have the worlds best coilovers but your car still wont handle right if there is play in the components like track rods or steering rack bushes etc.

This indeed, good job all mine were replaced less than two years ago!