Advice needed for the next steps for my Track Clio

[Greeny.]

I’m soon to be finished paying for my Wedding so once a few other little bits and bobs are paid for ill have a good chunk of cash to spend on the Clio all being well before the end of the year. However im in two minds what I want to do with it, the cambelt is due, so ill probably get the dephaser and waterpump done as well (although both are fine). On one hand I would like a low boost Engine-Dynamics conversion but on the other hand although it’s a great conversion is it just a waste of money… yes is the obvious answer but this doesn’t stop me wanting it. The other option would be leave the engine alone and spend the money poly bushing everything, fitting a diff and doing other little bits I want to get done or fit a set of cams when the cambelt is done, get it mapped etc.

Really not sure what to do. I know any track car can be a massive money pit and so far im doing ok with capping the spends for maximum fun/performance on track, but what I don’t want is to turbo it and instantly regret it when it goes wrong and ends up costing me another 1k or whatever to fix. I know there is always a risk with these things but is spending 3k+ to get 230bhp really worth it? The car only gets used on track and probably only covers 1.5k miles a year if that.

I know everyone says this but I will actually be keeping the car for the foreseeable future, when the children come and I don’t have the money/time for it, it can just sit in the garage, I won’t be getting rid.

Any advice appreciated.

Dan

 

[Christopher]

Get the cambelt sorted ASAP and spend the rest on tuition and track time?
Don't do what I do and make your car track-ready, then just wash it and never drive it.

 

[Greeny.]

Get the cambelt sorted ASAP and spend the rest on tuition and track time?
Don't do what I do and make your car track-ready, then just wash it and never drive it.

Cheers but i've lost count of the amount of track days ive done at Snet over the last few years so im happy with how to drive around it, I will have money for track time over the course of a year so thats not a problem, this is purely about what option to take on the car.

 

[Christopher]

Ah okay, well then if it's a keeper then go for boost.
I'd go ITBs though.

 

[JB21]

I'm in a similar situation mate, car is due belts and I'll have a couple of grand to throw at it, I've narrowed it down to 2 options:

Option 1: Get the belts done and drop in a set of 197 cams £900, BC coilovers £900, polybush and set up £200.

Option 2: Sell mine for around £2k, and put the £2k cash towards buying another Clio already track prepared, coilovers, cage, diff etc...

 

[White16valver]

Track time =/= tuition

There's always something to learn - you could pay for a day of one-to-one with a pro and reap some benefits from that. Or you could spend a grand on the HPC course, which would improve your road skills and also open up the opportunity to go driving on some awesome facilities, such as ice driving, MIRA, etc.

 

[Aydon182]

Had 5 rs clios, on my 2nd turbo. I personally wouldn't turbo a strict track car that's going to sit doing nothing in a garage for 3,4 months at a time, things seizing up and then the only daylight it see's is getting hammered on the track, a friend of mine had a fully forged evo with 500 bhp which he dailied for a long time was bulletproof then he bought a run around and garaged it for 12 months, brought it out and pop. Heard a lot of similar stories online too. The inactivity isn't really good for cars. I'd only turbo a clio that was a weekend car / daily that saw the occasional track day here and there

 

[M.C..]

Supercharge over turbo but ITB over both with some decent cams may not be as powerful but sounds better and would be more reliable.

 

[New2RS]

Have you put the car on a diet? Made a big difference for me and it's cheap cheap?

 

[Aydon182]

Supercharge over turbo but ITB over both with some decent cams may not be as powerful but sounds better and would be more reliable.

i think there is definitely some debate to be had over the reliability of itb's vs low boost turbo setup, as for noise though itb's dont even come close to turbo for me, the turbo surge in the cabin under acceleration and wastegate chatter are so awesome its hard to stay off the throttle