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Cliché track car title.



Can't mistake that face, lol! And you are a ringer of one of my mates I used to play footy with.
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BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
UPDATE.

Welcome to Silverstone...
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I've only ever been to Silverstone once in my 30 years and the last time I was there I watch Tim Harvey bury his Green and Gold Esso Ultron 406 in the gravel at the first corner (guess the year and you'll guess how old I was at the time). I wasn't that bothered about getting Silverstone on my roster of circuits, but the rest of the gang were doing the day and I thought sod it, its the GP circuit and I can then say I've done it. I got it booked and did the usual prep on the car and myself (Clean, check the car over, play project cars and watch youtube videos on the circuit *Driver61).

So yeah, It was the 1st of November and I was expecting a rather damp Silverstone but not quite a foggy, greasy and Damp one. Firstly, the photo above was taken at 10am and the day hadn't started due to the fog. They wouldn't start the day until the Marshalls could see the next post, fair enough. Eventually they started the day around 10:30 with the idea to just run through the entire day (no lunch break).

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We went out on the R888's, which was interesting in the conditions we had. Eventually they started to come good and I got a hang of the circuit pretty quick, I mean in all honesty its not a particularly hard track to learn I just didn't have the confidence through Maggots because it was so damn greasy and the car would just understeer.

As the day went on, a friend of mine who's driven the track before came out with me and gave me some pointers which helped but I wasn't going to be setting the world alight. My Mum also got some time in the hot seat but she has massive confidence issues with these types of conditions so she didn't spend too much time out. As for my Dad, well he didn't go out at all which is a shame and I've no idea why he didn't go out, think he might have had a face on for some reason or another.

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The Silver wheel was a replacement for the old Red one that was knackered from Anglesey.

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As always during the day there was a few utter pellets, one in an A class, who not only had an issue with me passing him but had an issue with Nigel Pinder passing him. A guy in an RX-8 and the marshalls didn't have a great day either, there was a real lack of Blue flags and Yellow flags which meant I came across a stranded Saxo with no warning eek!

All in all, it was an alright day, how could it not be when the wheel didn't come off and nothing broke?

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Not the greatest of updates guys, it was so bloody long ago now I've forgotten what happened other than the stand out bits.

NEXT TIME ON Cliosport.net's Cliché track car title...
Oulton Park!
 

BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
Oulton Park!

9th of November and the gang made its annual pilgrimage to our local. With it being only down the A49 it would be extremely rude not to go when you can.

We headed out that morning knowing full well it was going to be a wet day, I've no idea why I took the R888's looking back. So we got the sighting laps out of the way and headed out on track. The track was greasy in parts, usual places like Hislops under braking and cornering and Lodge, not to mention the standing water on the inside of Old Hall, line adjustment required. I love Oulton Park and oddly enough I enjoy a wet Oulton, I just feel quite confident in the wet even though I'm only on PE2's I can push on, maybe with some proper wet's I'd be quite quick.

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As you can see it was wet wet wet.

So both my Mum and Dad had a bit of time in the hot seat during the morning, while I watched. Dad seemed to be going well and my Mum just had a good session with an instructor. I on the other hand had a couple of battles with a Civic a 3 series compact and a Red 197.

As the morning session ended I'd passed the Red 197 and as I reversed into the garage the passenger give me the thumbs up, I didn't think much of it and got the kettle on (always take a brew station with me to track days, even Cadwell). While I was waiting for the kettle Adam Christodoulou came and visited me, the passenger that give me the thumbs up was in fact him, which was a big surprise. It's not every day you have that years Nurburgring 24hr winner come looking for you down the pit lane. He said I was going well and that he recognized the car, he was giving private tuition in the 197 he shares with Jack Goff for driver training. So that was a nice surprise.

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(Mum Driving)

So the afternoon got a little naughty in terms of conditions, more rain meant there was a hell of a lot of spray so following people was a case of waiting for brake lights and then following suit. Eventually it died down and cars on track died down, which meant it was perfect. There was a boosted Ibiza going round that I managed to catch up, also a Focus ST and an RS (no match for the Renault in the wet).


Sorry for the length of the video 20mins eek!

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I also nearly came a cropper when going up Knickerbrook (over taking an 6 series, oops) as I didn't see a Yellow flag and as I came over the brow there was a VW Cup Car in the middle of the track and lots of grass and mud, yikes! lesson learnt, keep vigilant.

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So as Oulton track days go, it was a great day regardless of the weather. No issues with the car, other than it needing some improvements in terms of suspension and sort the bloody shifter out because of how far away it is and how long the throw is.

That was the end of the 2016 track day season for me.

TIME ON Cliosport.net's cliché track car title...
New Parts and Snetterton.
 

BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
Just spent the last wee bit reading the whole thread. Really good project and nicely written mate
Thanks, it means a lot that someone can make sense of my drivel ha ha ha. It gets serious in the next few installments.
 

Ricardos

ClioSport Club Member
  LY 200 EDC
Ditto, just read the thread. An enjoyable read and great to see the learning process throughout.

RE Tim Harvey, Gold and Green Esso Ultron 406 was circa 1998-1999. I started my love affair with all things Super Tourer in 98 at Thruxton, driving down in a Mk2 XR2 sleeping in it overnight to be there race day.
 

BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
Ditto, just read the thread. An enjoyable read and great to see the learning process throughout.

RE Tim Harvey, Gold and Green Esso Ultron 406 was circa 1998-1999. I started my love affair with all things Super Tourer in 98 at Thruxton, driving down in a Mk2 XR2 sleeping in it overnight to be there race day.

Well we drove down in a Volvo 440 not quite the same lol
 

BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
I wish you could edit your posts at any point, I try to proof read them, but so much s**t gets through my personal filter it’s untrue ha ha ha.
 

BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
NEW MODS

So after Oulton, that was it for track days for 2016. We had a few plans for winter maintenance and a few mods we'd been saving up for.

Firstly we'd been thinking about updating the suspension as the standard dampers and Eibach springs were first up for the chop (not literally). I had a look into a few different coilover options but GAZ Gold's were what we went with as we could get them for a good price and I'd been told they were pretty decent by someone who used to use them. They were ordered then I realized we needed top mounts, I wanted camber adjustment ideally but the thing is with the MK2 Clio there isn't a great deal of room in those strut tops for adjusters like what KW or BC sometimes have so I was limited to KAM Racing and AST for adjustable mounts. KAM Racing's top mounts only allowed something like 1 degree of camber adjustment but they were a fraction of the price of AST top mounts. The big kicker of the AST's was the price and I've known people to buy AST products and they're broke before they're even fitted.

I spoke to a few of the lads from the group and my friend Tom works closely with Compbrake, he told me they were developing an fully adjustable top mount with the same adjustment as the AST equivilant for the Clio. He said I could be the guinepig and test the first set, ok no problem.

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2 weeks later the coilovers arrived from GAZ, I was really impressed by the finish of them and I was desperate to get them fitted so I got in touch with Tom and told him they'd arrived. He had me measure the diameter of the piston and send him the details.

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In the mean time, we went wild and bought a Pure Motorsport Shifter and some Powerflex Exhaust bushes. So big job breaking out, all things we could probably get done in a day so long as we shape and have no issues along the way.

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Once they'd arrived the top mounts arrived with Tom and it was time to fit them.

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So we headed into the garage and ripped the old suspension off and went about fitting it, then we ran into a couple of issues. It really wouldn't be a job on my car without an issue, seriously.

So once we'd fitted the front struts we noticed the spring wasn't even held in place, something you'd expect on something that's been wound all the way down but it was set quite high in all honesty. We thought well it will be fine when its sat down on the floor, fitted the new top mounts lined everything up and lowered the car... "CRACK"... "what was that?". We assumed it was just everything settling in place on the car, except when we rolled the car out of the garage we realized it wasn't what we thought. there were needle bearings now on the floor and some other bits of bearing... oh dear. Well that's a bearing bolloxed! jacked the car back up and took the top mounts off and they were shagged inside, I wish I had the photos they were all bent and mangled. So we got the strut out from under the car and put the mount on again to see what was going on and what could have caused this.

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We realized at this point that GAZ should have really supplied a helper spring to avoid such issues (you can see the bearing just at an angle mid shaft), so what now happened was some serious mucking about. Me and Tom headed to a closed Compbrake and his house, luckily Tom had some GAZ helper springs that would fit my suspension (brand new) and he said I could have them and we'll get onto GAZ about another set for "me" that he would have. We got to Compbrake and got a few sets of bearings just incase same thing happened again etc and then we went and got the springs from Toms.

We then fitted the new bearings and noticed there was some up and down play in the rose joint, not even a mil but enough to make a noise. We then sussed that it was because it was missing a second circlip so time to open up RIG UP RACING once again. We decided plastic would be a good "temp" fix but what could be strong enough but thin enough? UREKA!!! Chinese take-away tub, so we butchered a take-away tub and fitted it and you'll never guess what... fixed! We dropped the car down and took it for a spin, no crunches, no knocks, nothing.

We're so pikey at times, it's amazing.

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That was the drop on the rear, no photos at the time of the front.

The following day we fitted the shifter and the exhaust mounts.
 

BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
After all that I also decided I wanted a non-resonated center section for the Milltek so ordered some stainless steel and had the ends flared, cut the resonated section out and welded it all back together... I say I, but it was @f0xy who did it all, he's a handy b*****d.

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we even swapped the hanger arm over, not bad for £22 quid.
 


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