BMW 330ci sp/ 172Cup
Welcome to mine (Cr33do) and “Meek_Racing” combined track day car project thread.
First off, a little background info.
For the past 10 years I have owned BMW’s and been on the odd track day in them, of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I have also owned a Renault before – around 13 years ago I briefly drove a 5GTT. Around two years ago Mike (Meek_Racing) introduced me to the world of the Renaultsport Clio; specifically his immaculately presented 182 that has been modified suitable for fast road/ track use. Over this two year period Mike and I have attended quite a few track days and have really caught the popular track day bug! We both wanted to continue the track days but needed a jointly owned 2nd car that we can share 50/50 and work on together. The Clio came as a natural choice and although I always thought my first dedicated track car would have to be rear-wheel drive, my time behind the wheel of Mike’s car confirmed that there really is fun to be had from a properly sorted FWD hatch.
Queue the last 4-5 weeks of searching for a suitable vehicle. Our total “build” budget is relatively small compared to other cars on this forum. We scoured the normal sites for either a cheap, standard 172 (ph2) that required suitable modifications or, on the flip side of the coin, a car that has already been prepared by someone else. Both options had their advantages – the standard car would provide the opportunity for me and Mike to get our hands dirty(good thing) and decide exactly what we wanted but a previously prepared car gets you better value for money.
In the end Mike spotted a car that fell half way between the above two options. Last Sunday we viewed the car, were generally impressed and a deal was done. The following night we collected our new purchase and drove it back to Meek_Racing HQ. We ended up getting one of these little blighters:approve:
The car has had an “interesting” life (tracked previously), appears generally to be in good condition, and benefits from uprated parts that we can make good use of. The current specification is gleaned from the original advertisement and scanning the accompanying A4 folder that is crammed full of receipts and service information:
Model: Renault Clio 172 Cup (52 plate)
Engine:
Rebuilt approx. 25k ago by Hillpower Engineering.
182 bottom end, blueprinted and balanced
ARP bolts
Polished and Ported head
182 exhaust manifold
Sport Cat
K-Tec stealth exhaust system
Matched inlets
K-Tec GrpN remap
Magnecor Leads
K&N Panel filter
Chassis:
GAZ goilovers (still working out which variety)
Polybushed front end
Polybushed dog-bone mount
Eibach Camber bolts
182 anti-roll bar
Brakes:
Brembo Max grooved front disks
Ferrodo pads
Goodrich hoses throughout
Wheels:
16”x7J OZ Ultraleggera
Toyo Proxy R1R tyres
Some pictures of when we got it back home, following a very quick wash:
On top of this we also bought a second set of wheels from the same seller. Queue a forum marmite choice of “Turbines” which more importantly came with nearly new Federal RSR’s. The tyres will be removed from these and are soon to be mated on a set of freshly powder-coated Speedline 2118’s J.
Keep an eye out in the for sale section as both the OZ Ultraleggera (with tyres) and Turbines (wheels only) will be advertised soon!
First impressions of the car are good. The engine pulls very well across the entire rev range although I think we will need to invest some time setting the suspension up. The rebound is all over the place at the moment and I think corner weighting and a proper alignment are on the cards here.
Plans are to strip the interior, the poor car mustn’t know if it’s coming or going, as this is the second time someone will have stripped it, fit a cage and suitable seats/harnesses – then have some fun!! We are going to try and tackle as much work ourselves as we can which will hopefully save us some money but more importantly increase our knowledge and skills of all things car related.
Prior to posting this I have just come back from changing both the engine and gearbox oils, mainly for piece of mind. Inspecting the car whilst it was up on the ramp it all appears rather good. There are a couple of little maintance jobs to look at, namely a lose CV boot and battery of all things.
Let the joys of ownership commence
Thanks for reading.
Nick
First off, a little background info.
For the past 10 years I have owned BMW’s and been on the odd track day in them, of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I have also owned a Renault before – around 13 years ago I briefly drove a 5GTT. Around two years ago Mike (Meek_Racing) introduced me to the world of the Renaultsport Clio; specifically his immaculately presented 182 that has been modified suitable for fast road/ track use. Over this two year period Mike and I have attended quite a few track days and have really caught the popular track day bug! We both wanted to continue the track days but needed a jointly owned 2nd car that we can share 50/50 and work on together. The Clio came as a natural choice and although I always thought my first dedicated track car would have to be rear-wheel drive, my time behind the wheel of Mike’s car confirmed that there really is fun to be had from a properly sorted FWD hatch.
Queue the last 4-5 weeks of searching for a suitable vehicle. Our total “build” budget is relatively small compared to other cars on this forum. We scoured the normal sites for either a cheap, standard 172 (ph2) that required suitable modifications or, on the flip side of the coin, a car that has already been prepared by someone else. Both options had their advantages – the standard car would provide the opportunity for me and Mike to get our hands dirty(good thing) and decide exactly what we wanted but a previously prepared car gets you better value for money.
In the end Mike spotted a car that fell half way between the above two options. Last Sunday we viewed the car, were generally impressed and a deal was done. The following night we collected our new purchase and drove it back to Meek_Racing HQ. We ended up getting one of these little blighters:approve:
The car has had an “interesting” life (tracked previously), appears generally to be in good condition, and benefits from uprated parts that we can make good use of. The current specification is gleaned from the original advertisement and scanning the accompanying A4 folder that is crammed full of receipts and service information:
Model: Renault Clio 172 Cup (52 plate)
Engine:
Rebuilt approx. 25k ago by Hillpower Engineering.
182 bottom end, blueprinted and balanced
ARP bolts
Polished and Ported head
182 exhaust manifold
Sport Cat
K-Tec stealth exhaust system
Matched inlets
K-Tec GrpN remap
Magnecor Leads
K&N Panel filter
Chassis:
GAZ goilovers (still working out which variety)
Polybushed front end
Polybushed dog-bone mount
Eibach Camber bolts
182 anti-roll bar
Brakes:
Brembo Max grooved front disks
Ferrodo pads
Goodrich hoses throughout
Wheels:
16”x7J OZ Ultraleggera
Toyo Proxy R1R tyres
Some pictures of when we got it back home, following a very quick wash:
On top of this we also bought a second set of wheels from the same seller. Queue a forum marmite choice of “Turbines” which more importantly came with nearly new Federal RSR’s. The tyres will be removed from these and are soon to be mated on a set of freshly powder-coated Speedline 2118’s J.
Keep an eye out in the for sale section as both the OZ Ultraleggera (with tyres) and Turbines (wheels only) will be advertised soon!
First impressions of the car are good. The engine pulls very well across the entire rev range although I think we will need to invest some time setting the suspension up. The rebound is all over the place at the moment and I think corner weighting and a proper alignment are on the cards here.
Plans are to strip the interior, the poor car mustn’t know if it’s coming or going, as this is the second time someone will have stripped it, fit a cage and suitable seats/harnesses – then have some fun!! We are going to try and tackle as much work ourselves as we can which will hopefully save us some money but more importantly increase our knowledge and skills of all things car related.
Prior to posting this I have just come back from changing both the engine and gearbox oils, mainly for piece of mind. Inspecting the car whilst it was up on the ramp it all appears rather good. There are a couple of little maintance jobs to look at, namely a lose CV boot and battery of all things.
Let the joys of ownership commence
Thanks for reading.Nick
