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.. Steerings light, she's going (Now sideways, look out Drivers Window), Thats Ollie, he's going to kill me if I hit him!..
Was very fun as a passenger though!
welshname
ClioSport Club Member
Epic read, such a mint car and seems like you've had an eventful few years!
welshname
ClioSport Club Member
Same, it's less about owning them for years, it's more when owners become attached to them and have had a lot of history with their car.
'Mia' Rover Mini 35
Luckily you experienced it before driving my shed then. Your 'moment' on the M3/M25 sliproad was similar to this iirc...
(nathanH driving like a Hero at Cadwell btw)
Epic.
Saab 93 Aero Wagon
Mate what a giggle that whole day was. Your moment on Paddock was a true highlight......totally broadside with me wondering which side to go around!
2011 will be up tonight for those waiting....
Saab 93 Aero Wagon
Some additional 2010 bits…..
Firstly some extra pics from Brands.
Note the more aggressive stance Nicks Cup had then. Something I envied that day...
It’s at this point that I should highlight a few modifications that took place over the course of 2010 that I didn’t mention earlier. Well….in truth I just plain forgot.
As many people will be aware I had a close friendship with both Tom and James of the JMS fold.
In 2010 the company had gone from strength to strength and was very rapidly outgrowing the workshop it shared in Uxbridge so a move to Chertsey (a stones throw from where I work in Weybridge) was very handy for all of us in our group of friends as it meant we could rock up after hours (or during hours as most nights they never finished until gone midnight) work on the cars and allow them to sell us shiny treats.
It was around this time that the Cup gained matched inlets, a V6 airbox with Silicone bend and a decat in an attempt to free up some ponies.
I have never really been a power hungry type of person when it comes to cars. That’s not to say I dislike it, I’m a Petrolhead so its part of what I love, but it’s not the be all and end all for me.
Instead I prefer to keep everything reliable, pared back and light and then enjoy the handling.
A rolling road day way back in 2006 at AMD Thurrock threw up some optimistic figures -178bhp - when all I was running was an ITG panel filter.
It hadn’t been on a RR since then so just before FCS 2010 (where the car featured on the JMS stand alongside James' 172 and Tom's 182 that would start to become the 'JMS Race Car') we took it down to Charlie at Surrey Rolling Road to see what it really was making.
180bhp was the predicted figure from James and Tom. It punched out 177bhp three times.
Can’t say it wasn’t consistent.
2011 – A mixed bag
Jan to August
After a pretty hectic year for the Cup in 2010 I expected roughly more of the same in 2011. I had the track day bug pretty badly and wanted to do more in 2011
Then there was Toms idea to go racing.
Now this is probably well known about. Unfortunately its for all the wrong reasons. I don’t want to use this thread to rake over in depth, what happened, what subsequently didn’t happen and how it is now, but to give a clear write up of the year I need to briefly touch on it so I’ll summarise.
It was decided in about December 2010/January 2011 that we’d go racing using Tom’s 182 as the start point. It would become the ‘JMS Race Car’.
I sourced backing for us.
The funds were ploughed into the car to produce a very high spec using a couple of ideas that hadn’t appeared on any racing Clio’s we’d seen.
The repositioned gear lever set further back in the car allowing the seats to be mounted further back? Yeah that was Toms. We are both lanky after all.
Anyway, the car had the potential to be dynamite. A full race spec. Full cage, TB’s, Cams, EC1, Dash2, AST’s, all these went into the car.
Then things started to go wrong with JMS. The company was ‘folded’, the project halted and the car effectively mothballed. It now lives in a barn somewhere….hopefully to be preserved and stumbled upon by some Renault loving aficionado 30 years from now.
So,basically by September I had lost out on my chance to go racing. To say I was a bit gutted was an understatement. Bitter? Yes a bit of that as well….
My saving grace though, was the Cup. Not because it would become my focus to it into some amazingly specced track monster to go racing with, but because I very nearly sold it whilst the ‘race car’ was being built….
I had changed the good ol’ 106 ‘Goat’ (now owned by Budgie) for something that could cope more admirably with the distances I was covering.
A 306 2.0 HDI was now part of the fleet.
This became more of a capable workhorse and everyday car than I could have hoped for and all the while the Cup started to become surplus to requirement, I mean, once we started racing what use would the Cup be?
But then every time I came close to writing up a For Sale thread nostalgia and a nagging sixth sense would stop me.
Thank f*ck it did.
Anyway now that has been explained it now gives some context to the two track outings it had last year.
The first, in February, before everything went tits up with the racing idea, was my first outing at Bedford. I’d been round as a passenger in Toms 182 the previous year but not driven it.
As I’m such a generous fellow I offered Tom the opportunity to be second driver.
We were both a bit rusty and needed some practice if we were going to be serious about getting into racing……and his car was at this point in a million bits.
The day started damp. Not soaking wet but the track certainly wasn’t dry.
We got there early and nabbed a garage before briefing. I did the exploration laps and then we started to tinker with the setup and pressures.
Now I say ‘setup’, obviously all we can play with on the Cup, without unbolting camber bolts or getting the C-spanners out, are the damper settings.
Tom decided he wanted to firm the rears up. Now those with FK’s know that the adjustment from fully soft to fully hard is two whole turns.
I told Tom this and told him to adjust accordingly taking into consideration the track was still damp.
So with this all done we both jump in for the first round of laps with me driving. What followed were probably the most sideways 10 or so laps I’ve ever had in a car on a track.
I’ve never been an advocate for sideways action I must admit. Its definitely fun having a play in snow or pissing about at a slippery indoor kart centre but on a track its inefficient and slow so I’ve never seen the point, but for those 10 laps I was catching and holding slides that I’ve never experienced before. Even Tom couldn’t believe how I was keep the thing pointing the right way. I felt like Jean Ragnotti.
Just crapper and less French.
Tom’s dad had arrived just in time for us to come back into the pits, still buzzing from the adrenaline from our Drift Yo! session. Tom got out to chat with him so I decided to head out alone for a few laps. By now the track was drying in places so hopefully it would start being less hairy.
Errr no.
After passing an FRP (sorry Gally but it was sloooow) on the section adjoining the East Circuit and the North Circuit the car snapped sideways on the fast left hander.
It had done this numerous times earlier and I caught it each time, but now it was drying. The car all of a sudden found grip and spat me the opposite way across the grass.
It got muddy. Hero to Zero in one big armful of oppo.
I plodded back to the pits. It was fairly obvious what I had done, the car was brown. So were my pants a bit. Once the colour had faded from my cheeks I decided it was time to dial the rears down a bit, obviously things were a bit firm….
More like rock hard. Tom had turned them fully hard. The front hadn’t been touched.
I think I’ll be keeping an eye on him come racing…..or so I thought. And he called ME a Billy...
Now unlike some less mechanically sympathetic folk I always had in the back of my mind the worry that every track day was going to take its toll on the car in big and very expensive way other than just tyres and brakes.
The car itself had never once shown any signs on or after a track day that anything was on the verge of letting go and any feared issues have been simply down to my own ineptitude…..usually involving lots of heat and wheel nuts coming loose.
Despite these occasional **** ups it was and still is (fingers crossed) so capable of just soaking up relentless and pretty hard driving. This was confirmed by Tom ( and subsequently by Nick ) who declared on the day at Bedford that it just kept going and going without complaint.
Then he’d crunch a gearshift and I’d slap him.
I wanted to be safe rather than sorry though so before any more track time was undertaken I changed a front wheel bearing that I suspected was on the way out.
Turns out it was fine and I was simply hearing things. I do that.
The rear pads and discs had been done the year before due to a rear bearing going so I have one front left to go it would seem……or one left to imagine needs changing anyway.
The spark plugs, I then realised, had never been changed. In nearly 72k. Needless to say they were in a pretty sorry state. Well the electrodes were anyway….the gaps were huge.
So these were changed along with the oil and filter as per every 8k.
Firstly some extra pics from Brands.
Note the more aggressive stance Nicks Cup had then. Something I envied that day...
It’s at this point that I should highlight a few modifications that took place over the course of 2010 that I didn’t mention earlier. Well….in truth I just plain forgot.
As many people will be aware I had a close friendship with both Tom and James of the JMS fold.
In 2010 the company had gone from strength to strength and was very rapidly outgrowing the workshop it shared in Uxbridge so a move to Chertsey (a stones throw from where I work in Weybridge) was very handy for all of us in our group of friends as it meant we could rock up after hours (or during hours as most nights they never finished until gone midnight) work on the cars and allow them to sell us shiny treats.
It was around this time that the Cup gained matched inlets, a V6 airbox with Silicone bend and a decat in an attempt to free up some ponies.
I have never really been a power hungry type of person when it comes to cars. That’s not to say I dislike it, I’m a Petrolhead so its part of what I love, but it’s not the be all and end all for me.
Instead I prefer to keep everything reliable, pared back and light and then enjoy the handling.
A rolling road day way back in 2006 at AMD Thurrock threw up some optimistic figures -178bhp - when all I was running was an ITG panel filter.
It hadn’t been on a RR since then so just before FCS 2010 (where the car featured on the JMS stand alongside James' 172 and Tom's 182 that would start to become the 'JMS Race Car') we took it down to Charlie at Surrey Rolling Road to see what it really was making.
180bhp was the predicted figure from James and Tom. It punched out 177bhp three times.
Can’t say it wasn’t consistent.
2011 – A mixed bag
Jan to August
After a pretty hectic year for the Cup in 2010 I expected roughly more of the same in 2011. I had the track day bug pretty badly and wanted to do more in 2011
Then there was Toms idea to go racing.
Now this is probably well known about. Unfortunately its for all the wrong reasons. I don’t want to use this thread to rake over in depth, what happened, what subsequently didn’t happen and how it is now, but to give a clear write up of the year I need to briefly touch on it so I’ll summarise.
It was decided in about December 2010/January 2011 that we’d go racing using Tom’s 182 as the start point. It would become the ‘JMS Race Car’.
I sourced backing for us.
The funds were ploughed into the car to produce a very high spec using a couple of ideas that hadn’t appeared on any racing Clio’s we’d seen.
The repositioned gear lever set further back in the car allowing the seats to be mounted further back? Yeah that was Toms. We are both lanky after all.
Anyway, the car had the potential to be dynamite. A full race spec. Full cage, TB’s, Cams, EC1, Dash2, AST’s, all these went into the car.
Then things started to go wrong with JMS. The company was ‘folded’, the project halted and the car effectively mothballed. It now lives in a barn somewhere….hopefully to be preserved and stumbled upon by some Renault loving aficionado 30 years from now.
So,basically by September I had lost out on my chance to go racing. To say I was a bit gutted was an understatement. Bitter? Yes a bit of that as well….
My saving grace though, was the Cup. Not because it would become my focus to it into some amazingly specced track monster to go racing with, but because I very nearly sold it whilst the ‘race car’ was being built….
I had changed the good ol’ 106 ‘Goat’ (now owned by Budgie) for something that could cope more admirably with the distances I was covering.
A 306 2.0 HDI was now part of the fleet.
This became more of a capable workhorse and everyday car than I could have hoped for and all the while the Cup started to become surplus to requirement, I mean, once we started racing what use would the Cup be?
But then every time I came close to writing up a For Sale thread nostalgia and a nagging sixth sense would stop me.
Thank f*ck it did.
Anyway now that has been explained it now gives some context to the two track outings it had last year.
The first, in February, before everything went tits up with the racing idea, was my first outing at Bedford. I’d been round as a passenger in Toms 182 the previous year but not driven it.
As I’m such a generous fellow I offered Tom the opportunity to be second driver.
We were both a bit rusty and needed some practice if we were going to be serious about getting into racing……and his car was at this point in a million bits.
The day started damp. Not soaking wet but the track certainly wasn’t dry.
We got there early and nabbed a garage before briefing. I did the exploration laps and then we started to tinker with the setup and pressures.
Now I say ‘setup’, obviously all we can play with on the Cup, without unbolting camber bolts or getting the C-spanners out, are the damper settings.
Tom decided he wanted to firm the rears up. Now those with FK’s know that the adjustment from fully soft to fully hard is two whole turns.
I told Tom this and told him to adjust accordingly taking into consideration the track was still damp.
So with this all done we both jump in for the first round of laps with me driving. What followed were probably the most sideways 10 or so laps I’ve ever had in a car on a track.
I’ve never been an advocate for sideways action I must admit. Its definitely fun having a play in snow or pissing about at a slippery indoor kart centre but on a track its inefficient and slow so I’ve never seen the point, but for those 10 laps I was catching and holding slides that I’ve never experienced before. Even Tom couldn’t believe how I was keep the thing pointing the right way. I felt like Jean Ragnotti.
Just crapper and less French.
Tom’s dad had arrived just in time for us to come back into the pits, still buzzing from the adrenaline from our Drift Yo! session. Tom got out to chat with him so I decided to head out alone for a few laps. By now the track was drying in places so hopefully it would start being less hairy.
Errr no.
After passing an FRP (sorry Gally but it was sloooow) on the section adjoining the East Circuit and the North Circuit the car snapped sideways on the fast left hander.
It had done this numerous times earlier and I caught it each time, but now it was drying. The car all of a sudden found grip and spat me the opposite way across the grass.
It got muddy. Hero to Zero in one big armful of oppo.
I plodded back to the pits. It was fairly obvious what I had done, the car was brown. So were my pants a bit. Once the colour had faded from my cheeks I decided it was time to dial the rears down a bit, obviously things were a bit firm….
More like rock hard. Tom had turned them fully hard. The front hadn’t been touched.
I think I’ll be keeping an eye on him come racing…..or so I thought. And he called ME a Billy...
Now unlike some less mechanically sympathetic folk I always had in the back of my mind the worry that every track day was going to take its toll on the car in big and very expensive way other than just tyres and brakes.
The car itself had never once shown any signs on or after a track day that anything was on the verge of letting go and any feared issues have been simply down to my own ineptitude…..usually involving lots of heat and wheel nuts coming loose.
Despite these occasional **** ups it was and still is (fingers crossed) so capable of just soaking up relentless and pretty hard driving. This was confirmed by Tom ( and subsequently by Nick ) who declared on the day at Bedford that it just kept going and going without complaint.
Then he’d crunch a gearshift and I’d slap him.
I wanted to be safe rather than sorry though so before any more track time was undertaken I changed a front wheel bearing that I suspected was on the way out.
Turns out it was fine and I was simply hearing things. I do that.
The rear pads and discs had been done the year before due to a rear bearing going so I have one front left to go it would seem……or one left to imagine needs changing anyway.
The spark plugs, I then realised, had never been changed. In nearly 72k. Needless to say they were in a pretty sorry state. Well the electrodes were anyway….the gaps were huge.
So these were changed along with the oil and filter as per every 8k.
Saab 93 Aero Wagon
James also suggested that the map was long over due an update, so on the same night as the spark plugs were changed, he went to work whilst I attempted to look over his shoulder and pretend I knew what I was looking at.
Lucky for James I didn’t as I didn’t have a clue what he’d actually done….
Driving the car back home that evening once the work was done revealed all….brrrraaaaaaarrrrrrppppp….pop pop bang bang BANG.
Mother fecker.
Cue me on the phone and lots of swearing. I was now an involuntary recipient of one of the more gimmicky and questionable JMS ‘mods’.
Nick and I were due to be taking the Cup to Bedford the following day for its second track day of the year.
This was supposed to be one of the many missed Race Car shakedowns. Tom couldn’t make it so Nick stepped in and Dave joined in with his Trophy.
This was Nicks first time in a car since he had taken his own Cup off the road to be turned into a racer.
Alas it never ran in anger again….
So, Nick had a day of playing in both my Cup and Dave’s Trophy, being just about able to fit behind the wheel of both despite both of our seating positions being fixed in vastly different positions.
The comparison between the two was interesting according to Nick. The Cup being more direct and stable and a touch quicker through the slower more technical stuff whilst the Trophy was looser, less pointy and marginally faster through the faster stuff.
I had decided a couple of weeks beforehand that I wanted to swap the ET43 2118's for a set of the ET37's, something I should have done when first shopping for 2118's!
A set was found and fitted along with another part worn set of R888's, the original set being sold with the original wheels.
Dave and I had both decided to fit the CL RC6 pads as well. Dave had had an outing on these at his brief RenaultSport track evening (before the power steering pipe sh@t itself) so was used to what they were like. I had never tried a set and my verdict was that they were stunningly good.
Stunningly bad for wheels as well it would seem. They now need a refurb.
So in all both cars were near as damn it equal.
I have pictures of this day somewhere on a disc. Once found I'll put them up, but in the meantime these'll have to do. Note the heavily dusted wheels....
Lucky for James I didn’t as I didn’t have a clue what he’d actually done….
Driving the car back home that evening once the work was done revealed all….brrrraaaaaaarrrrrrppppp….pop pop bang bang BANG.
Mother fecker.
Cue me on the phone and lots of swearing. I was now an involuntary recipient of one of the more gimmicky and questionable JMS ‘mods’.
Nick and I were due to be taking the Cup to Bedford the following day for its second track day of the year.
This was supposed to be one of the many missed Race Car shakedowns. Tom couldn’t make it so Nick stepped in and Dave joined in with his Trophy.
This was Nicks first time in a car since he had taken his own Cup off the road to be turned into a racer.
Alas it never ran in anger again….
So, Nick had a day of playing in both my Cup and Dave’s Trophy, being just about able to fit behind the wheel of both despite both of our seating positions being fixed in vastly different positions.
The comparison between the two was interesting according to Nick. The Cup being more direct and stable and a touch quicker through the slower more technical stuff whilst the Trophy was looser, less pointy and marginally faster through the faster stuff.
I had decided a couple of weeks beforehand that I wanted to swap the ET43 2118's for a set of the ET37's, something I should have done when first shopping for 2118's!
A set was found and fitted along with another part worn set of R888's, the original set being sold with the original wheels.
Dave and I had both decided to fit the CL RC6 pads as well. Dave had had an outing on these at his brief RenaultSport track evening (before the power steering pipe sh@t itself) so was used to what they were like. I had never tried a set and my verdict was that they were stunningly good.
Stunningly bad for wheels as well it would seem. They now need a refurb.
So in all both cars were near as damn it equal.
I have pictures of this day somewhere on a disc. Once found I'll put them up, but in the meantime these'll have to do. Note the heavily dusted wheels....
Ah such fond memories of Brands, I think as a whole it was the best trackday i've done to date with a close second with Donnington. Just me and you trouncing cars all day whilst me and you playing cat and mouse ALL DAY!
Such an awesome writeup Ollie, rather impressed!
This year should be a goodun now everyone's near enough back in clios, let the fun begin!
Such an awesome writeup Ollie, rather impressed!
This year should be a goodun now everyone's near enough back in clios, let the fun begin!
182cup & 172 racecar
About time, all this time messing with other silly stuff.
And yes, that was a lovely day at Brands, remember it well.
And yes, that was a lovely day at Brands, remember it well.
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welshname
ClioSport Club Member
Makes me want to start doing track days so so much. Need a second car to do that though really.
BG 182
brilliant read, thoroughly enjoyed it. Really makes me wanna get the cup preped for some track time this year. you havent got a whiteline ARB fitted is that correct? what mods are planned for this year if any?
Saab 93 Aero Wagon
Well that last update was only half of last year.
The final update until I'm actually up to date is to follow soon and that will outline the mods it's now had....
And yes, you are right Lewis, it hasn't got a Whiteline ARB fitted. Its not something I've had in my mind to fit as I don't really think it needs it but its mainly personal preference. For example Dave has one on his Trophy and swears by it. I swore by it as well....because it damn near nearly killed me when I drove it rather "enthusiastically" on the road in the wet......and he'd forgotten to soften it.
This is mainly because he's a hooligan and likes things loosey goosey...
The final update until I'm actually up to date is to follow soon and that will outline the mods it's now had....
And yes, you are right Lewis, it hasn't got a Whiteline ARB fitted. Its not something I've had in my mind to fit as I don't really think it needs it but its mainly personal preference. For example Dave has one on his Trophy and swears by it. I swore by it as well....because it damn near nearly killed me when I drove it rather "enthusiastically" on the road in the wet......and he'd forgotten to soften it.
This is mainly because he's a hooligan and likes things loosey goosey...
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BG 182
im with ya.... my morning now currently consists of staff probation period reviews (at work on sat FTL), looking for a cheap commuter (106/saxo D), and for the cup: some r888's, 15's, disc and pad combo, ARB, steering wheel etc. i have been told not to remove rear seats by her indoors!! look forward to the update
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Saab 93 Aero Wagon
That little list of mods you have planned is pretty much all you need to enjoy it comfortably on track. Maybe consider a seat upgrade as well as mine are one of the best things I put in it.
You don't necessarily have to have R888's but usually once you swap from standard road tyres to these you wonder how you coped without tyres like them.
And lightly (or completely) strip it. Its free power (to weight).
If you can avoid the trap of feeling like you need more and more power then you'll be able to put the money you save towards the actual track days themselves as well as some tuition.
You don't necessarily have to have R888's but usually once you swap from standard road tyres to these you wonder how you coped without tyres like them.
And lightly (or completely) strip it. Its free power (to weight).
If you can avoid the trap of feeling like you need more and more power then you'll be able to put the money you save towards the actual track days themselves as well as some tuition.
BG 182
thats exactly it, i dont want to go mad, or even strip it (as potentially will have to ferry my son to the shops if my daily dies for whatever reason) too many people go to far and dont actually use it. The mods above i think will help 'keep it on the track' and tuition is a must for me.
Fletcher
ClioSport Club Member
Good read Ollie.
7 years ownership is impressive! I have owned my 172 for 6 years now.
7 years ownership is impressive! I have owned my 172 for 6 years now.
welshname
ClioSport Club Member
Where has 2011 gone?
Saab 93 Aero Wagon
2011 August –December
Bedford was the last trackday that the Cup would attend in 2011.
I thought it was now time to start looking to advance the car in terms of its track setup, using Nicks Cup as inspiration. His wider track and significantly more negative camber gave him the edge at Brands. His RS2 Extra was also a very handy addition but I wasn't going to be fiting one of them anytime soon.
Now we all know how Cliosport goes through fashion trends and how certain mods come in and out of favour and I’d be daft to say that the Cup hasn’t been tweaked in ways that reflect the trends (2118’s anyone?) but I’ve never been one for modifying the car just for fashion rather than function.
It’s also interesting to see that there are now two quite different ‘acceptable’ ways to approach track work in Clio’s, those being to either leave it totally standard or turn it into an out and out race car.
Now the latter is in no doubt a highly expensive and time consuming venture to take on in whatever spare time you have (unless you hand the car and big wad of cash over to a company to do) and will inevitably produce a car capable of beating up most of the other cars out there on a track day or be capable of mixing it with the front runners in whatever race series it may be entered in.
But, as I say, it ain’t cheap. I should know…..
The Cup has never been tracked in standard form and the nostalgic side of me misses the way the car looked when it was standard.
I also believe it might have been just as fun, if not a touch slower, compared to how it is now but I don’t for one second regret doing what I’ve done to it, even if it is only a kind of a halfway house (or maybe that should be just a third) between being totally standard and a fully blown track/race orientated car.
Money has always been a factor in deciding whether or not to go the whole hog, I’m not a high roller, but that’s not to say I’ve been stingy with the quality of the mods I have made!
You just have to hunt for the bargains…..
Anyway, I digress….
Being friends with several guys who have made rather tasty changes to their cars is highly advantageous…..because it allows someone like me who, after 7 years still isn’t bored of my French tin can, to gain from when the others inevitably do get bored, break and/or sell (and then later regret!) the cars they have played with.
As such the Cup gained a pair of OMP 3 inch harnesses from when James (previously JMS, now Stone) decided that he would break his Ph2 172.
These were actually fitted much earlier than late 2011 but as per normal, I forgot about them earlier….
It was also around about this point of the year that Nick had decided that his Cup, now without its loom and with what seemed to be a fried ECU, was a lost cause and would cost too much money for him to get it back to its former antisocial self, so he also decided to break the car for its component parts.
A perfect opportunity I felt to gain the stance and extra track width that the car lacked, so his front Eibach 25mm and rear 15mm spacers were snaffled along with his used but still serviceable stud kit.
What I hadn’t considered up to this point was his rather rorty Longlife cat back system…..
Now those who knew the Cup well and who had been inside it when I’ve been giving it beans, or who have driven it hard themselves, had all said the same thing about the sound that the Prospeed stealth made in that it sounded not too dissimilar to the R26.R from inside the car. Apparently.
Personally I rather liked it because it was never too intrusive…until the bloody stealthly applied Overrun Map that is.
That said, I was now a little bored of it. The car was always tagged as the 'quiet one', even when the decat was fitted.
And the back box fitted crap. And the hanger broke.
Cue Nicks ex exhaust. Similar in style to the OMP Inox, a little rougher around the edges but just as noisy, and combined with the yet to be removed pops and bangs, pretty antisocial.
Come September the car was living a fairly quiet time (well…I say quiet, its just plain loud now) so with the October Surrey Rolling Road coming up I decided to put it on the rollers and see if the car still had the 177bhp it had back in 2010.
The day was hot. Not autumnal pleasantly warm, but 27 degrees hot.
We turned up typically late on. Which was lucky as all we’d missed were a fleet of Mk1’s….
The Cup went on dead last. I predicted something in the region of 178 but being the stubborn mule that it is it pulled a 176.4…or something like that.
So pretty much the same as last time. Again, stubbornly consistent but it was agreed by all that the noise it made on the rollers in the confines of that old munition building was epic.:approve:
October turned into November and as yet I hadn’t collected let alone fitted the spacers and stud kit from Nick who was kindly holding them for me.
I was in no rush as I had a plan to SORN and hibernate the car for at least January so that I could get several things done on the car that I had been meaning to do for a while.
Things were fairly uneventful until one weekday morning in mid November when I had he beginnings of my first EVER mechanical fault with the car.
Apologies if this bit rambles on a bit.....I like to story tell. You may have noticed...
The car rarely gets used on the commute now so I decided to give it a run out for two days.
Over the previous 7 years I’ve replaced worn bits, and upgraded things but the engine itself has never wanted for anything.
It has always nearly been run on Optimax/V-power which therefore made me suspicious of Tesco 99 when the car, one cold damp morning, suddenly misfired as I drove it to work.
I had decided to put Tesco 99 the evening before purely out of convenience as its closer to work, so my first suspicion was that the car didn’t like it.
Unlikely but not unreasonable.
I had also had my reservations about the fuel pump. Having a stripped rear end means that you can obviously hear more things happening from the back of the car and the fuel pump priming isn’t exactly quiet, but mine has always had a strange a trait.
It never seems to prime on the first turn of the key when cold.
It usually requires a second turn from ignition on, back to off and then on again.
As a precaution against the possibility that both the fuel and fuel pump being the culprits I ‘borrowed’ a spare fuel pump from Mike, ran the tank to nearly empty and then and then topped the tank up with V-Power. This seemed to cure the problem.
Or so I thought.
I was due to work that Saturday and when I left the house it was damp and foggy.
Like every street we have a resident ‘wideboy’ (other than me). He drives a BMW 318 Compact. Badly. Usually about 2 feet from the bumper of the car he’s following, which on this morning was me.
Now it’s a 30 mph limit out of my village and out of pure annoyance to the numpty now sat in my spare wheel well, I stuck to it.
I behaved until I left the roundabout outside the village. Then I booted it.
Now does anyone want to hazard a guess as to when the misfire reared it ugly head again?
Yup, that’s right, just as I pulled second gear. Boll0cks. I sheepishly pulled into the petrol station 100 yards further down the road.
Blip the throttle. Still there. Blip it harder. Wake the neighbours.
I decided to limp on to work and hope it clears on the run up the A3. It did. For about a mile.
Arriving at work it was no better so I decided to start pulling things apart to see what could be the problem.
First suspicions were the simple stuff. Leads and plugs. These appeared clean and in working order as was the MAF sensor.
I eliminated the Lambda purely because there wasn’t an MIL lamp up and I know the symptoms of one going as the Mrs 182 had one go.
Had to be the coilpack.
Quick call to Nick had him winging over with two spares. Hero.
First one tried. Same. Second, same still. Oh come on…..
This needed James’ expertise. He suspected an injector had gone so told me to bring it over to MWM so he could have look.
Nick offered to run home to collect his spare injector rail from the remains of his Cup. Double hero.
By the time I left work to drive it up to MWM the fog had cleared and it was quite warm, and yes, you guessed it, no misfire.
Regardless, James plugged in the RSTuner and soon diagnosed an injector fault on cylinder 2. This was swapped for one that Nick kindly donated and since then (fingers crossed) all has been well.
As the end of the year neared, so did the end of its 6 months of tax which was due to expire on the New Years Eve.
I had planned to hibernate the car at work over the Christmas break and then most of January.
This would allow me to fit the spacers and stud kit as well as a pair of new lower arms, the ball joints long overdue a refresh, and for my brother Ross to set about repainting the front end.
I’d had this in my mind to be done as my brother had progressed as a painter…..he was now being allowed to paint the Aston’s and Lotuses that came through so I felt he was now suitably qualified to take on the Cup…
The front bumper was especially bad, being heavily stone peppered and having been subjected to a pretty poor ‘SMART’ repair at some point in its life that had began to peel away.
The bonnet was also pretty tatty and bearing a couple of dents.
We also decided to blend the front wings to make sure the whole front looked fresh. So the car was tucked away as we broke for Christmas.
Bedford was the last trackday that the Cup would attend in 2011.
I thought it was now time to start looking to advance the car in terms of its track setup, using Nicks Cup as inspiration. His wider track and significantly more negative camber gave him the edge at Brands. His RS2 Extra was also a very handy addition but I wasn't going to be fiting one of them anytime soon.
Now we all know how Cliosport goes through fashion trends and how certain mods come in and out of favour and I’d be daft to say that the Cup hasn’t been tweaked in ways that reflect the trends (2118’s anyone?) but I’ve never been one for modifying the car just for fashion rather than function.
It’s also interesting to see that there are now two quite different ‘acceptable’ ways to approach track work in Clio’s, those being to either leave it totally standard or turn it into an out and out race car.
Now the latter is in no doubt a highly expensive and time consuming venture to take on in whatever spare time you have (unless you hand the car and big wad of cash over to a company to do) and will inevitably produce a car capable of beating up most of the other cars out there on a track day or be capable of mixing it with the front runners in whatever race series it may be entered in.
But, as I say, it ain’t cheap. I should know…..
The Cup has never been tracked in standard form and the nostalgic side of me misses the way the car looked when it was standard.
I also believe it might have been just as fun, if not a touch slower, compared to how it is now but I don’t for one second regret doing what I’ve done to it, even if it is only a kind of a halfway house (or maybe that should be just a third) between being totally standard and a fully blown track/race orientated car.
Money has always been a factor in deciding whether or not to go the whole hog, I’m not a high roller, but that’s not to say I’ve been stingy with the quality of the mods I have made!
You just have to hunt for the bargains…..
Anyway, I digress….
Being friends with several guys who have made rather tasty changes to their cars is highly advantageous…..because it allows someone like me who, after 7 years still isn’t bored of my French tin can, to gain from when the others inevitably do get bored, break and/or sell (and then later regret!) the cars they have played with.
As such the Cup gained a pair of OMP 3 inch harnesses from when James (previously JMS, now Stone) decided that he would break his Ph2 172.
These were actually fitted much earlier than late 2011 but as per normal, I forgot about them earlier….
It was also around about this point of the year that Nick had decided that his Cup, now without its loom and with what seemed to be a fried ECU, was a lost cause and would cost too much money for him to get it back to its former antisocial self, so he also decided to break the car for its component parts.
A perfect opportunity I felt to gain the stance and extra track width that the car lacked, so his front Eibach 25mm and rear 15mm spacers were snaffled along with his used but still serviceable stud kit.
What I hadn’t considered up to this point was his rather rorty Longlife cat back system…..
Now those who knew the Cup well and who had been inside it when I’ve been giving it beans, or who have driven it hard themselves, had all said the same thing about the sound that the Prospeed stealth made in that it sounded not too dissimilar to the R26.R from inside the car. Apparently.
Personally I rather liked it because it was never too intrusive…until the bloody stealthly applied Overrun Map that is.
That said, I was now a little bored of it. The car was always tagged as the 'quiet one', even when the decat was fitted.
And the back box fitted crap. And the hanger broke.
Cue Nicks ex exhaust. Similar in style to the OMP Inox, a little rougher around the edges but just as noisy, and combined with the yet to be removed pops and bangs, pretty antisocial.
Come September the car was living a fairly quiet time (well…I say quiet, its just plain loud now) so with the October Surrey Rolling Road coming up I decided to put it on the rollers and see if the car still had the 177bhp it had back in 2010.
The day was hot. Not autumnal pleasantly warm, but 27 degrees hot.
We turned up typically late on. Which was lucky as all we’d missed were a fleet of Mk1’s….
The Cup went on dead last. I predicted something in the region of 178 but being the stubborn mule that it is it pulled a 176.4…or something like that.
So pretty much the same as last time. Again, stubbornly consistent but it was agreed by all that the noise it made on the rollers in the confines of that old munition building was epic.:approve:
October turned into November and as yet I hadn’t collected let alone fitted the spacers and stud kit from Nick who was kindly holding them for me.
I was in no rush as I had a plan to SORN and hibernate the car for at least January so that I could get several things done on the car that I had been meaning to do for a while.
Things were fairly uneventful until one weekday morning in mid November when I had he beginnings of my first EVER mechanical fault with the car.
Apologies if this bit rambles on a bit.....I like to story tell. You may have noticed...
The car rarely gets used on the commute now so I decided to give it a run out for two days.
Over the previous 7 years I’ve replaced worn bits, and upgraded things but the engine itself has never wanted for anything.
It has always nearly been run on Optimax/V-power which therefore made me suspicious of Tesco 99 when the car, one cold damp morning, suddenly misfired as I drove it to work.
I had decided to put Tesco 99 the evening before purely out of convenience as its closer to work, so my first suspicion was that the car didn’t like it.
Unlikely but not unreasonable.
I had also had my reservations about the fuel pump. Having a stripped rear end means that you can obviously hear more things happening from the back of the car and the fuel pump priming isn’t exactly quiet, but mine has always had a strange a trait.
It never seems to prime on the first turn of the key when cold.
It usually requires a second turn from ignition on, back to off and then on again.
As a precaution against the possibility that both the fuel and fuel pump being the culprits I ‘borrowed’ a spare fuel pump from Mike, ran the tank to nearly empty and then and then topped the tank up with V-Power. This seemed to cure the problem.
Or so I thought.
I was due to work that Saturday and when I left the house it was damp and foggy.
Like every street we have a resident ‘wideboy’ (other than me). He drives a BMW 318 Compact. Badly. Usually about 2 feet from the bumper of the car he’s following, which on this morning was me.
Now it’s a 30 mph limit out of my village and out of pure annoyance to the numpty now sat in my spare wheel well, I stuck to it.
I behaved until I left the roundabout outside the village. Then I booted it.
Now does anyone want to hazard a guess as to when the misfire reared it ugly head again?
Yup, that’s right, just as I pulled second gear. Boll0cks. I sheepishly pulled into the petrol station 100 yards further down the road.
Blip the throttle. Still there. Blip it harder. Wake the neighbours.
I decided to limp on to work and hope it clears on the run up the A3. It did. For about a mile.
Arriving at work it was no better so I decided to start pulling things apart to see what could be the problem.
First suspicions were the simple stuff. Leads and plugs. These appeared clean and in working order as was the MAF sensor.
I eliminated the Lambda purely because there wasn’t an MIL lamp up and I know the symptoms of one going as the Mrs 182 had one go.
Had to be the coilpack.
Quick call to Nick had him winging over with two spares. Hero.
First one tried. Same. Second, same still. Oh come on…..
This needed James’ expertise. He suspected an injector had gone so told me to bring it over to MWM so he could have look.
Nick offered to run home to collect his spare injector rail from the remains of his Cup. Double hero.
By the time I left work to drive it up to MWM the fog had cleared and it was quite warm, and yes, you guessed it, no misfire.
Regardless, James plugged in the RSTuner and soon diagnosed an injector fault on cylinder 2. This was swapped for one that Nick kindly donated and since then (fingers crossed) all has been well.
As the end of the year neared, so did the end of its 6 months of tax which was due to expire on the New Years Eve.
I had planned to hibernate the car at work over the Christmas break and then most of January.
This would allow me to fit the spacers and stud kit as well as a pair of new lower arms, the ball joints long overdue a refresh, and for my brother Ross to set about repainting the front end.
I’d had this in my mind to be done as my brother had progressed as a painter…..he was now being allowed to paint the Aston’s and Lotuses that came through so I felt he was now suitably qualified to take on the Cup…
The front bumper was especially bad, being heavily stone peppered and having been subjected to a pretty poor ‘SMART’ repair at some point in its life that had began to peel away.
The bonnet was also pretty tatty and bearing a couple of dents.
We also decided to blend the front wings to make sure the whole front looked fresh. So the car was tucked away as we broke for Christmas.
Saab 93 Aero Wagon
January 2012
So come early January I set about removing and dismantling the front bumper and stripping off the myriad of components from the bonnet and wings.
These consisted of the washer jets and indicator repeater lenses. Busy busy!
I then set about cleaning up and re threading the stud kit as well as shot blasting the spacers. These were then fitted and a daft amount of negative camber added.
What we ended up with was about – 4 degrees.
I thought it looked broken. Nick thought it looked epic. I ignored him and dialled it back out so it now has about -3 degrees.
I then spent a couple of hours one evening fitting the new lower arms. A job I’ve done before but I had forgotten what a pain in the balls it was.
Not difficult, just not enjoyable.
Car stripped and with the spacers and studs fitted.
The joy of having a whole workshop/paintshop at your disposal is that everything can be done in dry, warm and in decent light.
I’ve spent too many wet, cold and dark evenings trying to change parts on Clios/Saxos/Peugeots in nothing but the light from a head torch, but I wouldn’t swap them for the world as it was always with my mates and we usually ended the evening sat on wheels and toolboxes in a cold garage eating KFC with dirty hands and a beer.
I will admit though, its quite nice working in amongst the finery...
Come mid January the car was ready to be prepped for paint. Being done on and off after work meant that the paintwork wasn’t going to be hurried. This was lucky as meant that I could also include another part to be painted.
I had toyed with the idea of adding some sort of half cage to the car and was keen on the MSV/Caged (I’m not going to mention the OTHER brand) bolt in types but had always been slightly put off by the cost of them, even second hand.
Dave had decided a couple of months previously to put his Trophy to back to some sort of everyday road useable state and offered me his cage but I passed it up.
Then by chance Joah put his up for sale for a very reasonable price. One evening hack in the direction of Oxford later and the cage was loaded in the back of the 306 and brought home.
I paid him as well. There was two of us and only one of him but he seemed like a nice lad….
The cage was already white and the base in its original black so it would have gone straight in and not been out of place, but something made me decide that I didn’t want it white.
I wanted it Mondial. Handy, seeing that the paint was going to be in the gun already…
Then someone suggested to finish it in matte lacquer not gloss which I liked the idea of. The result was just what I wanted. Not flashy, not too obvious.
Once everything was painted and polished I then had the task of bolting everything back together. Something I wasn' looking forward to purely as I know how easy it is to damage fresh paint during the fitting process.
Luckily everything went back together beautifully. The car is now also a shade lighter as I had a few bolts left over.....im sure they aren't that important as nothing has fallen off. Yet.
And then after an evening of removing seats and a bit of swearing the cage looks like it should be in there. Chuffed.
After about 8 months of being used as slave wheels on the lost JMS Race car, the R19 wheels were finally back in my possession by the end of January.
These were always intended as my ‘Winter’ wheels with the 2118’s wearing the R888’s for the track time but after the last track day at Bedford the R888’s were now decidedly illegal.
Without the R19’s around I had had to strip the R888’s off of the 2118’s and drag out the 4 Toyo T1S’s I had stored so that I had 4 legal tyres to run on!
Now the 19's were back I could remove the 2118's and get them ready to have the R888's put back on.
Once the car was back on these it was given a Geo to straighten everything back up after I'd been c**king about with both the camber and changing the lower arms.
The one final stage before re-taxing it was to put it through an MOT. Gulp. It passed. Not even an advisory! Ahem
It was then given a final post paint clean and with the trade plates on (still SORN) driven home in mid February to await the 1st of March.
First impressions driving it home were "fcuk I've missed this thing".
The added track and camber aren't overly evident in normal driving but pushing on (yes its not yet illegal to do on public roads....just incase anyone worries) its already limpet like grip is improved further still.
Issues? It rubs when driven over any sharp dips or compressions. This i had expected but then the car is rather low on the front (yes, i call that low. Any lower is called Broken in my book) and the shocks are fully soft all round. Im going to keep an eye, and ear on this when we first venture back on track with it...
Anyway, this is how she looked up until 6pm this evening.
The R19's (black wheels if you haven't kept up) have come off the car tonight and are up for sale. See the for sale section if interested.
In the meantime, its on these...courtesy of my brother, as he has nicked my 2118's!
Im now near enough all the way up to date, barring a few odds and sods. Stayed tuned for the next instalment. New wheels to replace the R19's!
So come early January I set about removing and dismantling the front bumper and stripping off the myriad of components from the bonnet and wings.
These consisted of the washer jets and indicator repeater lenses. Busy busy!
I then set about cleaning up and re threading the stud kit as well as shot blasting the spacers. These were then fitted and a daft amount of negative camber added.
What we ended up with was about – 4 degrees.
I thought it looked broken. Nick thought it looked epic. I ignored him and dialled it back out so it now has about -3 degrees.
I then spent a couple of hours one evening fitting the new lower arms. A job I’ve done before but I had forgotten what a pain in the balls it was.
Not difficult, just not enjoyable.
Car stripped and with the spacers and studs fitted.
The joy of having a whole workshop/paintshop at your disposal is that everything can be done in dry, warm and in decent light.
I’ve spent too many wet, cold and dark evenings trying to change parts on Clios/Saxos/Peugeots in nothing but the light from a head torch, but I wouldn’t swap them for the world as it was always with my mates and we usually ended the evening sat on wheels and toolboxes in a cold garage eating KFC with dirty hands and a beer.
I will admit though, its quite nice working in amongst the finery...
Come mid January the car was ready to be prepped for paint. Being done on and off after work meant that the paintwork wasn’t going to be hurried. This was lucky as meant that I could also include another part to be painted.
I had toyed with the idea of adding some sort of half cage to the car and was keen on the MSV/Caged (I’m not going to mention the OTHER brand) bolt in types but had always been slightly put off by the cost of them, even second hand.
Dave had decided a couple of months previously to put his Trophy to back to some sort of everyday road useable state and offered me his cage but I passed it up.
Then by chance Joah put his up for sale for a very reasonable price. One evening hack in the direction of Oxford later and the cage was loaded in the back of the 306 and brought home.
I paid him as well. There was two of us and only one of him but he seemed like a nice lad….
The cage was already white and the base in its original black so it would have gone straight in and not been out of place, but something made me decide that I didn’t want it white.
I wanted it Mondial. Handy, seeing that the paint was going to be in the gun already…
Then someone suggested to finish it in matte lacquer not gloss which I liked the idea of. The result was just what I wanted. Not flashy, not too obvious.
Once everything was painted and polished I then had the task of bolting everything back together. Something I wasn' looking forward to purely as I know how easy it is to damage fresh paint during the fitting process.
Luckily everything went back together beautifully. The car is now also a shade lighter as I had a few bolts left over.....im sure they aren't that important as nothing has fallen off. Yet.
And then after an evening of removing seats and a bit of swearing the cage looks like it should be in there. Chuffed.
After about 8 months of being used as slave wheels on the lost JMS Race car, the R19 wheels were finally back in my possession by the end of January.
These were always intended as my ‘Winter’ wheels with the 2118’s wearing the R888’s for the track time but after the last track day at Bedford the R888’s were now decidedly illegal.
Without the R19’s around I had had to strip the R888’s off of the 2118’s and drag out the 4 Toyo T1S’s I had stored so that I had 4 legal tyres to run on!
Now the 19's were back I could remove the 2118's and get them ready to have the R888's put back on.
Once the car was back on these it was given a Geo to straighten everything back up after I'd been c**king about with both the camber and changing the lower arms.
The one final stage before re-taxing it was to put it through an MOT. Gulp. It passed. Not even an advisory! Ahem
It was then given a final post paint clean and with the trade plates on (still SORN) driven home in mid February to await the 1st of March.
First impressions driving it home were "fcuk I've missed this thing".
The added track and camber aren't overly evident in normal driving but pushing on (yes its not yet illegal to do on public roads....just incase anyone worries
) its already limpet like grip is improved further still.Issues? It rubs when driven over any sharp dips or compressions. This i had expected but then the car is rather low on the front (yes, i call that low. Any lower is called Broken in my book) and the shocks are fully soft all round. Im going to keep an eye, and ear on this when we first venture back on track with it...
Anyway, this is how she looked up until 6pm this evening.
The R19's (black wheels if you haven't kept up) have come off the car tonight and are up for sale. See the for sale section if interested.
In the meantime, its on these...courtesy of my brother, as he has nicked my 2118's!
Im now near enough all the way up to date, barring a few odds and sods. Stayed tuned for the next instalment. New wheels to replace the R19's!
This made me chuckle! You obviously didnt notice the shotgun I had ready?!
Looks awesome painted in blue though. Top work all round!
Saab 93 Aero Wagon
Cheers Tom! And in answer to your question, in a word, no!
It's entertaining on open empty roads but but using it in traffic and on crappy commute routes is hellish.
I can cope with it on the odd day but daily it would kill me....and probably itself.
Saab 93 Aero Wagon
This made me chuckle! You obviously didnt notice the shotgun I had ready?!
Looks awesome painted in blue though. Top work all round!
You forget, I had a Nick. He swallows bullets, deflects knives and farts fire dontcha know?
Anyway, could you imagine us trying to leg it with a cage? It would be pure comedy!
It took us 5 minutes to figure out the best way to get it in the back of the Pug!
Sir_Dave
ClioSport Trader
You forget, I had a Nick. He swallows bullets, deflects knives and farts fire dontcha know?
Ignoring all that, Nick would have simply eaten Joah ...
Good updates Oliver, didnt realise you had the dents taken out the bonnet as well. You big ponce you.
Saab 93 Aero Wagon
That picture creases me up no matter how often I see it. Nick vs Food. Food will always lose.
The bonnet was being painted and its daft painting over dents. We don't run a cowboy outfit here Dave....you should know that.
And yes....its possibly the tartiest track car in existence.
The bonnet was being painted and its daft painting over dents. We don't run a cowboy outfit here Dave....you should know that.
And yes....its possibly the tartiest track car in existence.
It took us 5 minutes to figure out the best way to get it in the back of the Pug!
Why I left you too it! (watching was fun tho
)lol have to lure him away with a burger...
