Re: My Pink One..
Another little update following the Brands Hatch trackday on Sunday.
First things first, on Saturday, I realised that my MOT was going to run out on Wednesday, was a tad concerned with its heavy mileage, but it passed 1st time in the morning, without so much as an advisory!! Well done clio :star:
Whilst I was there, I helped my mechanic swop the DS2500 pads in, & bleed the brakes with Castrol Response Super Dot 4, didnt bother with braided lines as i think they’re a little bit of a placebo (the car feels no different to my 172 cup & previous Trophy that both had them). All done, I popped to Ollie’s place of work to do the oil change and fit the Whiteline ARB thats been sat under my desk for the past month ...
With a KFC inside us, the oil change was sorted very quickly by my able assistant & it was onto the ARB. Firstly, it looked completely different to Nick’s, & secondly it was longer. Hmmm, perhaps its not the right one we thought? Bugger it, lets bosh it on anyway, this is Failsport remember ... nearly 2 hours later, & having given up on the buzz gun, the extended breaker bar & copious amounts of WD40 had got the rear damper bottom bolts out, god only knows what Renault torqued them up to when they changed the dampers last year
Once they were done, we quickly offered everything up to car, & realised that yes, we were going to have to fit it completely differently to Nicks, with the droplinks on the inside of the bar instead of the outside :s weird, but there was no other way it would fit. With that finally done, I got ready to leave & took a quick pic of the new addition (for CS of course):
Now, Ollie, being the ex-valeter was incredible upset with the state of the shed Trophy, & after finding out that I had never actually cleaned it
offered to give it a once over, purely as he wanted to see if it actually was still red under all the dirt & grime. It was, the 2118’s were also a completely different shade to what I thought they were lol!!
Then it was onto Brands Hatch on the Sunday, where we were a tad concerned about the weather, especially after seeing -7 on the way over there in the morning!!
However, despite Lee’s unfortunate incident in the afternoon, we had a great day, yes it was cold, but rather sunny in places, with the track offering a decent enough level of grip. Well except Clearways in the afternoon after a TVR dumped its coolant all over the place. Coolant + -1 = ice = sideways Trophy
As ever, the car performed faultlessly all day, & the Whiteline ARB (Set to medium) has really transformed the car imho. Whilst i was suffering from understeer on the limit at Snetterton, this has now been replaced with a greater willingness to hold the line, combined with a improved tendency for oversteer. The car is now, & i hate to say it, very similar to the Vts on Bilsteins i had previously, which tbh i was trying to recreate!! I now have the option to steer with the steering wheel, throttle or brakes, the ARB stiffening the rear up to the point where it really is quite twitchy, lovely
No more 3 wheeling either, so its certainly doing something back there!!
Anyway, my photos, courtesy of Focussed Events:
Only problem all day was that we were both sliding around on the seats quite a bit (despite harnesses), not great when you're approaching paddock with a dab of oppo
that was duely sorted with a cheeky bid on eBay when I got home, hello Cobra Imolas:
In addition, as you can see from the photos, the front wheels could do with a little more negative camber, not just for grip purposes, but to prolong tire life as well, so I may invest in come camber bolts of some sort. The T1R’s were also fine, yes they dont offer as much grip as R888’s, & Nick and Ollie were able to drive off into the sunset ahead of me, but I prefer fun to ultimate speed tbh, & having to fight the car around the track is where I get my pleasure ...
Roll on the next outing :race: