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sonny172cup "track car to race car project"



Tom & Pete, Yep thats right, Its manly one side that locks up, but only breifly, like threshold breaking, but happens if im too keen on the brakes. Its like the brakes are too good, maybe due to a number of things, car weight, excessive camber, hot tyres, work tyres etc, but having run the wilwoods with different settings and pads it still happens. I suspect its due to the pad over lap on the discs that is common with the Ferodo pads, its almost like the discs need to be a few mm bigger or the calliper housing shaved down a few mm.

Txt book would suggest putting a break regulator between both front brake lines and taking out the resistance from the side that locks up the most, likewise for the rear... BUT i never had this issue when on the std callipers. Im testing at Silverstone next week so we shall see what happens.
 
Pete my car weighs in at the mid 870s (wet) so is relatively light, however again it still locked up with ds2500 last year. I was thinking it could be pad drag, i.e where the pad does not release from the disc, the ds1.11 are. A pad that claims it minimises this, and i must admit it locked up less when using the ds1.11 at snetterton.

P.s sat on train heading to work so rushed those replies, apologies.
 
RACE REPORT SILVERSTONE NATIONAL AUGUST 2014-08-10

TRICOLORE TROPHY

PRE RACE PREP


Popped the car in to Mark Fish to get the car corner weighted prior to the Silverstone race at the weekend, the car was weighed and checked, it appeared my corners weight was off massively, so re balanced at a 49.5% cross weight.

Checked front camber and toe, no changes needed as my adjustments were spot on (using strings and a shimmed garage floor).


Reminder, I fitted the new ASTs 2’s with custom spring rates, AST top mounts set to maximum positive castor and replaced the Wilwoods with the OEM callipers and Ferodo pads.

TESTING

So with that done I loaded up the car and set out for the test day at Silverstone. I missed the first session due to travel and prepping the car in the paddocks as I needed to do a quick spanner check, I manage 3 sessions and was out for around 15-20 min per session as I didn’t want to cook my brakes and tyres before the race.

My check list for the test day was

Check bump rates for the ASTs and adjust
Check hot and ambient tyre pressures (before and post race)
Bed new brake pads in (DS1.11) on standard set up with HC discs.
Maybe adjust ride height (was not needed)
Get used to the car on the new set up
Put in some fast lasp of the circuit, having never driven there before

Overall testing was fairly straight forward and I must say the car feels totally different, esp with the 45% increase in spring rates. I was expecting it to be very hard to drive; this was actually the complete opposites. Car felt so planted and once again, for the first time this season I have 100% confidence in the car.

I was hoping to achieve a 01:09 lap but best lap was a 01m11s....so in the hotel that evening I set about studying my laps on the racelogic software on my laptop while scoffing a macdees in the Travelodge...living the high life lol


RACE DAY

QUALI

Quali was a combined grid with the Nippons, so again was hard to put a fast lap in with the traffic, my fastest lap was a 01.12, not overly happy as this was slower that practice the day previous. This put me in 10[SUP]th[/SUP] place on the grid, just in front of Tom in his Clio and behind the Pug 205.

RACE 1 (Stand alone)

Race 1 started with a stalled car on the grid 2 places in front, this messed with my plan, but again worked in my favour as the cars in front split....foot to the pedal I planted it through Copse Corner, a train formed within the first few laps and saw a few of us exchanging positions, being the rear marker of the “train” I was struggling to get past, so was trying to conventional lines to pick up speed to under/overtake, this would have worked if I had more power, but was only shredding tyres. Pete spun in front this gave me the upper hand and moved up a place. This was a very exciting race, the best of the season so far...as it seemed all cars was equal in power/weight ratio. I missed selected a gear, 5[SUP]th[/SUP] instead of 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] going into Luffeild this gave the impression that the engine died, my heart sank for a plit second, but all was good.

The car felt so balanced im totally in love with my car again, the only weakness now is the tyres, so this will be getting addressed very soon. Dunlops or Advans it is.

I finished 7[SUP]th[/SUP] and won 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] in class, fastest lap was 01.10m So very happy with that.





RACE 2 (combined)

Due to combined race our grid positions reflected our morning quail times, this saw me 12[SUP]th[/SUP] on the grid, in front of the red Scooby and behind the blue 106 (same as Snetterton). Race was going well until I was having a tussle with the pesky 106, that thing was hard to shrug off, Pete saw this and gained a place, then it was all over, no way was I going to gain that place. I actually got in front of the 106 before the final lap and finished 11[SUP]th[/SUP] and best lap was slower than race 1 at a 1.12m

Memory card on the camera was full so only half a race recorded (currently uploading)

So overall was a very good days racing for me, mainly due to having confidence in the car and not having any car problems. I am looking forward to Cadwell as this is a circuit I know very well, but never having raced there.

10561710_10153269904985931_317919214362592378_n.jpg


10565201_10153269887525931_3168252123294098473_n.jpg
 
  Renault 5 gt turbo
Well done Sonny, excellent racing and some great footage there. Gutted my camera was not on.

See you at Cadwell for more fun.
 
Nice write up and great racing. I will try and get my write up and vids done tomorrow.

That 4/5 car battle mid race was really exiting. I got out of the car buzzing!
 
Nice write up mate. Sounds like a load of fun. Just about to watch your videos now :)

How did you find the standard calipers compared to the Wilwoods? Are you selling the willwoods? Or are they buggered ;P

Good to hear you loved the ASTs.

What tyres do you run to be the weak spot? 888s?
 
Hi Martin, the oem callipers was fine with the DS1.11s, the Wilwoods, are also fine and not damaged at all, just your better off running a bias with the Wilwoods imo, I just liked how the oem callipers worked on track. The Wilwoods will be up for sale soon with a selection of Ferodo pads.

Im running 195s R888, my rears I have had on all season (10 races, 5 qualis and 2 full test days ) and fronts are 4 races old with 2 qualis and 1 test day, so im getting my monies worth there...lol So as you can imagine they are losing the ghost so to speak. Remember this is driving 10 10ths for 15min flat out not a track day, so the above, R888 and wilwoods would be fine.
 
Hi Martin, the oem callipers was fine with the DS1.11s, the Wilwoods, are also fine and not damaged at all, just your better off running a bias with the Wilwoods imo, I just liked how the oem callipers worked on track. The Wilwoods will be up for sale soon with a selection of Ferodo pads.

Im running 195s R888, my rears I have had on all season (10 races, 5 qualis and 2 full test days ) and fronts are 4 races old with 2 qualis and 1 test day, so im getting my monies worth there...lol So as you can imagine they are losing the ghost so to speak. Remember this is driving 10 10ths for 15min flat out not a track day, so the above, R888 and wilwoods would be fine.

Yeah 888s work fine for me. But not surprised they are struggling for you now, that's a lot of use!!!

Could tell from the videos you were struggling with them a little.

Need to watch Race 2 still.

Let me know when you sort the Wilwoods and bits out ;-) x
 

Ph1 Tom

ClioSport Club Member
DZ03G 205/50s, less camber, pop the Wilwoods back on.

What size brake discs are you using with each setup?

I've changed from RSR to AD08R and I'll be running 3 degress camber and the roll centre kit, before I was kit-less and ran 3.83 degrees. I've also uprated the spring rates.

Before the change I would lock up due to the camber, that's on standard callipers and DS2500 pads. Hopefully it'll be better now, I'll find out at the Oulton RS day.
 
  clio cup
Sonny, I'm on holiday at the minute, but could you or anyone see if we can get a copy of the below to use on our FB page?
9u2ere5e.jpg
 
  182
Some great pictures there.

I just asked Laura on Twitter if we can use her pics. I've spoke to her a few times and she's usually good as gold. Just gotta wait for a reply now.
 
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  182
She said it's absolutely fine for anyone to use the pictures and put them on the tricolour FB page but please can you credit them and put a link to their Flickr page.
 
DZ03G 205/50s, less camber, pop the Wilwoods back on.

What size brake discs are you using with each setup?

I've changed from RSR to AD08R and I'll be running 3 degress camber and the roll centre kit, before I was kit-less and ran 3.83 degrees. I've also uprated the spring rates.

Before the change I would lock up due to the camber, that's on standard callipers and DS2500 pads. Hopefully it'll be better now, I'll find out at the Oulton RS day.

I tried different amounts of camber -2.7 to -3.5 (personally i dont think the Clio needs anymore than that for a balanced set up) the willwoods locked up on both settings, iv been running -3.2 recently. I personally believe its the tyres not gripping enough, so as you say, 205,s and a better compound and they will be managable. When I was using then on track days they are fine, its just in racing at a race pace for 15 min.

Im using standard HC discs, maybe if they was slightly larger this would reduce the locking up. Dont get me wrong their a good brake kit, but just finding the oem set up a tad easier to get in with. However I do miss the firmer pedal feel and the reduced weight.
 
  182
Nice one Jack, any chance she can make the photos downloadable ?

Unfortunately because of the way her settings are I don't think you can save them straight to your computer. I'm guessing she will want it left like that to stop her photos flying about the internet and not being able to be traced back to her via Flickr. If you want to post the pictures on forums its straight forward just by copying and pasting the BB code.

Double click on an image you want to post, click the share icon at the bottom of the picture, click grab HTML/BB code then select medium 640. Then select BB code and copy the whole link then just paste it into your new post.

Like this

ugabu4yd.jpg


There's some brilliant pics on there


14898324785_2d818e4c03_z.jpg
[/url]
Sonny Hardy - Renault Clio by SportscarFan917, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
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Cadwell Park september 2014

After a nice 6+ hour drive through London I finally got to Cadwell Park, Got to the circuit at night, and had to set up in the dark, weather was cold and foggy. Met up with the other guys in the series for a chit chat and to see how the testing went for the rest of the guys....mixed results for a few.

Scrutineering

Went well, was told I need 10mm of space at the cable ends that connect to the fire extinguisher, mine was mated up flush (so theres a bit of movement when testing the fire extinguisher pulls) good job I keep mine oiled and greased. It sbeen mentioned a few times now that the scrutes seem to differ from location to location, some being very strict and some not really doing anything, kicking a tyre seems to be a pass.

For anyone looking at going racing, make sure your car is up to scratch to the MSA Blue Book, in the book there is alist of local scrute, who if asked nicely will come and scrute your car for you, or you can take your car to a local club meet race day and ask them to look your car over, today there was 2 Clio that failed scrtuing due to basics....one was the cut off switch, it didnt kill the ignition and the other was down to a roll cage (incorrect back stayes iirc). Also remember its not just your car but your personal protection clothing too. Remember you pay a lot of money to race and for not racing due to something really silly, it just a waste

Quali

Due to feedback from a few of the other racers, it was decided not to run any of the Dunlops due to track temps and the circuit still being wet from the night rainstorm that had hit us. So most of the other racers ran their R888, now sods law that I just binned my R888 in favour for the Dunlops, this mean I had to resort to my R1Rs.

Having done Cadwell a few times I knew which way the circuit went so that was a bonus.

I ended up qualifying 17th, bit of a disappointment, but was very hard to get a clear run and the tyrs only started griping towards the mid session, but once warmed up they was pretty great!. On return to the pits I got flagged down by the Marshals and informed that my passenger door was flapping...never had this before, so was told to tape up the door for the race.

RACE ONE

I decided to run with the R1Rs for race 1 and had a good race start, unfortunately there was a contact between Dave in his REN GT5 and a MX5 resulting in the Safety Car (SC) being deployed, this was the first race I have been in that has used a SC, so was pretty interesting. It also closed the gaps so gave some car including myself an advantage, however the train of cars was reciprocating, where some drivers are trying to gain a vantage when the SC pulls off the circuit. Once the SC left and green flags waved, the race continued....overall car felt great, however I must admit, does feel like its lost its kick, need to explore this further. I finished 10th, lap time of 1.49.

RACE TWO

A dry line had formed so I decided to switch to the Dunlops, carried out formation lap then DISASTER...I got called off the grid by the Marshalls and informed that I had dropped oil in the staging area. My car was then examined by the scrutineers in the pit bay who then gave my car the all clear and said it must have been another car that was parked there previously. I was then told I can then join the race via the pit lane..at this stage I was thinking" f**k it im going home"...but then also thought, ahh lets join in the fun, so then I rejoined the race in lap 2, thinking well you never know...
Anyway, had a good crack in the race.... One thing I was not briefed up, was the fact I was classed as NOT CLASSIFIED (only found out on the TSL timing page), so was actually no point in going out as I would not even had won a class award (if anything would have happened to the other cars in the class like a DNF for example).

Post Race

This morning, I checked under the car once on the trailer and not even a drop of oil, so a little teethed off that I missed half the race, however at least the Marshals are doing there job.

Next race Oulton Park 4th October (last race of the season).

Thank for reading

Sonny
 
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Cub.

ClioSport Moderator
Was gutted for you when they pulled you out of the grid on race 2. Suppose it's better to be safe than sorry though.

Good to catch up bud, car looked great as always, and there was some great racing right through the field on Saturday. Pleasure to watch :)
 
Cheers guys, was def fun and yes it is better to be safe than sorry 100%

Your car was going well Tony, was struggling at some point to safely over take you ;)

Few little jobs to do on the car, need to raise the rear as I was rubbing a lot even with 195s, not had that before, I think the ASTs may have settled?, something that I overlooked. So need to bring that up a tad, and also need to get the cam timing checked as the car seems to be lacking ooomph.

I now may not be doing Oulton Park, but def Snetterton in November.
 
Not much of an update, but to keep fellow racers in the loop, I now wont be entering the last race of the season at Snetterton, this is due to possibly changing jobs and working on a different contract.

Haven't touched the Clio since Cadwell, however over the winter months I will be pulling the engine and box at some point for a refresh and some tweeeks.

On another note, An ex work college drove over from Cardiff in his Clio 172 Cup where we both started to race prep his Clio, he shall be entering in the 2015 season of the Tricolore Trophy. On topic I also have another friend who works for Revolution 247 who's going to be hiring a Class E Clio from PrizeMotorsport for next season.


seseby8a.jpg
 


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