thatflookguy
ClioSport Club Member
172 Cup & 172 Turbo
I've been into small fast Renaults for years now; my first time was in Adey's first Renault 5 GT Turbo back in 2003, and I spent many evenings out in it chasing Escort RS Turbos and going to various RTOC days. I will always remember the excitement coming from Adey when this exact car made 201 ponies on a RTOC rolling road day. From this moment on, I fell in love with Renaults.
After skipping a few years of Renault life, in 2009 I got my first Clio Sport, a 2003 172 Cup with a little over 45,000 miles. Full service history and a very clean example are exactly what I've been looking for. Back then, these cars were still reasonably expensive and had not been tracked or modified much.
Luckily for me, I knew a Renault Master Tech who came with me to check over the car. Everything looked good—a clean example with low miles and service history to back this up. I coughed up the money and took it home. It wasn't long before I decided that as much as I liked the car, it needed to sit a little lower and sound a bit better. So I went and bought some coilovers from K-Tec along with their SS catback system. With camber and tracking adjusted to suit, I used this car as a daily for the next few years. Serviced with a cambelt kit, dephaser, and water pump change, the car never failed to let me down.
Whilst I have 100s of photos of the car through the years of ownership, here it is in 2021. Since the car only gets used during the summer, it mainly stays tucked away in my unit over the winter. This helps preserve the condition and keeps the mileage off of the car. Now, sat on just over 100k, I am lucky enough to be able to say this car doesn't owe me anything; I don't need to use it every day. I have sold five cars, all of which I have regretted. I won't allow that to happen again!
Some old CS timers may remember me from around the Gloucester area; back then I had a different username. The car had been spotted a number of times with a woman driving it! That was my sister. On a couple of occasions, she had been using the car for much longer than she had planned. Had an issue getting it back from her in fact!
Unfortunately, that meant the car has had 4 ownership changes in the logbook between us! At the time, I thought this was a good idea if the car was being kept at her address—stupid, I know.
It also meant the left front turni has been damaged and the front bumper has been marked. This caused me to remove the OE cup splitter, which I still have to this day!
Anyway, to finish up, I always said when the time comes for the clutch to be changed, why not freshen up the car? That time has come, and the bearing has started to race. I'm in a position where I have my own 30x16-foot storage unit, a 2-post lift, and the tools I need. Besides this, I know my way around cars, and this Clio isn't my first. I have owned another 172 Cup and two Clio Sports. One being a track car.
So come Saturday, the work will start, unlike my previous thread where I had been building a track car. This one I will keep updated with a full restoration project.
After skipping a few years of Renault life, in 2009 I got my first Clio Sport, a 2003 172 Cup with a little over 45,000 miles. Full service history and a very clean example are exactly what I've been looking for. Back then, these cars were still reasonably expensive and had not been tracked or modified much.
Luckily for me, I knew a Renault Master Tech who came with me to check over the car. Everything looked good—a clean example with low miles and service history to back this up. I coughed up the money and took it home. It wasn't long before I decided that as much as I liked the car, it needed to sit a little lower and sound a bit better. So I went and bought some coilovers from K-Tec along with their SS catback system. With camber and tracking adjusted to suit, I used this car as a daily for the next few years. Serviced with a cambelt kit, dephaser, and water pump change, the car never failed to let me down.
Whilst I have 100s of photos of the car through the years of ownership, here it is in 2021. Since the car only gets used during the summer, it mainly stays tucked away in my unit over the winter. This helps preserve the condition and keeps the mileage off of the car. Now, sat on just over 100k, I am lucky enough to be able to say this car doesn't owe me anything; I don't need to use it every day. I have sold five cars, all of which I have regretted. I won't allow that to happen again!
Some old CS timers may remember me from around the Gloucester area; back then I had a different username. The car had been spotted a number of times with a woman driving it! That was my sister. On a couple of occasions, she had been using the car for much longer than she had planned. Had an issue getting it back from her in fact!
Unfortunately, that meant the car has had 4 ownership changes in the logbook between us! At the time, I thought this was a good idea if the car was being kept at her address—stupid, I know.
It also meant the left front turni has been damaged and the front bumper has been marked. This caused me to remove the OE cup splitter, which I still have to this day!
Anyway, to finish up, I always said when the time comes for the clutch to be changed, why not freshen up the car? That time has come, and the bearing has started to race. I'm in a position where I have my own 30x16-foot storage unit, a 2-post lift, and the tools I need. Besides this, I know my way around cars, and this Clio isn't my first. I have owned another 172 Cup and two Clio Sports. One being a track car.
So come Saturday, the work will start, unlike my previous thread where I had been building a track car. This one I will keep updated with a full restoration project.
