tomsteer
ClioSport Club Member
Well, start at the beginning I suppose…
Back in 2011 I was working in Scotland on a long-term engineering project. As I had no outgoings, living on expenses and being just over half an hour from Knockhill a track car made perfect sense… Enter SY52 KUO, a Mondial Blue 172 Cup, collected in August 2011 from Perth for the princely sum of £2,200.
It had covered 84,000 miles, some service history and very dodgy track rod ends but I fell in love with it.
The day I picked it up (note the splitter intact!) –
My now wife, then girlfriend, was learning to drive at the time, so a few days after I’d picked it up I got some L plates and put her on the insurance… within half an hour we were out on the open road and about 10 minutes later we were up a curb, shredding the tyre and ending her first and last Cup experience.
I arranged for a full set of tyres to be fitted a few days later, I serviced it, fitted a Powerflex dog bone mount and some Eibach Sportline springs and set about using it as a daily for a few months. How it stood after a run in with a pheasant... (Note the lack of a splitter)
In that time the contract I was working on started to look like it was coming to a close and the company I worked for at the time was murmuring that I was headed to China to install a yeast plant… Wanting to stay in Scotland I took a new job working for the company I’d been contracted to which meant moving about 3 hours north or Knockhill, as such my plan of tracking the Cup still to this day hasn’t come to fruition!
I started my new job with my girlfriend staying in the central belt, the Cup became a commuter and I racked up a fair few miles up and down the A9. On one of the trips down, just coming off a dual carriageway section there was a load bang from the rear, I braked and the car squirmed around so I coasted gingerly to the nearest layby… the view was nice…
It turned out one of the rear pads had fallen out… so my AA membership card earned its keep…
Pads renewed and the Cup resumed its commuter duties until my girlfriend moved up with our dog and two cats and the Clio, even with a roof box just wasn't practical and was replaced for daily duties by our trusty Honda Accord Tourer.
4 years passed as we bought a house, got engaged, got married and had our first child, all this time the Cup sat abandoned at the top of the drive.
Once the house renovations were almost complete and the sleepless baby nights had past, I managed to get back to the Cup and finally got it MOT’d… a happy day! Gave it a polish to celebrate!
Back in 2011 I was working in Scotland on a long-term engineering project. As I had no outgoings, living on expenses and being just over half an hour from Knockhill a track car made perfect sense… Enter SY52 KUO, a Mondial Blue 172 Cup, collected in August 2011 from Perth for the princely sum of £2,200.
It had covered 84,000 miles, some service history and very dodgy track rod ends but I fell in love with it.
The day I picked it up (note the splitter intact!) –
My now wife, then girlfriend, was learning to drive at the time, so a few days after I’d picked it up I got some L plates and put her on the insurance… within half an hour we were out on the open road and about 10 minutes later we were up a curb, shredding the tyre and ending her first and last Cup experience.
I arranged for a full set of tyres to be fitted a few days later, I serviced it, fitted a Powerflex dog bone mount and some Eibach Sportline springs and set about using it as a daily for a few months. How it stood after a run in with a pheasant... (Note the lack of a splitter)
In that time the contract I was working on started to look like it was coming to a close and the company I worked for at the time was murmuring that I was headed to China to install a yeast plant… Wanting to stay in Scotland I took a new job working for the company I’d been contracted to which meant moving about 3 hours north or Knockhill, as such my plan of tracking the Cup still to this day hasn’t come to fruition!
I started my new job with my girlfriend staying in the central belt, the Cup became a commuter and I racked up a fair few miles up and down the A9. On one of the trips down, just coming off a dual carriageway section there was a load bang from the rear, I braked and the car squirmed around so I coasted gingerly to the nearest layby… the view was nice…
It turned out one of the rear pads had fallen out… so my AA membership card earned its keep…
Pads renewed and the Cup resumed its commuter duties until my girlfriend moved up with our dog and two cats and the Clio, even with a roof box just wasn't practical and was replaced for daily duties by our trusty Honda Accord Tourer.
4 years passed as we bought a house, got engaged, got married and had our first child, all this time the Cup sat abandoned at the top of the drive.
Once the house renovations were almost complete and the sleepless baby nights had past, I managed to get back to the Cup and finally got it MOT’d… a happy day! Gave it a polish to celebrate!
Last edited:
