ClioSport.net

Register a free account today to become a member!
Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Read more here.

TomoTek - 182 Track Build here we come!...



RuskiWeldFab

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 172, RS4 B7
Lol too quick in your class haha too slow with the big boys. Will be at Blyton. Never been there. Might be a good idea to try it first.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  182 arctic
the guy that spun and was a backmarker.. what a tw$tt to not let the cars behind through..
the other guy just went in way too hot and used you as his slow down buffer, not much skill there for sure..
i suppose this is the problem with this series, just as at the trackdays, theres some proper muppets n attendance.. and frustrating when it effects wha was going to be a cracking first race..
car & preparation inspirational so hats off.. good luck next time.. and appreciate the write up .. loved reading about the experience!..
 

neil a

ClioSport Club Member
what pull up resistors are you running on the other sensors?.. about 300ohms?.. if so I'd say you could run a 150ohm on the fuel level sensor without any issues as you aren't running many sensors.

Thanks a lot looks like the Race Technology temp/pressure sensors come with 1000ohm resistors pre wired so will go with a 150ohm on the fuel level sensor
 

Nafoff

ClioSport Club Member
Just read the secondary update and watched it back also.
The car looked to be going really really well and there is some lovely smooth driving (not that I know what I am on about...) As others have said it is a massive shame that the result didn't come. Looks like a great championship too, a really good mix of cars.

You'll defo have to pop over to one of the races if you get chance.. top of the range hospitality in the Pro-Am awning haha!. we're back at Donington again later in the year for the GP circuit.. I think thats the closest for you

What is the date of Donnigton again mate? the year is filling up with dates so I will set it aside if its not already booked.
 

Tomotek

ClioSport Club Member
Just read the secondary update and watched it back also.
The car looked to be going really really well and there is some lovely smooth driving (not that I know what I am on about...) As others have said it is a massive shame that the result didn't come. Looks like a great championship too, a really good mix of cars.

What is the date of Donnigton again mate? the year is filling up with dates so I will set it aside if its not already booked.

Hi mate, Donington GP is 21/09/2019
 

Tomotek

ClioSport Club Member
So after Donington we analysed all the data, watched all the videos and planned to make all the necessary changes ready to come back stronger at Snetterton.

One of the main issues we saw at Donington, now that we have data logging on the car, was that the car was running around ~106deg water temps and ~145deg engine oil temp. The air temps were at about 12deg too so it wasn't particularly hot. We do run Evans waterless coolant which has a higher boiling point so doesn't cause any hot spots or increased pressure in the water system, but will cause the water temps to run slightly hotter with no issue to the engine (they say about 3-10deg hotter) so the temps at 106 weren't a huge concern, however going to races on hotter days we'd be a little more concerned, more so for the engine performance, with the residual heat heating the inlet and air, and any effects on the ignition driven by the ecu.

With this in mind and knowing its only going to get hotter in the summer, and we will be running closer to other cars while racing we decided to improve the vehicles cooling system.

The plan was to fit a slightly longer radiator and make a bigger duct for the front bumper to suit.

Again I sourced a new radiator from Advanced Radiators, this time a SE320 which is the same height as the current one, so it will fit under the inlet duct, and is 100mm wider. This gave us an area of 1.884m2 which is an 16% increase over the rad fitted, and -0.6% less than the std rad area.

Comparison of old vs new

1418576


I fabricated some little extensions pieces for the fan mounting and re drilled the subframe and bumper beam to move apart the rad mount plates to the new width

1418577


1418578


I then made a brand new duct to ensure all the air flows through the radiator and doesn't pass under the subframe

1418580


This should lower the temps sufficiently to run in all weather conditions. Figures crossed its enough for Snetterton. Only the logging will tell!

I also had to clean up the front bumper. After my unexpected trip into the gravel at Donington the bumper popped off when they towed me backwards and the marshal decided rather than pick it up he would drag it across the gravel trap paint side down haha. Can't complain if this was the only damage from the weekend!

1418581


All cleaned up and ready to go for the next round!!

1418585
 

Tomotek

ClioSport Club Member
RACE REPORT- RND#2 Snetterton 300

We headed over to Norfolk for our second race of the Trackday Championship.. We felt like we had a bit to prove after the heartache of Donington, so we were all excited and raring to go!

We arrived mid day on Saturday, with Quali and the Race again both happening on Sunday. This gave us time to go through the process of setting up the awnings, signing on and getting the car through scrutineering.. This time everything went smoothly, even remembering to pick up our timing transponder this time!!.

The weather had been rather wet in the morning and was starting to dry out in the afternoon. So with it looking to be a dry day on Sunday we left our dry setup on the car and just did our final checks; Tyre pressures, clearing cameras, loading in track GPS settings etc.

As our weekend was part of the MSVR car club we then managed to catch some of the GT Cup, Mini Challenge and F3 races before zipping up the awning and getting a good nights sleep ready for an early start.

-----------------------------------------------

We woke up to a bright and sunny morning. A quick shower and some breakfast and we were heading over to drivers briefing as we were the first group of cars onto the track again for qualifying.

The calm before the storm!

1422185


We decided on the same strategy as Donington, which was to have Ben go out first and build up some temperature and pace before handing over to me in the second half to try to go for a quick time.

Ben put in a solid 2:18.792, at the time running in P9.. Being the first cars on track again there was a lot of track evolution, so the times started to tumble.

During Quali I was lucky enough to be in the Ferrari FF.Corse garage watching everything unfold on their awesome timing setup (I have a few old friends from my McLaren days working there) . Such an advantage to be able to see sectors, and track positions live to enable us to get Ben in and myself out into some space.

1422186


So I then jumped in the car and off I went. A couple of laps in and I lowered our time to a 1:17.84 putting us P13.

Even with us finding a space on the track, due to the length of the track there was always somebody on a cool down lap or a slower D class car to maneuver around.

I crossed the line with a few seconds of the session remaining so would be the last car on a timed lap. I dug deep and concentrated on hitting all the apexs and just being smooth.. I managed our fastest first sector. Seeing the live splits lighting up green on the dash spurring me on!.. up to 9 tenths up on my fastest lap by half way round. I was on for our first ever sub 2:17 lap. Unfortunately I had some bad luck and caught a D class Ford Puma right at the braking zone into Oggies. By the time I got onto the back straight I had lost over 7 tenths getting past. You can see my frustration as I hit the steering wheel as i notice how much time I've lost.

Footage of my fastest lap in Quali


I crossed the line and still went a little quicker, getting a 2:17.701 placing us P13.. P5 in class.. C class pole went to Pete Bennet in his Clio X85 Cup car with a 2:16.265 no pole for us at this circuit!! Booooo haha

1422189


We have found the higher speed circuits suit our car better, where we can keep the momentum up, and utilise the advantage of our lighter car. Snetterton has a lot more slow and medium speed corners where we have found the higher powered heavier cars seems to gap us slightly. The grid compared to Donington was massively different, so these differences were noticed in all classes, not just ours.

Pushing hard into the last corner...

1422193


With Qualifying done we got the car back to the awning. Cameras out, footage downloaded, check over, fuel topped up to race levels and we were good to go again for the race!... It was really starting to get hot now, track temps rising a lot, so we made some adjustments to the cold pressures.

1422188


I would again start the race and hand over to Ben at the half way point (fingers crossed we would make it that far this time!.)

I headed to the grid ready for the green flag lap, found my reference on the pitwall as I lined up, to ensure I lined up correctly when I came back round. We were starting on the inside of the track which was good, I planned to hold the inside line down into turn 2 and try to make some places up as I went.

I did a pretty good job of warming my tyres and brakes on the green flag lap, the car felt good!

Lights came on and the revs raised.... we were off!..



Quickly the action started, Karma had reared its head and Striling #53 (who punted us off at donington) stalled his clio from P4 and caused a bit of chaos behind as everyone tried to avoid him. Unfortunatly for Cook in the Fiesta in front of me, he was the filling in a Clio/Mini sandwich which ended his race with suspension damage.

So i had made up 2 places off the line, up to P11 (P5 class).. I then saw my opportunity and launched the car into turn one and passed another two cars, up to P9 (P4 in Class) .. As we came down the back straight the SC boards came out for the stricken Fiesta that limped to the side of the track, debris littering the track.

We remained under the safety car for another 2 laps while that was sorted.

After the restart I managed to get a run on two cars who were squabbling for position. I decided to go for the move around the outside of the mini into turn one.. The car moved a lot under me as I ran onto the dirty part of the track. But I managed to keep it on the circuit and make the move stick!.. P8 now!, moving on up!

I then spent the rest of my stint on the bumper of P7 Harrison (Clio X85 Cup) who was also P3 in class.

The pit window had opened and we pitted form P4 in class. I passed over to Ben who would get his first taste of racing on track!.

As we exited the pits I noticed that Harrison in the Clio had pulled over at the end of the pitlane with a problem, and was out!. that elevated us to P7 overall and P3 in class.

Ben went out and completed a stella race stint, holding station, with a gap of over 13s to the nearest car behind and unable to catch the Civic of Tester and Gay who were 13s ahead and driving well. He crossed the line to complete our first ever race finish, and secured our first podium!. P3 in class. What a result, we were chuffed to bits to get a trophy in our first ever race finish.

1422190


1422191


1422192
 

adir

ClioSport Club Member
  clio 172
Excuse me for my English. it is not my first language, there for I'm not always respond or have the courage to start a build thread.
However, i know the feeling mate...
Having a project car for about 3 years now, with allot of progress go into it, but never started a build thread.
Your project have been such a motivation for my build !
Keep it up as long as you can : )
 

Tomotek

ClioSport Club Member
So, we've had a hectic few months with a few races in quick succession... Here are the race reports.

RACE REPORT- RND#3 Oulton Park

With a spring in our step, from the result at Snetterton, we made the drive up to the Cheshire based circuit on the Friday evening. Due to the time we arrived we would have to sign on and Scrutineer the car in the morning.

We went to sleep with the weather being quite clear and sunny, but woke up to a very wet Oulton Park Circuit. Not so good as we had our full dry setup on the car (max camber, stiffest damping, aggressive rear toe etc) As you all may know its not a quick job to change cambers and toes on these cars.

We have also never driven the car in the wet before! So this would be a learning curve.

Timings for the weekend were going to be tight too because they were hosting the KA Endurance 6 hour race (so wanted us done and dusted early!).

Sign on and Scrutineering 7:00
Drivers Briefing 7:30
Qualifying 8:30
Race 11:00

We got the car through scrutineering just in time to go to the drivers briefing. Which then subsequently went on until 8:15 (felt like the clerk of the course wanted to read us every rule in the book), leaving no time at all to do any setup changes.

-----------------------------------------------

So we headed out to qualifying onto a very wet track, where we were Instantly greeted with a very wild rear end, and limited braking and traction. We worked on our lines and tried to maximise the session, however we could only manage P6 in Class.. a disappointing 8s off the Clio Cup cars of Bennet and Harrison (which we later found out had swapped to full wet setups the night before) taking away some consolation we were the fastest MK2 clio by 2 seconds, and the single wiper conversion was working a treat!

Qualifying.png


Little highlight video of some of moments we had in Quali:
Blue Gloves - Ben
Black/Red Gloves - Me















We left parc ferme after Quali around 9:30... This gave us about 1hr to make the setup changes we desperately needed.

We felt that the most important thing to sort was the braking, it was very easy to lock the brakes as we were running high levels of front camber. As the car wasn't rolling much in the wet we could back the front camber off to regain the braking efficiency.

So we set about reducing the front camber and rectifying the front toe to suit. We also softened off the dampers. Ideally we would have modified rear camber and toe, and disconnected the front ARB.. but this isn't something we could do in the hour we had.

It was a bit of a mad panic as we got called for the Race and we were still mid front toe alignment.. Luckily myself and the team managed to get all the front up tightened up with a few minutes to spare.

dsc_5784.jpg


I worked my way onto the track and lined up ready for the green flag lap. I then proceeded to weave my way round the circuit building up tyre and brake temps. The car felt a lot better.. More confident on the brakes, and a bit more stable.

The lights went out and off we go!.. the spray was crazy, the video doesn't do it justice, couldn't see a thing going into the first corner.. A lot of cars didn't have their rain lights on (me included, which is what i'm turning on, on the switch panel, through the first corner) . Then as I dropped down into Cascades, feeling like i might make a move round the outside of the car in front... BOOM steering wheel falls off in my hand!.. errrr OK then.. I quickly grab the boss to try to avoid the gravel trap, use it to turn back towards the track, clip the QR back on and away we go... now dead last!.. (I believe when we adjusted the toe, the steering wheel was but back on to center the rack but not clipped on properly, then i didn't check it when I got in the car).

The adrenaline now pumped I began my recovery drive.. I managed to catch the back of the pack before the end of the first lap.. Dispatching the slower Class D cars one by one. 8 cars in the first 6 laps. Then we began to have issues with the heated screen not demisting the screen. By the end of my stint I could hardly see a thing!

As I'm came down into Cascades on lap 7 I saw that there was a Golf parked on the apex, after not being able to avoid another spinning clio before him and hitting the barrier on the inside. I instantly radio'd the pits and told them there would be a safety car for sure and to box me straight away. I tiptoed back to the pits as visibility was near on impossible..

I came into the pits and the team began to clear the inside of the car from condensation, we reset the heated screen and Ben jumped in and off he went. As I suspected they sent out the safety car and picked up the leaders. Due to the lap times being over 2 minutes and our min stop time is 2 minutes Ben was able to come out just in front of the safety car and speed round to join the back of the pack. The rest of the field then stopped for their mandatory pit stops.

Due to our quick thinking we managed to jump up to P4 in class and P10 overall.

Ben then reported the same issue with the heated screen. The inside of the car started to mist up again!, we were gutted.

Bens pace subsequently dropped due to not being able to see where he was going, not so good when your driving flat out around a race track!.. He bravely managed to bring the car home in one piece and cross the line in P7 in class and P19 overall.



Race.png



lhp_9353.jpg


lhp_8652.jpg


All in all an eye opening weekend. Just glad we came home with both the car and ourselves in one piece.

** Investigations once we had the car back in the garage found that the heated screen wiring had melted and shorted blowing the fuse. (I used the std rear heated screen wiring, which wasn't up to the job) So I made up a brand new loom, connected directly to the battery power, with two relays and fuses for each of the front screen element circuits. Job done.
 

Tomotek

ClioSport Club Member
How slippery is the Knickerbrook chicane in the wet!

It's always like driving on ice in mine.

Yeah it was super slippy through there!.. the R888R's are terrible in the wet too.. just had to make sure we were braking off line, but u always had to cross the slippy line at some point. Was a lesson in car control that's for sure.
 

JamesBryan

ClioSport Club Member
Yeah it was super slippy through there!.. the R888R's are terrible in the wet too.. just had to make sure we were braking off line, but u always had to cross the slippy line at some point. Was a lesson in car control that's for sure.

It never used to be that bad there, but seems to have gotten worse over the years and not sure why :unsure:
 

Tomotek

ClioSport Club Member
Next up was a trip to Silverstone to sample the GP circuit. This time though it was a round of the Trackday Trophy, which is also ran by MSVT. These races are held to the same regs as the Trackday Championship, but just one off events with Trophies, and no points are awarded. You are also allowed to use any tyres on the MSA list and not confined to the Toyo R888Rs, so there was a mix of different cars on different rubber.

RACE REPORT- RND#5 TDT Silverstone GP

Being my local circuit, less than 30mins, it was a nice change to be able to setup on the Friday and go home back to my own bed for a good nights sleep.

In contrast to the previous race weekend we had a kind schedule:
Qualifying 11:30
Race 17:20

With the car all ready the night before and the weather looking good for the afternoon we stayed with our dry setup this time. So it was just a matter of waiting for Qualifying.

The call came and over Ben and Chris went to the assembly area, while myself and the rest of the team headed to the pitlane as I would be doing the 2nd half of Quali. Unfortunately Quali got delayed due to one of the GT cars in the GT Cup dropping oil all down the old start finish straight and all round Copse. So they called an early lunch for track clean up, leaving all the cars stuck in assembly (as they didn't want to call everyone again and delay the days running)

So and impromptu photo shoot commenced haha

1CD19834-4F60-4860-B5A0-4E9B486230C7.JPG



69c252ca-4e7b-408d-809e-1de805a5db10.JPG


7914f0e3-ba44-4dfb-8169-53d3dcc83de8.JPG


65099ed1-0a30-45f3-b73e-96ea575448f9.JPG



Finally we were let out and a steep learning curve commenced.. With the GP circuit being about a 2:40 lap time and having 20 corners there was a lot to learn and a lot of areas to gain and lose time!.. With Silverstone being a relatively flat track and recently re surfaced it quickly became apparent we were really struggling with Under steer!.. Running wide multiple times through Copse.

The flag dropped on quali and the results were in. P4 in class with a 2:38.156 (first of the class C's on Toyo tyres and TDC regulars)
Frustratingly, over 3s off pole though! Definitely a power circuit, which we lack as we have gone for low weight over high power.

Speaking to the Parkin brothers of Darkside Developments who grabbed pole (regulars in the trackday championship), they said they had done a test the day before and compared the Dunlop Dirrezas and the Toyo R888Rs and said there was well over a 3s difference, with the Toyos being slower. So if we ever did a TDT race again we'd look to switch to the faster tyres.

Qualifying.png


With the terrible US we had we set about making some changes. We put some more toe out at the back and upped the rear tyre pressures.. Also managed a front pad change and cleaned up all the grease and siliconed up another J&R OS front driveshaft boot which split! 2nd one this season. Hoping that it had time to set before the race! (a little trick we learnt from Cameron McLean Racing, who has had similar issues)

thumbnail_56124D44-A66F-409B-A3EF-DFC795A97C9B.jpg


We decided as this round wasn't a championship round that Ben would have his first race start with me doing the 2nd stint. This way it took the pressure off a little, and made him feel a lot more comfortable.. Ben made a good start and kept out of trouble, losing a place to the #117 Civic which got a great start.

Ben then headed a 4 car battle for 5th position for the next 5/6 laps keeping the chasing pack behind with some great driving, even closing up on the civic for 4th.

On the in lap Ben ran wide on the last corner and a couple of the cars managed to get in front, but Ben dived into the pits anyway, as they went onto to do another lap. I was patiently waiting at the end of the pitlane to jump in for my stint... A swift change and a quick update on the circuit conditions and I was driving out the pits... I left a couple of 2nds on the table as I pulled away a little to late, so we managed a 2:02 stop time. As i came out the pits I was right behind the 4th place #117 civic, which I started to eye up.

At this point the other cars in the battle for 4th/5th had pitted, and as the Civic and I came round the first corner we saw 2 of the cars coming out the pits infront. So it would be a close battle to the flag. However I started to struggle on my downshifts to hit 3rd from 4th.. and on my upshifts to 3rd.. which saw me lose a place to the fiesta and miss some opportunities to overtake. (We found the bearing on the shifter system had started to tighten, so wasn't self centering properly, quick fix after the race annoyingly)

So we ended the day in P12/39 and P7 in class which wasn't too bad considering. (top 3 had great pace all day so wasn't going to be a podium)

We also managed to lap faster, due to the setup changes made and managed a 2:37.645 (0.5s faster than Quali)



Race.png


Some great pictures by Lloyd Horgan capturing the early battles

lhp_5063.jpg


lhp_4920.jpg


lhp_5157.jpg
 

JamesBryan

ClioSport Club Member
We’ve also done Brands GP a few weeks ago... and heading to Donington GP tomorrow for the next round

We won’t have enough signatures on our licences to enter Zandvoort unfortunately, as need a Nat A licence.. so we’ll be skipping that round this year

From a championship point of view is it the same as say Club Enduro, where they do Spa but for those that can't go would surely lose out on points so they have a drop score system.

Is that the same for TDC?
 

Tomotek

ClioSport Club Member
From a championship point of view is it the same as say Club Enduro, where they do Spa but for those that can't go would surely lose out on points so they have a drop score system.

Is that the same for TDC?

Yeah they have a drop score system too.. we have a DNF from the first round at Donington tho (we’ll 1 point for the pole lap) which we would have dropped if we did Zandvoort so we’ll just have a couple of poor rounds.. it’s been a good learning curve this season tho, so we’ll be back to attack it fully next year
 

Tomotek

ClioSport Club Member
RACE REPORT- RND#4 TDC Brands GP

After our adventures around the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, we headed to Brands Hatch to hustle our little car around yet another Grand Prix layout!

We had tested at Brands Hatch Indy at the beginning of the year, so we knew the first 3 corners, but the rest we would be going into blind for qualifying. Just needed to remember to turn left at Surtees! Luckily we were graced with another dry weekend, which is always good when your learning a new circuit.

We followed the same procedure as usual for the TDC races, with Ben starting Quali and handing over to me, and then myself starting the race.

It soon became apparent that Brands GP is very much a RWD power circuit, with a few of the not so usual suspects working there way up in the standings. It is also a very ballsy circuit, especially around the back of the circuit with 3 very fast and blind right handers... All I can say is, wow what a circuit, if you haven't had chance to drive the GP layout I would highly recommend it!

Qualifying went ok and we managed P18 overall and P6 in class. The first 3 were 1 second up the road and then it was close for 4th, with 0.042 of a second separating us. (2 seconds quicker than the other C class 182 so that was a positive)

Brands GP - Quali.PNG


The car felt good tbh.. But we were loosing time on the drive up and out of Surtees... The gearing just isnt right in the Clio, bogging down in 3rd but just about on the limiter in 2nd.. Nothing we could do about that so we just prepped the car for the race and waited.

Obviously obligatory shot of car under awning followed

thumbnail_IMG-4394.jpg


RACE>>>>

I got a good getaway from the grid and held my position through the first few corners.. On the run through Surtees I got a heavy tap from behind from the BMW of Red Seal Racing, which pushed me out wide allowing the White Knight Racing Civic to dive past under both of us... Little do we know but one of the D class cars behind had had a big off into the barrier on the way up to Druids causing the safety car to come out.. So as we passed the 4th corner the flags and boards came out so everyone backed off.. We then spent the next 2-3 laps behind the safety car, as it took quite a while to remove the car and clean up the fluids on the track.

Unfortunately the file with the footage of the first lap corrupted when i copied, so the youtube video starts at the safety car restart. (didnt miss much anyway)

After the restart (which i should have been closer to car in front for, lessons learnt) I managed to get past the civic on the next lap with a dive up the inside into Paddock Hill Bend. I then preceded to battle with the BMW in the class above. He had the grunt, but I had the corner speed.. Grunt prevailed though, and he got ahead.

I started to reel in the guys in front, but it was time to pit and hand over to Ben.

We managed the 2nd fastest pitstop of the gird, with a 2:01.180 .. with most our rivals 10s slower which allowed us to jump up to P9 overall and P3 in class after the stops settled.

Ben couldn't hold off the Porsche behind who was lapping at least 1 second faster than our pace, so it was inevitable really. A little tap from behind at Druids to let Ben know he was there and then the Superior drive out of Surtees saw the Porsche drive past. Ben then sat in a pocket behind the Porsche and 10s ahead of the guys behind.

So we finished in P10 overall and P4 in class.. our 2nd best finish this season. So a good day really. Again the car performed excellently and we both enjoyed the circuit and carried on learning!.

Up 8 places from our starting position so happy with that too

*IF YOUR NOT WINNING, YOUR LEARNING* as they say.



Brands GP - Race.png


190831_sr_bh_tdt_1680.jpg

190831_sr_bh_tdt_1708.jpg

190831_sr_bh_tdt_1777.jpg

190831_sr_bh_tdt_1947.jpg
b07i1859.jpg
190831_sr_bh_tdt_1996.jpg
 

adir

ClioSport Club Member
  clio 172
what is the power/weight regulation on your class ,can you go a bit higher, or you already on the limit ?
looks like you have the upper hand in the corners, but not enough on the Straight ...
 

Tomotek

ClioSport Club Member
what is the power/weight regulation on your class ,can you go a bit higher, or you already on the limit ?
looks like you have the upper hand in the corners, but not enough on the Straight ...

The regulation for Class C is up to 150WHP/TON and be sit at 148.5 allowing a buffer for dyno variability. (We run ~35kg of ballast to get down to that value.)

Its all relative to the circuit, for example we were on Pole at Donington, which suits our car quite well with the high speed flowing corners where we can keep up our momentum, and the gearing is perfect. But other circuits where there are more 'stop/start' corners and some corners in between gears we come off worse.

Donington and Snetterton are also tracks we've driven a lot so track experience is also something to add to the mix. Some of these boys have done quite a lot of seasons racing. As a lot of people say, bum in seat time is worth a lot of lap time.
 

Tomotek

ClioSport Club Member
Hi all,

Another update coming your way.

As I mentioned earlier we decided to skip the Zandvoort round due to the licence issue we faced. So we decided to book an RMA trackday at Donington GP for the week before the next TDC round at Donington.

We needed to bed in tyres, dial in the suspension setup and re learn the GP section (which we hadn't driven since May 2018)

Being an RMA Trackday there were a lot of expensive fast cars... So a little bit of mirror watching would commence. The GT cars came up fast!!

We started the day with a bit of track familiarisation.. Both Ben and I doing a couple of 10 minute stints with our baseline setup. It wasn't long before we lapping at a similar lap time to last time out, so we then did what we came to do and bedded in some new tyres and brake pads etc.
----------------------------
During the lunch break we got the car up on axle stands and started to change out parts of the suspension. We had finally got our own, in house designed, Prototype Geometry Correction Kit (plug and play with OEM Renault Hubs) machined and built up, so this was fitted. Roll Center and Bump Steer Correction.
We also softened off the overall spring rates front and back to match the changes we were making with the geometry. AST uk sorting us out with a quick supply of springs, just in time!

4C73612F-FA6B-4AB8-8BE9-727F71ABBD62.JPG


795D349A-4599-4BEF-B462-4958D1EA5A8C.JPG


A0029A19-3D2C-488D-8D15-11F6B42C29AB.JPG


As most people will know a few versions of these have been floating around.

The kit is used to adjust both the front Roll Centre height and reduce Bump Steer.. With the excessive lowering of race car and track car Ride Heights (to bring that critical Centre of Gravity down) front suspension geometry is drastically altered.. This alteration causes High levels of Front Roll which has to be combatted with Higher than optimal front Spring Rates to support the car through high speed corners, thus reducing the cars low / medium speed mechanical grip and turn in response.. Higher levels of Camber are also required due to the large front roll, which can be difficult to achieve, and which also reduces available tyre contact patch (essential for optimal traction when accelerating and braking!)

With our kit we are able to raise the Roll Centre height by lowering the outboard ball joint Centre, thus reducing front roll and correcting all the above issues!.. In parallel the bump steer correction kit is installed to reduce the sensitivity of the car and the steering to any single wheel bumps in the track, providing a more stable and smooth ride around even the bumpiest of circuits.

The team worked hard to get all this fitted within the hour

Testing #14.jpg


Testing #6.jpg


Testing #16.jpg


Testing #15.jpg


Testing #4.jpg


One of the unique features about our kit is that it has been designed with adjustment on the RC height. With the integral spacer you can tune the RC height to 2 stages, depending on the level of ride height drop you have on your car... Or it can be used to tune the balance by increasing the roll at the front, for wet weather running, where the softer front end is beneficial to grip, and providing a safer 'more understeery' response. As we all know these Clio's can get a little tail end happy in the wet.

We then went out and with the kit set on stage 1 (the least adjustment). It was instantly noticeable how much the understeer was reduced, and turn in improved... It took a few laps to re calibrate as we were turning in to soon (as we pre-empt the understeer normally). It was also noticeable on the long back straight, which is rather bumpy, how little inputs were being felt at the steering wheel from the road. Normally you have to fight with the steering wheel to keep the car in a straight line some times.

We were impressed so far, so we came in and quickly adjusted the system to stage 2 (the most aggressive raising of the RC height)

Again another step change in performance was noted. More than anything the increased confidence that the car would go where you pointed it was amazing.

We then set about doing a couple of race simulations in the afternoon, to get some mileage on the parts. managing over 250km in the afternoon, so a decent amount of running.

So we ended the day very happy indeed, and confident going into the race the following weekend.

Renault Blue Clio-01.jpg
Renault Blue Clio-02.jpg
 

1985michael182

ClioSport Club Member
Nice write up, I'm sure you are aware of a certain RC setup that fails on track.
You definitely know your stuff regarding engineering so I'm sure your kit will perform perfectly and reliably.
I also know what you mean regarding the turn in! I have Mr Northloopcup's setup and at Croft in August I couldn't believe the transformation, paired with the gripper diff it was unbeatable
 

Tomotek

ClioSport Club Member
Nice write up, I'm sure you are aware of a certain RC setup that fails on track.
You definitely know your stuff regarding engineering so I'm sure your kit will perform perfectly and reliably.
I also know what you mean regarding the turn in! I have Mr Northloopcup's setup and at Croft in August I couldn't believe the transformation, paired with the gripper diff it was unbeatable

Hi Michael, yes i'm aware of the issues that the other RC setup has had 😓 .. I've seen a few posts people have put up.

Appreciate your vote of confidence! (y) .. Our design is fundamentally different and doesn't feature stress raisers in critical areas, and we have been very vigilant with our material selection.. We are also proving out our designs on track before we machine the first batch of parts to sell. We have around 500km on the parts now, with another 150km going on at the weekend at Brands Hatch! As you've seen, I pride myself on quality so wouldn't want to offer something without testing it thoroughly first.

Haha, love the vid!.. seeeee yaaaaa!.. nothing in the same category comes close as you say
 

1985michael182

ClioSport Club Member
We all know the quality of your work and your engineering background and attention for detail. These will fly off the shelves once you've finished testing and can put your seal of approval on them.

Next you need to create a decent 4pot brake package that fits under 15s with out have it bastardise anything.
 

Tomotek

ClioSport Club Member
We all know the quality of your work and your engineering background and attention for detail. These will fly off the shelves once you've finished testing and can put your seal of approval on them.

Next you need to create a decent 4pot brake package that fits under 15s with out have it bastardise anything.

Thanks, I hope they will.. I'm always open to looking into other parts to develop if the demand is there!. so if you can think of anything let me know.

I love it when people develop their own stuff, and I'm also interested in these parts.
But doesn't the bumpsteer need to be altered again, between the two stages of the Roll Centre kit?

Hi mate, yes your correct, the bump steer needs to be altered too. There is a matching adjustable spacer on the track rod end attachment too.. Its under the head of the bolt and goes into the rose joint, seen in the pictures above. This is simply flipped over.
 


Top