I fitted my new steering wheel today, but unfortunately the weather has been so dull and miserable that I have been unable to take a decent picture of it fitted but here it is before I fitted it:
I could have fitted the Sabelt wheel that many choose too but I wanted something a little different that to my knowledge nobody else has ever fitted to a Clio v6.
As some of you may know, TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) were responsible for the construction of the Phase 1 Clio v6 so I decided I would look to the Jaguar XJ220S for inspiration as it too was also built by TWR. In total only 6 XJ220S were built in 1993 so I set about the task of recreating the steering wheel they were fitted with:
It’s taken quite a bit of work to replicate given the rarity of the originals but I managed to find a genuine Italvolanti Imola Steering wheel date stamped 1993 which I then had re-trimmed in dark grey Alcantara by Jack at Royal Steering Wheels.
I then managed to find the correct horn push button and surround separately but it had the wrong emblem in the centre so I made a quick design in Photoshop and had a new centre emblem produced. Lastly the horn surround was plain black whereas the original has an imitation carbon finish, so I had my first go at hydro-graphic dipping and transferred a carbon effect onto the surround.
Having finally completed this little project I am really pleased with the results, hopefully the weather is better either tomorrow or this weekend and I can get some better pictures of it fitted in my car.