And then onto Brands on the 28th:

First things first, on the Saturday, I realised that my MOT was going to run out on Wednesday, was a tad concerned with its heavy mileage, but it passed 1st time in the morning, without so much as an advisory!! Well done clio.

Whilst I was there, I helped my mechanic swop the DS2500 pads in, & bleed the brakes with Castrol Response Super Dot 4, didnt bother with braided lines as i think they’re a little bit of a placebo (the car feels no different to my 172 cup & previous Trophy that both had them). All done, I popped to a mates place of work to do the oil change and fit the Whiteline ARB thats been sat under my desk for the past month ...

With a KFC inside us, the oil change was sorted very quickly by my able assistant & it was onto the ARB. Firstly, it looked completely different to Nick’s, & secondly it was longer. Hmmm, perhaps its not the right one we thought? Bugger it, lets bosh it on anyway ... nearly 2 hours later, & having given up on the buzz gun, the extended breaker bar & copious amounts of WD40 had got the rear damper bottom bolts out, god only knows what Renault torqued them up to when they changed the dampers last year lol. Once they were done, we quickly offered everything up to car, & realised that yes, we were going to have to fit it completely differently to another one we did earlier in the year, with the droplinks on the inside of the bar instead of the outside weird, but there was no other way it would fit. With that finally done, I got ready to leave & took a quick pic of the new addition (for whoring of course):



Now, my mate Ollie, being the ex-valeter, was incredible upset with the state of the shed Trophy, & after finding out that I had never actually cleaned it, offered to give it a once over, purely as he wanted to see if it actually was still red under all the dirt & grime. It was, the 2118’s were also a completely different shade to what I thought they were lol!!



Then it was onto Brands Hatch on the Sunday, where we were a tad concerned about the weather, especially after seeing -7 on the way over there in the morning!!

We had a great day, yes it was cold, but rather sunny in places, with the track offering a decent enough level of grip. Well except Clearways in the afternoon after a TVR dumped its coolant all over the place. Coolant + -1 = ice = sideways Trophy!!

As ever, the car performed faultlessly all day, & the Whiteline ARB (Set to medium) has really transformed the car imho. Whilst i was suffering from understeer on the limit at Snetterton, this has now been replaced with a greater willingness to hold the line, combined with a improved tendency for oversteer. The car is now, & i hate to say it, very similar to the Vts on Bilsteins i had previously, which tbh i was trying to recreate!! I now have the option to steer with the steering wheel, throttle or brakes, the ARB stiffening the rear up to the point where it really is quite twitchy, lovely No more 3 wheeling either, so its certainly doing something back there!!

Anyway, my photos, courtesy of Focussed Events:















Only problem all day was that we (Sarah, my gf & i) were both sliding around on the seats quite a bit (despite harnesses), not great when you're approaching paddock with a dab of oppo that was duely sorted with a cheeky bid on eBay when I got home, hello Cobra Imolas:



In addition, as you can see from the photos, the front wheels could do with a little more negative camber, not just for grip purposes, but to prolong tire life as well, so I may invest in come camber bolts of some sort. The T1R’s were also fine, yes they dont offer as much grip as R888’s, but I prefer fun to ultimate speed tbh, & having to fight the car around the track is where I get my pleasure ...

Roll on the next outing

________________________________________

TEAM: 182 Trophy & ITB'd 3 Series

big fan of clio sports and the trophy is the king but those cups are look tidy too!

________________________________________

97 Phase 1 cherry red 2.0 16v GTI-6

looks good mate, I sold a mint 34k one earlier this year and really regret it. How are the recaros holding out after that many miles?

________________________________________

1992 Onyx Black 205 GTI-6
2005 Honda S2000 (Sold)
2002 Audi S3 (Sold)
2005 Clio 182 Trophy (sold)

Ahh i wondered when this would make an appearance after reading about it on cliosport

Nice pics dave

Always loved your Rallye

________________________________________

Just Drive It

Joined back in 09 for info on swapping an engine for a mate and since a mates bought a mint 172 cup so hes been using my details

yeh they made a tidy sum on the conversion they offer

looks very tidy with the odyssey battery in there aswell.
you know the burpspeed guys?

How you finding the s3 in comparason? the handling cant be a patch on the trophy can it?
sachs remote resivoir dampers as standard

Long time, no see Dave, looking gooood!

I scrolled down the pics and thought, "how the f*ck do I know that reg plate (D8 VYJ)?"...and then the penny dropped...

________________________________________

Pugzy...aka Mike

Ex-Platinum silver 306 GTi6 owner...now an Ex-Scarlet Red 406 3ltr V6 Coupe owner too

Now driving a China Blue 106 1.5 Diesel..."The Money-Saving and Debt-Busting Machine"

You have a 205 to finish first!

O/T hows the house going?

Too right Ash! Your engine and gear box are still sat in a barn, but need to spay the engine bay first to keep it looking mind. Far too cold for that shit at the moment.

House is done and dusted, thanks for asking. Only took us 8 months to finish it all. Now just the garden to do

The amount you're spending on cars and wheels at the moment, you could have bought 2 houses!

________________________________________

1992 Onyx Black 205 GTI-6
2005 Honda S2000 (Sold)
2002 Audi S3 (Sold)
2005 Clio 182 Trophy (sold)

Well, Saturday brought two things, rain & fire.

The first, well that wasnt really anyones fault, but i needed to get the car up in the air to fit the Bimarco's, this involved me getting wet & dirty :dapprove: But after much swearing, adjustments and bolting/unbolting, i had two new seats. Shame that upon the initial installation i couldnt reach the pedals. Being short FTL After attempt 7, they seem to be comfy enough, more tweaking required though, & Sarah's moaning that her seat is too upright, despite it being on the most 'relaxed' setting ...

Once that was done, i thought i would attempt the new steering wheel, foolishly thinking that it would be easy, like the Saxo one. Nope, the airbag, horn & cruise wires were a pain, & i fitted the boss upside down so all manner of warning lights came up on the dash - amazing how fitting a steering wheel incorrectly affects the ABS & TC

So then, onto the test drive, where my new steering wheel highlighted the fact that my tracking is waaaaay out, with the wheel at 45 degrees when going in a straight line. FFS. Then, i decided to make sure my horn still worked, this was a bad idea.



Well almost!! Something fizzed, smoke appeared & i feared that the internet phenomenon 'V6 on Fire' might soon become a distant memory in the presence of 'Trophy on Fire'. Panic set in & i did what any competent FailSport mechanic would do, i checked my feshly opened can of Pepsi Max over my new steering wheel. Not sure if it was a good idea, ie water + electrics, etc, but the car didnt catch fire, so im happy enough, wheels a bit sticky though ...

Upon speaking to Ollie, it sounds like the horn wire had sparked on the metal boss, & tried to recreate the big bang. Doh.

In addition, after continued 'wobbling', i inspected the Pro Race 1.2's i had just bought/had balanced and one of them has a bulge in it, which would explain why they still feel awful. Now normally, i wouldnt be too upset, but i sold my my perfect condition 2118's in order to save some money, now i need to go & buy another set of wheels, aaaarrrrgggggghhhhh!!

Anyways, here are some awful pictures, will update again once i've cleaned it, fitted the Sportlines/another set of wheels & a new splitter

________________________________________

TEAM: 182 Trophy & ITB'd 3 Series