Tom's Track Car - BMW E46 -Engine Number 3



Great video Tom, car is going really well, very smooth driving mate, love it

Thanks mate! Car really felt amazing in the dry!

Well driven mate, enjoyed that!
Car and driver going well [emoji119]

Lovely smooth steering and consistent steering wheel angles, impressive [emoji108]

Thanks Matt. Really appreciate those comments. Always have said the smoothest laps are the fastest!

Great video Tom! Enjoyed that, and that mk2 golf didn't make any real headway in the twisty bits did it!

Cheers Mark! Great to take the Clio out of the UK and give it a test at such as fast circuit!

Wet Video from today's of a nice clear lap. Having an experiment with a little more adventurous data logging for videos hence all the additional data on the video.
 
Loved that!

How was the weather generally mate? Did you get any decent dry time?

Cheers mate. Means a lot! Put a bit more effort into the videos for this trip but sadly my second go pro decided to stop working so only front view videos.

Day 1 - wet from sighting laps till 11 then dry all day till I stopped at 5

Day 2 - wet day from start to finish. Never really got a dry line out there when I was on track. At least I had suitable tyre's with me though for both days.
 
Should have said something Tom! My Hero4 was sat doing nothing as I couldn't get it to sit right on the Recaro..

Didn't get a chance to come out with you but judging by @Micah's reaction when you came in and the video footage, you've got Spa down to a T. Car looked ace and I'm massively jealous of the cage.

Definitely got to get something organised later this year.
 
Brilliant Tom. Absolutely smashing it mate.

Car looks great on track and is clearly being driven very well too.

Awesome stuff mate.
 
At some point I will do a proper edit of all the track day footage from both days. But for now thought I would put the following two videos people have already seen to make a comparison between a wet and a dry lap at Spa. There was a good 30 seconds difference between lap times.

Dry
Wet
Side by side

Day 1
The first of the two track days started of with a 6-00 alarm to get up and get to the track for 7am and get set up and the car unloaded. Safe top say I skipped breakfast that morning after seeing the track up close and personal on a track walk the day before, the steepness of Eau Rouge in person and some of the track undulations was making me a little nervous even though I do feel like I've got a fair amount of UK track experience under my belt.
Sighting laps went off without a hitch and all nerves went away then when actually driving the car on track. At this point the track was still really wet from the rain the night before and the skies kept topping up the dampness of the track, this made for a slightly slower track speed which was great for learning the track and the lines.
11am rolled around and the skies brightened and there was enough of a dry line to be able to get the RSR dry tyres on for a quick session before dinner time.

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The afternoon sessions brought a perfectly dry track and the lap times were dramatically reduced. There was zero queuing to get out on track and only one red flag all day interrupted play. With the circuit being dry I was out for most of the afternoon lapping and lapping until 5pm when the skies started the darken and started to rain slightly and the track started to dampen down once again, with such a good afternoon I decided to call it a day earlier than the 6pm finish time. Day 1 was a success. I'd learnt the track, had't suffered any mechanical and the car was in one piece. They were my two main goals for the trip.

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Day 2
The second track day got off to a similar wet start as day one but continued to keep raining on and off throughout the day and because of that the track didn't dry up. I think there may have been a 10-15 minute window with a bit of a dry line that @rupe30 managed to get out on for a while but I missed that in the garages having a break. Wednesday was great to share with everyone who made it out there from this forum too and meet a large group of members. The day pretty much went off without a hitch except the slight niggle that a few laps into the sessions before dinner I was finding it a little harder than usual to select some gears. Gave the clutch a little bleed during dinner and it was perfect all afternoon then, problem solved.
Also managed to get in some passenger laps with some of the forum members and also take out a number of them for laps around Spa too. Thanks for trusting me for a few laps!

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Final photo from the end of the day minus the missing fuel filler cap which appears to have shot off somewhere on track. Will source a new one this week. Now after such a great experience I'm stuck with making the decision of what to do with the Clio. I did say to a few people that i'm considering selling it and moving onto something else which is potentially harder to drive and more of a challenge than the Clio. That however is still to be decided and at the moment I think i'm going to continue with the Turbo conversion for the end of 2018 when my new tow vehicle arrives.

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I'm glad I wasn't the only one skipping breakfast...don't feel like such an idiot now..!

Was great to meet you, hopefully will meet again at another TD this year for a passenger lap, I'm sure you could show me a few things. Watching your footage makes me think mine handles more like a boat than a car...definitely need to sort the suspension out on mine and get a diff sorted.

Apart from that, just need to sort some Rainsports out and I should be slightly better prepared for a wet track. As much as I enjoyed my first spin, a few hairy moments and putting it on the grass at Stavelot in my last session whilst not really pushing at all put into perspective how easy it is to not come home with a car at all.

@rupe30 jokes over now mate, give Tom back his filler cap....
 
the car looks very purposeful Tom...i bet you surprised a few more expensive machinery there..
thumbs up..still going turbo after this trip??
 
I'm glad I wasn't the only one skipping breakfast...don't feel like such an idiot now..!
Was great to meet you, hopefully will meet again at another TD this year for a passenger lap, I'm sure you could show me a few things. Watching your footage makes me think mine handles more like a boat than a car...definitely need to sort the suspension out on mine and get a diff sorted.
Apart from that, just need to sort some Rainsports out and I should be slightly better prepared for a wet track. As much as I enjoyed my first spin, a few hairy moments and putting it on the grass at Stavelot in my last session whilst not really pushing at all put into perspective how easy it is to not come home with a car at all.

Sounds good mate. I'll hopefully be at Croft on the 2nd June and Cadwell on 1st August. Just doing some more editing of videos but it take a while to process all the data onto the videos before I can actually start editing them. The single laps are easier to do but they make better 'clear' lap single videos.

the car looks very purposeful Tom...i bet you surprised a few more expensive machinery there..
thumbs up..still going turbo after this trip??

Thanks Pav. The turbo conversion is still going ahead, but with me worrying that a standard conversion was always going to be a bit boring for me I've been changing my plans slightly and going to drag the conversion out over the summer to collect all the parts I need and probably do the two track days I've planned in standard form and then convert it over the summer holidays. The plan and spec of the conversion keeps changing so only time will tell I guess.
 
Tried to keep it as short as I could. Just a little highlights video. Starting off with a good full track lap with an M2 then some shorter sections of the track. Kept a little twitchy moment and a run wide for the last bit of the video. Lots of my videos are just nice clear lapping but like to make a video with a little more going on in it.

 
Interesting update tonight, no photos sadly just some written words and thoughts.

Started off the beginning of this week by trying to purchase the 250 turbo in the for sale section on here for £250 but sadly missed out on that, which led me to exploring the hybrid turbo route and how it was possible to get to low 300 bhp's and ftlbs with a Hybrid turbo and forged rods for the Megane engine. Everything was falling into place and I was going to go down the big power route for the Clio.

Friday - After doing two days at Spa I decided to sit out this months track day at Croft and just go down as a passenger and see what passenger rides I could get. Morning started off with a Renault 5 which had a Williams Engine swap pushing 150/160bhp and that thing was quick, then moved onto the DC2 which was being pedaled by my friend Jamie who's an absolute mad man behind the wheel and was lapping the circuit faster than most things in a car from the 90's
Around dinner I went for an explore around the other garages and got to go out in a forged Megane running low to mid 300's. Wow that thing was fast but it didn't excite me in the same way the DC2 did with 140bhp less. But I did love the power and the speed that comes with that Turbo Engine revving to 7k and still making power! Perfect! The conversion was still going to go head.

The afternoon laps were done in an MX5 MK1 with a later VVT Engine fitted making 170-180bhp and obviously RWD. These made for some of the most exciting, laughable laps of the day.

What had I learnt. Megane Engines are amazing for producing effortless power with amazing drivability but it also made me realise that's not the reason I'm into track days, I love the revving NA engine that you've got to work for and it's the handling of the car that I enjoy the most which made me think I should stay with the Clio. However after some thinking I came back to some thoughts that I discussed with the group when I was at Spa about wanting a more challenging car to drive, something rear wheel drive with more power, that's to be continued...
It does mean that all the Turbo stuff I've collected will be for sale and I'll slowly be putting the Clio back to standard, removing the cage, coil overs and gearbox and replacing with standard items over a period of a few months while looking for a new car to buy. I may keep the car in it's standard form as a daily but probably will sell it standard eventually, which for now slows down this Clio adventure that I've been on for 2.5 years. I will probably squeeze in one or two track days in it though, maybe Croft in June and Cadwell in August.
 
interesting read Tom..i do understand where you are coming from..think with your skills and enthusiasm,you will end up driving something more challenging in the end...
im sure you will miss your special clio too though..that car is superb..
nevertheless,i hope you find what you are looking for and it makes you happy...
 
I know we've spoken about keeping NA in the past Tom, so was slightly surprised when I read you were contemplating turbo route. Personally I enjoy getting the maximum out of the NA engine, and concentrating on corner and exit speed, handling etc. However, can't blame you for wanting a nice rwd setup next. Will watch with anticipation. :thumb:
 
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Interesting update tonight, no photos sadly just some written words and thoughts.

Started off the beginning of this week by trying to purchase the 250 turbo in the for sale section on here for £250 but sadly missed out on that, which led me to exploring the hybrid turbo route and how it was possible to get to low 300 bhp's and ftlbs with a Hybrid turbo and forged rods for the Megane engine. Everything was falling into place and I was going to go down the big power route for the Clio.

Friday - After doing two days at Spa I decided to sit out this months track day at Croft and just go down as a passenger and see what passenger rides I could get. Morning started off with a Renault 5 which had a Williams Engine swap pushing 150/160bhp and that thing was quick, then moved onto the DC2 which was being pedaled by my friend Jamie who's an absolute mad man behind the wheel and was lapping the circuit faster than most things in a car from the 90's
Around dinner I went for an explore around the other garages and got to go out in a forged Megane running low to mid 300's. Wow that thing was fast but it didn't excite me in the same way the DC2 did with 140bhp less. But I did love the power and the speed that comes with that Turbo Engine revving to 7k and still making power! Perfect! The conversion was still going to go head.

The afternoon laps were done in an MX5 MK1 with a later VVT Engine fitted making 170-180bhp and obviously RWD. These made for some of the most exciting, laughable laps of the day.

What had I learnt. Megane Engines are amazing for producing effortless power with amazing drivability but it also made me realise that's not the reason I'm into track days, I love the revving NA engine that you've got to work for and it's the handling of the car that I enjoy the most which made me think I should stay with the Clio. However after some thinking I came back to some thoughts that I discussed with the group when I was at Spa about wanting a more challenging car to drive, something rear wheel drive with more power, that's to be continued...
It does mean that all the Turbo stuff I've collected will be for sale and I'll slowly be putting the Clio back to standard, removing the cage, coil overs and gearbox and replacing with standard items over a period of a few months while looking for a new car to buy. I may keep the car in it's standard form as a daily but probably will sell it standard eventually, which for now slows down this Clio adventure that I've been on for 2.5 years. I will probably squeeze in one or two track days in it though, maybe Croft in June and Cadwell in August.
ill let you have ago in mine round a donington if you pop along! might be worth ago, the amount of people who have sold meganes or clios. moved on to bmw or something else always come back or just post sad pics of their old cars wishing they didnt sell them. Im sure you've thought about this for along time and you obviously have great trackday experience! good luck! :thumb:
 
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Sad story here:worried:

However though mate - and I've said it so many times through the years in the forums - when someone has an itch for something else then they shouldn't be trying scratching it by modifying their existing car. If you were thinking to change,chucking a Megane engine would only postpone it.

So I personally believe that you are doing the right thing here even though it'd be sad to see such a nicely modified car going back into its standard form.
 
I know we've spoken about keeping NA in the past Tom, so was slightly surprised when I read you were contemplating turbo route. Personally I enjoy getting the maximum out of the NA engine, and concentrating on corner and exit speed, handling etc. However, can't blame you for wanting a nice rwd setup next. Will watch with anticipation. :thumb:

Yeah the plan was to always stay NA but was getting to the point where I wanted something more. I love the Clio to bits. it's such an awesome car but I've tracked it for 2 years now and looking for something with a bit more mid range torque and punch out of corners.

Sad story here:worried:

However though mate - and I've said it so many times through the years in the forums - when someone has an itch for something else then they shouldn't be trying scratching it by modifying their existing car. If you were thinking to change,chucking a Megane engine would only postpone it.

So I personally believe that you are doing the right thing here even though it'd be sad to see such a nicely modified car going back into its standard form.

Cheers Yiannis, really appreciate your comments about it being a nicely modified car. Really do love the Clio. Such a well set up and capable car!
Sadly it's going to be put back to standard this week and all the parts sold off it then eventually I'll sell the car on.