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

Unsure of how many people actually read these updates but I've been enjoying sitting down and writing up what's been going on with the Clio Track car and keeping this thread up to do

Renault Sport Day 6th May 2017

The weather forecast was looking really promising for the weekend so as usual I got the car loaded up and onto the trailer on Thursday night after picking it up from having the alignment done. Set off for Wales around 5pm to get there as early as possible and set up for the evening and have my self a little BBQ making the most of the good weather. Ditched the trailer outside the garage with my name on it in the paddock and drove to one of the higher sections of the track with an amazing view over to Wales and the sea.

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Woke up nice and early and while the weather wasn't as nice as the previous evening it was time to put on the dry tyres, check the fluids and tyre pressures. Car performed flawless all day which is a great feeling after cutting the last day at Anglesey short.
The Renault Sport day was fantastic, this is the second one I have done now, there was 35 cars booked onto the track day, which meant that there was no queuing to get out on track and the track was perfect, enough traffic to keep it entertaining but clear enough to be able to get in some really good sessions, currently working on the videos to give you an idea.

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As always I was there with my friend Chris in his White Cup keeping things competitive as usual, had a little bit of tuition on track too before dinner time, few little tweaks with line choice and driving a little smoother but no major changes to driving at the moment which was confidence inspiring.

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As usual Renault brought down a number of cars mostly 001 manufactured cars including a range of demo cars which drivers were able to take out on track with driving instructor free of charge.

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Took my summer tyres knowing they roughly had one day left in them, by the end of the day the front left had certainly got to the end of it's life, at this point around 3pm they were certainly not performing to their usual standard but they lasted the the last session without any issues with a good wear across the whole tread considering how hard Anglesey is on tyres. Time to get the new set of rubber fitted. This set did really well the fronts were slightly worn when fitted and lasted me 3/4 full dry days, the rears were new when fitted and are only 50% worn after the same amount of days,
Time to try the 225-45-17 Semi slicks.

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Video uploaded now.

@Pav these new videos have been made using Race Render.


 
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Nice update.
Looks like a fun day from the videos.
The wether looked kind with you on the track as well.

That little white Saxo looks a bit of a beast.
Love the picture of your car in the garage the red in the blade go's with the colour of the car.

Pez
 
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looks like your mods have paid off..you are much faster than your mate Chris now...good video..did you enjoy Anglesey then??
where did you get the Race render software from??
which cams are you using in your car??
 
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Awesome guys! Really appreciate all the comments, reassuring that everything is worth it and it's not just a great big money pit! Great to read the feedback from people too. Glad the front stripe was accepted, I think I want to do red end caps on the spoiler too, but didn't want it to be too much!

@Pav - The cameras used were 3 go pro's, so the footage quality really can be improved and enlarged in all shots if needed. Only used to sound from one of the cameras. My Clio was slightly faster in the morning but my tyres were not quite up to scratch in the afternoon as you can tell by the photo. However Chris has not go Coilovers fitted and will be remapped on the 20th with brake changes so both Clios will be perfectly matched again for Anglesey on the 29th May Bank Holiday Track day. It's much easier for the car behind to catch the car in front but much harder for the car in front to pull away.

Uploaded another video to Youtube the other night, while it was a Renault Sport day a few friends who normally do track days with us came down for the ride, got there before the driver briefing, got themselves a free drivers wrist band which meant I could give them the keys to the Clio and let them take it out on track. Was a great laugh swapping cars with each other, something we have done a few times on Track, last time Chris let me out in the Clio Cup


More Videos.....

First up was Rob. Great driver Owns a DC5 and EP3 Race car and has been racing Honda Civics this year. Perfect chance to test the passenger reaction camera with my own open face helmet. He's a section from the middle of a 17 minute session out on track when both Chris and Rob were together for a few laps.

 
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Addtional Video....

This is a video of my driving around with Chris in the afternoon. Really interesting moment at the end of the video hitting an oil spill around the back straight doing in the region of 110-115mph.


Final Video

Handed the car over to another friend who has been driving various Clios for years and has recently moved over the E36 which is an absolute machine and a total one off. Probably seen the car in some of my other track day videos. Anyway here is he taking my car around Anglesey with me in the passenger seat.

Only the one moment at roughly 6 minutes in.



Photos from the track day.

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And planning forward to the next track day.

I had changed a lot of suspension set up, heights, springs, top mount rose joints, rotation link, drop links and a track rod before this Anglesey day so got the geometry checked and set at something I was familiar with. Straight toe and 3 degrees of camber.
Going to have it adjusted towards 3.5 camber and slight toe out for Anglesey at the end of the month.

However I with the lowered rear end and the adjusted camber on the rear i now have 1deg of toe in on the rear. Looking at moving this towards 0 degrees to assist with a little more turn in and playful feel to the rear of the car.
Anyone got any thoughts?

Also fitted the 225/45/17 tyres this week. 20mm spacers and you can see the car is lowered considerably and everything seems to be clearing at the moment with a little bit of a spirited test drive.

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as always great vids Tom..the car looks superb too..glad you are enjoying track days so much..have fun in Anglesey..
 
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The nearer to parallel you go on the rear, the more lively it'll be. I'd go for a maximum of 10 minutes toe in at the rear personally, and see how it feels.
 
I would speak to Sean at Jade Developments about setting up the geometry. If I still had a Clio I would be considering a little bit of toe out on the rear to make it a bit livelier.
 
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The nearer to parallel you go on the rear, the more lively it'll be. I'd go for a maximum of 10 minutes toe in at the rear personally, and see how it feels.
I would speak to Sean at Jade Developments about setting up the geometry. If I still had a Clio I would be considering a little bit of toe out on the rear to make it a bit livelier.

Cheers Guys, I'll have a look at the geometry soon, probably shim it pretty much straight with two 30' shims,

One of my favourite threads on here. Always a good read.

Thanks! Not a lot to post about this month sadly, for the first time in a long while I've not made any changes to the car, It's been taken off the trailer, new tyres fitted and ready to be washed, fluids checked and put back on the trailer ready for Anglesey on Monday.

I have however been working on and playing with some exciting new plans in the background which is why I've been so quiet on here lately, lot of research and excel spreadsheets on the go.