JPS 197

another short update on the clio. So was unsure what my plans were for this year, I filled all of the paperwork in for my Licence upgrade and then decided not to renew at all so i don't think i'll see a hillclimb or sprint in 2021 from the driving seat. Trackdays are yet to recommence and i'm unsure if i'll manage one when they do.

But the car is still moving forward. I have plans for the next stages of the build. I have acquired a set of 403 cat cams, my plans for these are to see how much power i can get from the engine whilst not trying to bankrupt myself. currently the spec plans are;
403's
Supertech valves
Supertech valve springs
fully ported head
uprated bottom end bearing shells (or replace as a minimum)
Lightweight flywheel
A/C Delete

depending on how much is left funding wise alongside this the plans are
possibly swap the Quife for a gripper
forged rods

My hopes are for around 220-230bhp and some more torque. I ideally want to keep the same intake set-up but i'd consider changing the predator exhaust manifold for the pure motorsport one.



All of that though will be me acquiring parts in small amounts over the next 12 months to try and soften the blow a little. alongside the engine i'd like to change the bilsteins for gaz coilovers for the adjustability factor and it would be nice to improve the interior for track work (but this is all 12 months at least from being a reality).

in the meantime i managed to pick up some 200 grey panel seats (much nicer than the worn 197 seats fitted) at a steal £50 and only a few miles away. These were given a quick wet vac and thrown in and its immediately possible to feel that the bolsters are much more supportive than the old 197 sets so i'm fairly happy with this. and i got £20 back from a base spec clio owner who was after a set of 197 seats for his car so win win really.



the final change i've made has been fitting a Scanguage 2 to the dash for a few more readings and the ability to read any error codes.



other smaller bits are the carbon skinned fuel flap and some £8 black eBay special centre caps and the renault sport splitter to enhance the exterior.

So little update on this the parts are slowly building with the plan being to do it in stages over next year.

I now have 90% of the engine parts waiting to go in along with a TTV Flywheel from Pure motorsport.

I've gone a little off course though and have started looking at how i can reduce the weight of the car. This put me to the concept of a roll cage which in turn means i can loose the air bags from the car and fit some more suitable seats - this means the car should be safer for track and at worst i end up level on weight. As such i now have a R020 cage and the drivers seat ready to fit, tempted to fit the rear half of the cage and seat as the car is coming towards the end of it life as a daily driver so wouldn't be for long and it would free up some space in the house.



On a side note you can fit a roll cage in the back of a clio in pieces but i certainly wouldn't attempt it too often as it's not the easiest of tasks!

Bit of a bumper update on the car. Got slightly carried away and went a bit ott with the car. Went in to the garage as both the clutch master and slave cylinder were on their last legs making the car practically undriveable, came out with a tad more than that done.

Safety Devices is in along with a couple of seats and harnesses ect. Car runs in road going for hillclimbs and as such i had to retain a lot of the interior (rear seats as well). gearbox has been rebuilt and retained the quaife due to funds, but there has been the addition of a lightweight flywheel. Interior is how i want it to be now though and the car is looking better than ever.

Hillclimb season plans are a bit odd but should make for the best odd season ever, Plans are to do Craigantlet for the British rounds as the first round of the calendar then follow that with doune and a sprinkling of midlands hills. Would be nice to do gurston down and possibly a harewood if i can make the maths work.

Managed to get the car weighed as well which led to a bit of a shock (i knew it was heavy but bloody hell) 1400kg with a tank of fuel and two passengers (circa 150kg for me and the passenger and 50kg in fuel) still makes for a heavy car!








All being well next winter will be when the engine build commences for the car, suspension may be changed at some point this year as the current bilsteins aren't really stiff enough and have seen some miles now!

Time for a little update, Trip over to Ireland was a success. First time in Ireland and the first full day there was spent hillclimbing, sadly it rained all day on the Saturday but didn't affect me too much. wasn't a million miles off the pace of the locals which i was happy about having never seen the hill before and i still had a car to drive onto the ferry which was a major bonus. Link of my fastest run below. Was well worth the journey, completely different atmosphere to the english hillclimbs in a good way.


and the day following was spend driving one of the costal routes on what turned out to be a seriously sunny day few pictures from the trip.

bit of unwanted attention pre boarding the ferry (think they were just being nosey but decided to leave them to it.






Somewhere from game of thrones i'm told


few big weeks for the car coming up, first is gurston down a hill I've never seen before, followed by a local weekend at shelsley walsh, then a weekend off before driving up to scotland to drive Doune and then all being well a track evening at knockhill. Fingers crossed the car keeps running well.

another update, car has scarily done 4000 miles in the last 3 months. certainly getting my use out of it this year!

Following craigantlet was gurston down. First time visiting the course and made for a good weekend. Clio didn't come last and i'm generally happy with that at national events in my daily driven car. picture of me through the carousel here;




following this was a local hill and the first local hill i've competed at this year, Shelsley walsh! personal favourite and the weekend had blisteringly hot dry conditions on the saturday and a damp day on the sunday which made figuring out how hard to push very difficult. I managed to come considerably not last and was on par with my pb there prior to the cage fitting with a worse ess sector so there's more time to be had from the car which is a nice thought! Surprisingly shelsley shared one of my runs on the instagram mixed conditions meant there wasn't as much grip as i believed there was so ran wide through kennel.

following this was the Scotland trip, with the main focus being doune and knockhill. doune was first and to date has to be one of the scariest hills ive ever driven, the tunnel which makes up the first section is thinner than you'd like, this comes into a section called east brae where it opens but is equally fast and thin. i probably went a bit too bravely on the first run and ended up doing some rally cross, thankfully not hitting anything. series of images as below.







having survived 2 days of doune the trip turned into tourist mode so distillery trips, went to see a loch and Edinburgh before heading over to knockhill for an evening session. 2 hours wednesday evening was all i had to experience the circuit so i was out there a lot! managed about 5 sessions with a couple being 20 minutes, after rinsing half a tank of fuel i called it a day a shade early having enjoyed every second of the circuit. bit of footage with me chasing a dc5 integra which was brilliant fun.


car managed all this and the drive there and back without issue thankfully! Cage limited the cabin space so i had to get a little creative to fit all the wheels in the car