2006 Deep Black Track Shed BudgetBoltOnBuild

burrellbloke said:

The joys of the new engine.

I am glad to hear the car is still running well.

How many track days have you done this year?

Click to expand...

Not sure if I'm honest. More than I expected but less than I'd like. I think that sums it up

Really enjoyed bullying this Megane all day. He was quick in a straight line but anyone can go quick in a straight line...

Oulton Park.

Car survived. Did some laps, didn't crash. I'll take that as a win.

Got to keep an eye on the oil level with this new engine, it seems to use more than my old one however it's not a cause for concern. I ended the day when the oil level had dropped to the minimum and I realised I'd brought every fluid with me except more oil. Oops! Decent day though, I've been trying to trail brake and that seems to be working, I've just got to have more confidence in the car because it's way more capable than I am!

No real updates to the car in all honesty. It hasn't been touched since Oulton, fired it up and drove it onto the trailer to go around Blyton for the day.

Mucky pup. The widebody Clio in the background has a built K20 with a big turbo on it, sadly he was having boost issues. It was a Javelin run day and it was busy, very busy.

Really good day though, enjoyed the morning, had a quick afternoon session then the heavens opened. I really couldn't be bothered to change wheels and I was knackered after a really poor nights sleep so called it a day around 2.30.

In other news the Mondeo is retiring from use as a tow car. Introducing the new one.


2009 BMW X5, it's the Xdrive35d so 282bhp as standard, this has been mapped and apparently puts out 346bhp and the torque is capped at 700nm to save the gearbox. It moves well for a 2.2t bus!
My old E61 was known as the BST (big silver twat), this is also going to be known as BST. (Bigger Silverish Tank... Until something breaks, then the T will be substituted...)

There we go. Easy update!

Booked on for an evening session at Snetterton on the 14th so it was time to knock all the bird poo and dust off the old girl
Comes up alright, still no show pony though!


In other news I changed the wheels on the X5 and generally tidied it up, it's had some... "tasteful" mods in the past so it's been put back to standard, including the original (style) wheels which I managed to pick up for £200. It's odd to say that the ride has improved after changing to 20" wheels until you see that it was on 21" rims!
The stack of wheels is almost as tall as the Clio!
Clio 7.5j with a 225 tyre at the bottom, X5 rear 11.5j wheel with a 315 tyre at the top. Lots of meat on that!

So there we go. The X5 is how I want it, just a few maintenance bits to do, need 4 new tyres on the trailer ideally as they're starting to crack a little but that'll happen in time for the trip to Knockhill!

Did some work on the old girl today. Trackday booked for Tuesday so the smart play was to spend some time and get it ready a few weeks in advance. The exact thing I didn't do. The plan was discs and pads all round, service, free up the coilovers and a general check over, I was going to lift my seat up a touch too. All I managed was the front brakes and as I was warned (but didn't listen), the drilled discs have cracked more than I'm comfortable with!

All the way around, front and rear, the cracks are EVERYWHERE. So they've been replaced with a set of Brembo HC blank discs. Front pads have plenty of life in them and being CL RC6, they're expensive so I'm not wanting to bin them off just yet. There's a little bit of material crumbling off but I have a set of Mintex F2R in the spares box for a lunchtime change if needed.


Tyres were swapped front to rear too, the Direzzas are about done now, fronts you can barely feel the tread lines on the inside third, rears have about 2mm left so they went on the front, hopefully they'll last the day, if not the PS4's will go on for the last bit of the day!

Car survived a day of abuse at Snetterton on Tuesday. 2 different drivers, 70+ litres of fuel, a litre of oil, a set of tyres and brake pads and around 200 miles on track. What a machine!


First 3 pics are being driven by my mate Rich, who has only really driven his Corvette on track and this was his first time driving a FWD hatch on track. As expected he absolutely loved it. Took loads of passengers around and the car was faultless.

Roll on prep for Knockhill!