Another German

[Lennman]

Hi Guys,

Yes, I've got a clio too. Loving it since 2016 but ran it mostly stock ever since. It used to be a daily and also a mild track day car at the same time (tried to compensate by driving like a madman).

Due to a couple of changes its now free to become what it wants to be. Looking forward to trimming the weight a bit this winter in order to shape some seconds off my btg time. Nurburgring is within 45mins range which is a dream to me.

I run Eibach springs (do you guys know those over here??) on cup dampers, DS2500 pads, braided lines and better fluid. Also it's on ADO8R but those are finished and I got some more camber in the rear.

To be hones with you, it's incredible how many more options there are in the UK part wise and also shop wise. Reading through threads here in the forum also feels a lot more open and supportive. Of course you guys don't have to worry about German TÜV regulations which gives you be a bit more room to be creative but somehow unconventional approaches are much more welcome here as well.

My Plans for the winter are to get rid of some of the interior and everything I don't need, AC for example to shave of weight. Fitting a harness because I sometimes feel like like I have to hang on to the steering wheel and doing some maintenance and getting things right.

It looks like the information and people of this humble forum have everything in store to keep me busy with working on my car for a couple of months.

Looking forward to it!

Kind regards
Lennart (Lenn)

 

[RSRowe]

Hey Lenn.
Cup dampers and lowering springs are a good choice for Nurburgring. I’ve ran H&R springs and cup dampers over there for a few years now.
Eibach are fairly common over here too.
Seats will certainly help you out a little, and let you feel the car move a bit more (plus obviously the advantage of not having to hold yourself in your seat around corners)

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You’re so fortunate to live so closely!

 

[Lennman]

Thanks man! I've got the recaros, which are OK. Obviously there is better stuff for my use case but over here, there is basically only one seat that you can legally put in the clio and that's the recaro pole position which comes at around 800€ a pop + registration fees (to make it legal). Same for harnesses if you want "good" ones you gotta go for schroth Profi II FE asm,which are also about 350€ a pop. So it's a bigger investment that technically doesn't make you faster.

 

[RSRowe]

Crazy money!
A good friend of mine lives in Luxemburg, and he’s had the same issue fitting a roll cage into his Fiesta.
I believe the registration costs were almost as much as the roll cage itself.

 

[petercronin]

Welcome along, it’s great to see overseas members. I’ve heard a bit about TUV, is it the case that it’s oem parts or only mods which have a TUV approval that are allowed. No way of getting unapproved things approved?

 

[Marsch]

No way of getting unapproved things approved?

There is but it's often coupled with spending lots of money. You can get a "single approval" for basicaly everything but this means the part or construction has to be tested for things like material quality, destruction behaviour or other things depending what exactly you want to get approved.

 

[Foxspeed]

welcome

 

[Lennman]

What Marsch said!

 

[Lennman]

Some parts don't even need "registration" but only if they have been tested and approved on an official basis. This is however very rare. Sometimes a muffler or rims for example but normally nothing what you really desire.

Then there is stuff that comes with the documentation you need, you show it to the tüv guys, who are normally studied engineers, they inspect the car and have to approve it first, then it gets added to the papers of your car. This costs between 50€ and 100€. Its becoming more and more difficult though as not everybody played by the rules and then fines and consequences became stricter, obviously.

 

[RSRowe]

There's a German guy i follow on Instagram, and he posted a picture of his Volvo track car recently where he had replaced all his suspension with the standard parts, in order to get through TÜV. I certainly couldn't be bothered with that every year!

 

[Lennman]

Haha yer sounds reasonable!

It's every two years but I don't wanna know what measures people take to make it through.