CLIO 197 CUP - Project TF

[Tarticmonkey]

I was also looking at the silver camber tops but got told that they are not strong and they personally had seen quite a few that were bent from use. Just keep you eyes on them.

Cheers mate, I will keep that in mind

 

[Tarticmonkey]

First trackday completed in the Clio! Very happy with the car. I will do a blog style write up about the day over next week and share some of the photos from the day too!

 

[Tarticmonkey]

First track day in the 197. As a one word review- impressive. Genuinely cannot believe how well the car has done on track in comparison to my old R53 and Fiesta ST180's I have tracked.

The day was at Blyton Park (good track I think to test and learn any car). Whilst admittedly not the most exciting track in the world, it is still great fun with not much to hit thankfully! It was hosted by Trackday Solutions who generally host good days with me personally only experiencing 2 long red flag periods over attending their days for a couple of years.

Start of the day arrived and put the "race tent" up for tool storage and shelter from the wind. Much needed at Blyton as it is extremely open with no garages either!


In the above photo you can see the Clio missing the painted part of its fuel door as the solenoid is seized and required some persuasion to open! Thamkfully everything is intact and will be repaired either over Xmas or the in the new year!

First session was tricky in the car as it was exceedingly cold and we were taking the opportunity to clear frost from the circuit. Not ideal scenarios but the frost cleared quickly and allowed me to treat this part of the day as a wet weather track day. Allowing me to read the car and its behaviour at much slower speeds than what you would see in the dry. Unfortunately not many photos of the first session other than a winter edit but I am so off line in the photo I am too embarrassed to post it LOL!

Further sessions the conditions improved and allowed me to get faster and more confident in the car and even take some friends out who haven't really been on track before and both now have the bug and want to get on track themselves soon.

Despite this though I did have a few moments in the car. One at the first chicane when taking too much kerb and spinning the car! Rather funny in hindsight as it was me over driving the car that did it! Also had 2 saves- one going through Bishops (my mate described as Jason Plato on paddock hill in 2011- so I will take that!) The second was coming through unga bunga and had a lift off over steer moment coming through there- kept it point the right way though!

Some action photos of the day!






The last one is my personal favourite from the day!

All in all really impressed and happy with my choice of project car and look forward to seeing what mods can do to improve the car.

Though one thing the day did highlight to me is the car needs an LSD! Has anyone had experience with "Blackline" diffs in these cars?

 

[R20BTG]

Diff choice

Apologies if this has been asked before but I’m looong at fitting a diff to my clio 200. Currently the car is a normal remapped clio 200 but seriously considering charging it if I keep it long term. The car is only used to drive to and from the track and on track. Options are Black line Quaife...

clio197.net

 

[Helpimonfire]

I've had mine fitted for a bit now and it's been a good addition to the car. It's a good budget option, ideally pair it with a 'box refresh/rebuild and you'll be good to go for a while. The diff is more noticeable in the wet weather, you can feel the inside wheel grab more than it usually does, overall I highly rate mine.

If I had the money at the time though, I'd still have gone with a Gripper as they're more track focused, however I don't regret the Blackline in any way at all!

 

[burrellbloke]

Grippers are noisy clicky devices that sound awful when your car moves at slow speeds, but they are great on track.

 

[Tarticmonkey]

Thanks for the responses RE diff. I thought that would be the case, with Grippers being the best option to go for. But good to read that the blackline aren't slated either. The thing that really puts me off a gripper/ gripper style diff is the service intervals for them and I have also seen stories about them gripping one side more than the other- not sure how true it is but does sound like a headache not worth having.

The diff sadly isn't prority for the car, as I want to get a cage and seats first. Plus I am hoping that some Semi Slicks will be able to at least offset some of the poor diff performance in the interim.

 

[sir_dave]

Just out of interest, are you trail braking into corners?

I only ask as having taken my 197 Cup to Brands last month, i was amazed at the front end grip available (standard car on road tyres).

 

[RSRowe]

The thing that really puts me off a gripper/ gripper style diff is the service intervals for them and I have also seen stories about them gripping one side more than the other- not sure how true it is but does sound like a headache not worth having.

Just internet nonsense - I wouldn't let it be a deciding factor

 

[Tarticmonkey]

Just out of interest, are you trail braking into corners?

I only ask as having taken my 197 Cup to Brands last month, i was amazed at the front end grip available (standard car on road tyres).

I am trail braking and in fairness you are right. The front end grip in the 197 is impressive. I have only noticed the 1 tyre fire coming out of the ump and around Lancaster- see map below for reference. The car was just pulling wide on power- could just be my in experience in the car in fairness!

 

[Tarticmonkey]

Just internet nonsense - I wouldn't let it be a deciding factor

Thank you for the heads up! The guy who has one has a few videos on the youtubes and I do not 100% trust his content.

 

[R20BTG]

Link to said 'content' ?

 

[Tarticmonkey]

Link to said 'content' ?

It’s from Spark Plug Steve on YouTube. I’m not sure if there’s a specific video to reference on this. But he is the one I’ve heard of having issues with one side gripping more than the other.

 

[RSRowe]

I wouldn’t worry about that. Steve doesn’t/didn’t have a gripper at the time (he’s got one now)

The issue was completely unrelated to the diff

All you need to remember, is Nige Pinder runs a Gripper in his 500bhp ring Golf. That’s a good enough judge of longevity in my opinion.

 

[Tarticmonkey]

I wouldn’t worry about that. Steve doesn’t/didn’t have a gripper at the time (he’s got one now)

The issue was completely unrelated to the diff

All you need to remember, is Nige Pinder runs a Gripper in his 500bhp ring Golf. That’s a good enough judge of longevity in my opinion.

Thought I was remembering incorrectly! . Am I right in thinking that he did have an issue with a dif?
If it’s good enough for Das Pinderwagen it’s good enough for me . (Budget allowing l)

 

[RSRowe]

He’s not done a finisher video for the whole saga, but he sent the Cusco off for repair having spotted the tiny bit of damage on the plates, fitted a Gripper and the issue was still there.

Changed wheels and tyres and the issue disappeared. So now he’s got 2 diffs

 

[Tarticmonkey]

That is funny . I’ll be interested in seeing the conclusion video for that .
Out of interest @RSRowe what diff are you running ?

 

[burrellbloke]

@RSRowe runs a Gripper that has never been serviced - like a lot of us on this forum.

 

[R20BTG]

I run a gripper, never been serviced per se, it’s even been run with no gearbox oil and it’s still going strong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RSRowe]

Yeah Gripper for me (I actually run oil in mine though)

I do check the load on it quite often to see if it’s working/wearing looser, but it appears fine when using my normal torque wrench