Well its been a while since we had a update!!
Had bit of stress lol typical cars! About 1000 miles after fitting the diff and new clutch we get the dreaded 4th gear crunch !! The syncros were inspected and we decided not to replace them as the box never showed any signs of problems - it was silky smooth, hindsight is a wonderful thing. The decision was made to take the box out and sort it. Unfortunately one of the bearings we needed didnt arrive due the French port blockade so we had to cancel the Oulton trackday.
Luckily there was a trackday at Oulton on the day before TA so we booked that and hoped the part needed would show up! We finally got the car back on the Thursday evening , gave the car good drive to ensure all was well. That night after thinking the car was sorted I backed it up the drive too be greeted by a puddle and a wet gearbox
Cleaned it all off, went for another spin and no fluid leaking.
Gets too Oulton Park following day, dived under the car and the under tray is covered in fluid
That put payed to the full track day! (We suspected slave cylinder) But I did managed a few quick laps during the morning as a shakedown and the car felt good. Returned the car to the garage around 4 to get it sorted for the Saturday. The garage had ordered a new main shaft seal and a slave cylinder. When the box was removed it turned out that the brand new slave cylinder was leaking brake fluid into the bell housing! Grrrrrrr, was not impressed as you would imagine! Half 10 we finally got car back together and re set all the geo (
special thanks to Dave at Brosport for staying late to sort for me). At this point I'd had enough, and all but lost interest. The track where I thought I would do well and it was all going wrong !!!!
Back to Oulton on Saturday morning for Time Attack. Car went through scrutineering no problem. The day ran smoothly with no issues (thankfully). The Issue was with me as I just didn't seem with it. I couldn't seem to find that lap i needed. I was 1.2 secs down in the final but I had done a lap within 0.7 secs of the winning time in qualifying. Personally I think I drove better the day before with a knackered car lol
Anyway, to cut a long story short - I ended up 2nd in group and 1st as OHW. I wasn't happy as I knew 1st could / should have been possible. As you can guess the last week or so I aint been in best of moods lol
After all the stress and disappointment / highs and lows (learning motorsport hard way ha ) I've decided to do another round just to be 110% on it and try to put the disappointment of Oulton behind me! Hopefully by then I'll have a set of the ns-2R's super softs new compound to try, so see how they perform!
^^ BEST ONE
Just need to see what Rockingham brings now. Massive thanks has to go too Midlands Renault specialists and Renault Kalatzisport Team who have offered to help me with some sponsorship ! If all could check out their FB pages and give them a like that would be appreciated!
https://www.facebook.com/RenaultKalatzisportTeam?fref=ts - Some cracking stuff mods wise for clio 197/200 ( cams/ r3 maxi exhuast / brembo 2 piece discs , adjustable top mounts etc)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Midlands-Renault-Specialists/215840185272327?fref=ts - All round renault specialists!
Never done Rockingham before so this will put me at a slight disadvantage so a trackday will be needed to find my way around it and all being well we should have a trouble free day.
Then head into Winter with some extra plans for car and maybe few extra mods if all pans out!