Glacier White 200 Cup

[Tarticmonkey]

Death, taxes, clio gearbox issues and red flags at Donington. The four guarantees in life

 

[burrellbloke]

Here are a few of the track day photos of the Clio from Donington Park.

 

[Chambers_rs]

Gold wheels really suit that

 

[burrellbloke]

Here is a bit of footage from Donington Park on 6th November 2025.

This is the 4th gear challenge hot lap, and in fact my fastest lap of the day.

 

[dan_87]

Love this

 

[burrellbloke]

The Clio has not moved since it came back from Donington Park in November 2025. Due to busy lives we have still not investigated the gearbox issue yet.

I have SORN'd the car as it was due an MOT recently but I decided that as the Clio was not going to be used for a little bit that we would sort out some issues and then get it back on the road.

The car needs to have the suspension to be removed, and rebuilt by Gazmatic. The front drivers side strut is not rebounding like it should and the rear drivers side strut is leaking. As Gaz is only a short drive from home we can drop off all of the struts, and get them rebuilt and any perished parts replaced, and then pick them up. We have had the fronts rebuilt before by Gaz and the cost was very reasonable.

When the suspension is back we can see if there are any obvious issues with the gearbox. If it continues to be a problem that only reveals itself after a few miles of driving we will have to get the car MOT'd and then investigate some more.



We are booked on to the OpenTrack double header date at Zandvoort on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th February 2026. Neither of us have done Zandvoort before so two full days there should fun - we just need to hope that the Clio works for two days rather than doing a few sessions and giving up early on Saturday morning.

Next in the Clio's track day calendar is Donington Park on Monday 16th March 2026. This is a date that a lot of Megane and Clios have booked on to so we thought why not?



The Clio is returning for its third trip to the Nurburgring for the Circuit Days track day on Monday 6th July 2026. We will travel over on either the Friday or Saturday before to have a weekend at the Ring and will probably do a few slow and easy TF laps.



I have three items on my Wishlist at the moment:

1. Full cage
2. Electronic dash to replace the analogue clocks
3. New lighter wheels

The cage is at the top of the list and is the priority this year, but as track days abroad are not cheap it is something that may have to wait until later in the year. We did think about a full weld in cage from someone like Fulcrum Motorsport but it would cost twice as much and be a pain to paint so it is likely that we will go for a SW Motorsport bolt in full cage.

2026 Should be good fun in the Clio.

 

[R20BTG]

May I suggest a gearbox that works might be a more sensible item to have at number 1 on that list?

 

[burrellbloke]

May I suggest a gearbox that works might be a more sensible item to have at number 1 on that list?

That is the dream - to have a working gearbox.

 

[RSRowe]

He’s gearing himself up to do Spa in 4th.

 

[Dowling93]

That is the dream - to have a working gearbox.

I now have 3 gearboxes for this exact reason

 

[burrellbloke]

The coilovers have now been removed from the Clio and are boxed up ready to drop off with Gazmatic for a service/rebuild.



I am hoping that when they open up after the festive break they can service the suspension reasonably quickly so it can all go back together to get the car MOT'd.



@EthanMenace has now installed a USB power point in the rear of the car to power the rear facing GoPro for track days, rather than run a long power cable from the front to the back of the car. The powerpoint sits in a 3D printed bracket in the area in the rear passenger quarter where the siren used to sit.



Now I can run a shorter cable to the rear GoPro.



Ethan has also been working on a bracket to hold the 12v socket in place as we no longer have a centre console where the handbrake is. At the moment the 12v socket just floats around in the front dancing from it's own wires.

 

[burrellbloke]

The Gaz Golds have now been serviced by Gaz. I picked them up from Gaz as they are only a 20 minute drive from home. It is a proper old fashioned engineering factory.



We got all four dampers serviced. Both front dampers needed new rods and the rears had replacement bearings.



I think we have had our Gaz Golds serviced every two years now. I would hate to think what state they would be in if we had not had them serviced. Now the rears have been done we are one step closer to getting the Clio MOT'd as one of the dampers had been leaking oil.



The Clio had developed an issue that took us some time to diagnose. We kept getting a misting of oil on the underside of the bonnet when the Clio had been at trackdays. It was when we were at Snetterton last year in either September or October that we worked out that one of the engine end caps had become brittle and was allowing oil to escape through very small cracks.



We have acquired new end caps so hopefully the caps just need to be pulled out and the new ones pushed back in.



Whilst the Clio has had the suspension off @EthanMenace had a look at the track rod ends and noticed that one of the rubber boots had a nick in it. We have got some new TRW track rod ends to go on to the Clio.



When the car is back on the ground it can be booked in for an MOT. The next job will be to solve the gearbox issue, and then get an alignment sorted before we head off to Zandvort at the end of February 2026. @Beany and @Tarticmonkey have you solved your gearbox problems yet?

In other news I picked up this today.



It's a 2017 1.6 dci Renault Trafic. The plan is to take a scabby builders van and turn it in to a camper van. But, once a tow bar has been installed it can be used as a tow vehicle. I think it can tow 2,000 kilos so I am hoping that is enough for a trailer and the Clio.

 

[Helpimonfire]

Yeah I think the Vivaro is capable of towing 2000kg, it won't be fast but it'll do the job. If you're going to kit it out as a day camper kind of thing I would suggest getting heavier duty springs on the rear, these are fairly softly sprung and they do sit down when loaded up.

Looks tidy though! I'll enjoy watching Ethan putting his woodworking skills to the test!

 

[RSRowe]

I enjoy how you’ve finally admitted defeat on the towing approach haha

 

[burrellbloke]

I enjoy how you’ve finally admitted defeat on the towing approach haha

We are driving the Clio to Zandvoort in about 6 weeks - but towing it would be nicer.

I think we will probably keep the Clio road legal even if we have a tow rig as we do not have space to store a trailer.

 

[RSRowe]

Best way. Mine was always MOT’d but rarely taxed

 

[EthanMenace]

Yeah I think the Vivaro is capable of towing 2000kg, it won't be fast but it'll do the job. If you're going to kit it out as a day camper kind of thing I would suggest getting heavier duty springs on the rear, these are fairly softly sprung and they do sit down when loaded up.

Looks tidy though! I'll enjoy watching Ethan putting his woodworking skills to the test!

Mum is taking the lead on that one, I have minimal woodworking skills!

 

[Dowling93]

I enjoy how you’ve finally admitted defeat on the towing approach haha

I found the towing gave me less worries about binning it seen as now I always have a way of getting it home in one piece or many pieces

 

[RSRowe]

No more journeys back home stuck in 4th at Gav haha

 

[Helpimonfire]

Or asking a friendly Clio owner that has a trailer to load up a poorly car for you... Not that it's ever happened, oh no...