Jake's RB Clio 197 Track Car

[jwillo]

Been a while since I last drove something that was fun. My third Renault sport now first one being a 182 and second being a megane, love the cars for the price you pay I think they're great!

Anyway picked up this 197 in racing blue yesterday from a nice chap called Sam, he said the car was built mostly by Richard Burk and Beanie Sport.

The spec is as follows;

80k 197 engine with new gasket and belts
Gearbox rebuilt with ZPO shifter
KW clubsport 2 dampers
Sparco grid Q seats with puretrack side mounts, fire extinguisher and schroth 6 point harness
SW rear cage
New clutch slave cylinder and master cylinder and ktec clutch damper delete kit
New rear calipers, mintex pads handbrake cables and discs
New front discs with RS29 pads
OMP WRC 350mm steering wheel
Aircon delete kit
New swivel joints, uprated bushes throughout
200 wheels with Michelin PS4 (road/wets)
Speedline wheels with AR1 (dry)
Recent oil, oiler filter gearbox oil and brakr fluid change

A very well spec'd car for a price I couldn't say no! Was over the moon driving it home and it feels good to be back in a Renault sport again.

All I've done so far is adjusted the seating position, ideally would like it further back another inch or two but it's better than what it was. Removed rear wiper, aerial and badges. Added a sunstrip and would like to remove the F1 stickers but that can wait as I think they're going to be a nightmare.

My plan for the car this year is to just fit a cup racer spoiler, can anyone suggest where to source one of these from? I'll mostly be doing track days this year. Over the winter I plan to get it fully stripped, painted and caged possibly add a bigger seat aswell.

Here's some photos of the car after a quick little Sunday morning drive

 

[strell]

Very nice car!

Love an RB F1. I’d leave the stickers on though.

They cost a fortune from Renault if you want to replace them £500+

KTec seem to be the place to go for a cup spoiler

I hope to see you on track at some point.

 

[jwillo]

Very nice car!

Love an RB F1. I’d leave the stickers on though.

They cost a fortune from Renault if you want to replace them £500+

KTec seem to be the place to go for a cup spoiler

I hope to see you on track at some point.

Thank you mate. Still Still 2 minds about the stickers but I'll leave them for now, will take a look on ktec for the spoiler

 

[strell]

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Not sure if that link works. But a brand new spoiler has just come up on Facebook marketplaces.

 

[turkie172]

If it were me don't do anything to the stickers and make sure it can go back to road condition (don't cut and weld) as only 36 were made that colour and when you have had fun it will still be worth money. But enjoy it

 

[jwillo]

Not a load done on the car over the past week.

The sparco seats were definitely too small for me so I sold the pair and ordered a corbeau pro series in XL, I'd like the revenge when funds will allow and will have the pro series for the passenger.

So whilst the seats were out I stripped the front including the sound deadening and gave it a vacuum and wipe down.




I also needed to cover the hole where the aerial was and saw on here someone used a plumbers tap blank. Went down to toolstation and picked one up for a quid.


I'll spray it eventually.

I've got an SW floor tray which will be fitted sometime during the week along with the seat and a KTR cup style spoiler.

I've got an evening at Donington booked for 20th April and Bedford on 9th May. I've just got to get the geometry set up.

Other than more track days, I'd like to get the loom stripped and paint the interior over the summer.

 

[burrellbloke]

I have suddenly become interested in photos of Clios that have had their rears stripped and a cage installed.

Have you still got the ISOfix bar bolted in your Clio? Just curious as it must weigh quite a bit if you are looking to save some weight.

 

[Onrus]

Isofix bar weighs 1.5kgs

 

[jwillo]

I have suddenly become interested in photos of Clios that have had their rears stripped and a cage installed.

Have you still got the ISOfix bar bolted in your Clio? Just curious as it must weigh quite a bit if you are looking to save some weight.

Yes mate it didn't weigh an awful lot but took it out anyway

 

[jwillo]

Few bits done on the car this week..

Starting off with the Corbeau pro series in XL that got delivered on Wednesday, got it fitted along with some SW motorsport side mounts that allow the seat to go further more back than the pure track ones. Seating position is so much better now and the new seat is alot more comfortable than the sparco's.




Also got the SW foot tray installed, nice bit of kit surprisingly light. Got some grip tape from amazon and stuck that on. Will probably do the pedals at some point to.



Then got some bonnet/tailgate pins delivered and got the tailgate ones fitted. Probably not to everyone's taste but I prefer pins than the areocatches personally. Was abit of a faf doing these so the bonnet can wait till next weekend. Right side needs some adjusting but happy with how they turned out




Black badges fitted aswell.

Get the battery relocated, loom sorted and a spoiler fitted. Had originally planned to get the KTR cup spoiler but cancelled that as I'm torn between that and the aero track car spoiler.

Once the loom is tidied up I'll fit some polycarb windows, spray the interior and get the geometry set up. 6 point safety devices at some point aswell, probably over the winter.

 

[jwillo]

Got round to fitting the bonnet pins at the weekend then took the car out for a drive. Unfortunately I noticed some overheating issue then realised the fan wasn't working. I dropped the car off at Jade Developments this morning for a geo setup and corner weight and asked Sean if he'd take a look at the fan issue, I think it's a lose/poor connection somewhere as the car is completely fine when driving but we'll see. I cancelled the track evening for next Wednesday as I'd like to get the cooling issue sorted first.






KTR spoiler got delivered test fitted it then gave it to the father inlaw to get it sprayed. Will fit it once the car is back

 

[R20BTG]

I also needed to cover the hole where the aerial was and saw on here someone used a plumbers tap blank. Went down to toolstation and picked one up for a quid.

That would have been me

Although I'm a tart and I had it skinned in carbon and lacquered

 

[jwillo]

Picked the car up Friday from Jade Developments, Sean's knowledge on these cars is spot on.

The car had the following;
Geo setup
Corner weight
New battery (old one was cracked)
Cooling issue was due to the fan being incorrectly wired, Sean got it started but was making a weird noise and cut out shortly after so a few one was ordered and fitted.
Some tidying up in the engine bay aswell
Unnecessary wiring removed

As soon as I get photos of final weight and geo I'll get them up on here.

This afternoon I fitted the KTR cup spoiler, not the best bit of kit, quite badly made and not the best fit but makes the car look a lot better along with a sunstrip. Tidied up the interior and gave it a quick polish and got it ready for an evening at Bedford tomorrow.
.




Plan now is to just try get in a few more track days. I only taxed it for 6 months (runs out in September) as I plan to do some bits over the Winter and use a trailer for track days next year.

 

[jwillo]

Few photos from Bedford yesterday evening. Was a really good quiet day, car performed really well.

Rear bumper kept popping off, I've got some quick release pins in the garage so will be getting those fitted before the next track day.

Brakes overheated on the last session, tbh I should of changed the fluid before hand as I've no idea what's in there but overall a very good evening and was nice to be back out on track.






I did get some footage on my action camera but the sun made visibility poor and can't see anything, will need to have a little play with it.

 

[jwillo]

Small update;

Sorted the rear bumper with some quick release push pins I had lying around, it's not the best fit but better than having it flying around on track.




Got some renault sport plates off a chap on instagram, removed some brackets and gave the interior a hoover and wipe down with some tar/glue remover.



Also removed the F1 roof stickers, worse job so far. A few were in a bad state and I think it looks alot better without them, also sprayed the aerial blank.





Also got a set of MRF ZTR's coming, hoping the AR1's last my next track day.

Cadwell booked for 23rd and another evening at Bedford on 4th July, then an evening at Donington on 3rd August and I'd like to go on a road trip somewhere before it goes into hibernation over the winter.

 

[strell]

Literally just been googling trying to find Renault sport plates and struggle. You got the details for the person that made them?

Car looks mega btw RB is my favourite colour

I have Donny evening on the 3rd August too

 

[jwillo]

Literally just been googling trying to find Renault sport plates and struggle. You got the details for the person that made them?

Car looks mega btw RB is my favourite colour

I have Donny evening on the 3rd August too

Cheers bud, see you there!

Chap called Adam off instagram made the plates. ajfisher210 I think is his name

 

[jwillo]

I had a EML come on after Bedford, completely forgot about it as the car drove fine but I plugged it in the other day and came up as a P0300 fault. After abit of research it looked like it could be a number of things but I started with the lambda sensor.

Fitted it this morning along with some petrol cleaner.



Turned the light off will give the car a good blast before Cadwell to see if it comes on again.

Got some MRF ZTR tyres delivered yesterday morning too I'm hoping the AR1's will last Cadwell then I'll put the new tyres on.



Ktec induction kit come up on Facebook so thought I'd do a buy and got it fitted as soon as it came. I know it won't do much in terms of power but the noise is spot on.




Went over to my parents to grab my cleaning gear and gave the clio a polish and applied some sealant, came up nice for a 15 year old car.

 

[jwillo]

Was going to get a pure motorsport full exhaust over the winter but luckily the PMS manifold come up on Facebook with a Cobra cat back. Put a deposit down and sorted out a courier that said it shoild be delivered some time next week, looking forward to getting it fitted.

 

[jwillo]

Update;

Still no sign of the exhaust, courier I only went with were awful so I booked another company who said delivery will be by 29th June so fingers crossed.

Door handles were looking a little bad so I decided to give them a lick of paint.


Sanded down with some 120 and 1200 grit sandpaper and cleaned up with some methylated

2 coats of plastic primer

3 coats of J45 paint

2 coats of lacquer (ran out)


They could do with another coat or two of lacquer but happy with the end results.

Onto Cadwell;



Set off around 5am and arrived at sunny Cadwell, signed on and done a couple of sighting laps and off we went. What a track! Honestly I thought I was going to enjoy myself but nowhere near as much as I did. I left at lunch as I had to get up for work early the next day and didn't want to be too late home. Car done nearly 400 miles and was faultless all day! No EML return either so all in all a great day, without a doubt the best track day I've done.





I spent the morning waiting for people so I could have a play with them lol! I'm not really one for timing laps on a track day I just like to see what/who I can keep up with and have a good day out. I'm loving the clio at the moment, I was so impressed with how it performs, yet there's so many other upgrades I want to do to it.

I've got a clip of my second session, mostly learning the track. Braking points, what gear to be in etc. Quality is still bad, but better. Had a good battle with an E46 330ci on slicks and an R53 mini, unfortunately didn't get no footage of this though.

Today I cleaned the car ready for Bedford on 4th July. I've also cancelled Donington for 3rd August and booked Cadwell for 4th hoping to get out to Anglesey this year aswell.