Hi all,
I've finally decided to make a build thread of my Tracktool project that I been driving since over a year.
I will start completely at the beginning :
So in January 2018 I've bought myself a Clio 197 that has been advertised for months. It has been used for autocross events here in switzerland, so thats why I assumed nobody wanted it, since it had a roll cage in it. But besides the roll cage, the seats, braided brake lines and steering wheel it was pretty much stock.
Because nobody wanted it, I got it for a really good price. But enough talking, here are the pictures when I got home :
After 1 week my Cup Spoiler came so I got it painted and mounted it on and deleted the Clio emblem :
Then I ordered a some Renault Sport decals of eBay and a set of white 8j Cup Racer Speedlines and it looked so much better than the Megane wheels :
After that I decided to change the Sabelt steering with a MK4 Cup Racer Sparco wheel, along with the MK4 bolt on seat subframe with the Sabelt Taurus seat. But the seats didn't last long as I couldn't see anything with it and they were illegal here in switzerland. I then put the old Sabelt seat back on, but with the Cup Racer seat subframe I was sitting a little bit lower, which was a bonus for me :
I finally got to the point, to do some suspension tuning. I have ordered a set of Powerflex black series bushes and swapped them in. They were a pain to put it in but I felt a difference for sure, especially with fast steering inputs :
So then I ordered a set of carbon door panels and have fitted them in. They weren't quite plug and play, as I had to cut holes for the windows switch, the speakers and the door lock. But the bigger problem was the door handle. I had to bend the inner door skin, weld the hole close and put a thread insert, so that the handle is aligned to the panel. Wasn't quite the best moment I had with the car...
A friend of mine had a set of black 8j Speedline Cup Racer wheels, so I bought them to have a spare set. In my opinion I like the white ones more, but after a 10 min drive they are completely full with brake dust !
I then finally started to do some proper performance mods and bought a set of 2 way adjustable KW Clubsport dampers with adjustable top mounts for the front. At the rear I first tried MK4 Cup Racer Coilovers from ZF, but the Mk4 dampers were quite a bit longer than the MK3 dampers, so I bought a set of Gaz Coilovers for a Lotus Elise at the rear and modified them to the Clio top mount.
I then ordered a set of Nankang NS2-R's and put them on the white Speedlines. The car was then ready for its first Trackday. I booked a day at Anneau du Rhin in France for the German Renault Sport Event.
The day finally came, I was so excited I only slept 3 hours but never mind. It already started bad as the VVT stopped working on the way there. It was because of a faulty cam position sensor. That was a loss of around 30 hp, but I still wanted to drive, and oh man was it good. I don't know how, but I was the fastest of the street Clios there (and there were around 30 including MK4's) and I was battling it out with a MK2 Cup Racer !! I was benefiting of short straights and high speed corners for my power loss. I also had the Clio 2 wheeling but sadly not there, where the photographers were. After the 4th session my throttle body went into limp mode. I then went home, the car only had a top speed of 90 km/h, so that was a really long drive home.. 
I then fixed my car after the Trackday, but I wasn't sure if I would keep it. I was thinking of getting a Honda Integra DC2 or a E36 , but I kinda fell in love with the Clio. I just couldn't sell it !! But I wanted a faster car, so I decided to do a complete rebuild starting again with the suspension. I wanted to put spherical bearings at the rear beam and on the front with a complete Cup Racer spec axle. I also wanted to put a better cage in it and maybe a Megane engine swap.
So I got then a little garage, where I can work freely on my car and started removing the rear beam :
I have ordered a spherical bearing and a stiffening plate kit from Pure Motorsport. I then started to remove all parts from the beam that I don't need anymore, for example the spring plates.
Then I got the beam all welded up thanks to my father :
My beam was then painted and I then put studs on my stub axle to put camber and toe shims from the Cup Racer and started putting the beam together :
I wasn't quite finished with the beam but I wanted to put the car on the ground with the Cup Racer shims to get some more motivation 
: 
After that I finished up the rear beam with rerouted brake lines, new calipers and R26.R discs with PBS pads : 
I then ordered a rebuild kit for the front Brembos and painted it silver again to look clean again :
After that I finally started tearing the front axle down and ordered used Cup Racer parts to complete the axle :
Then i chopped up the front subframe for the water cooler same as the Cup Racer for easier access to suspension components : 
My new subframe and wheel hubs finally came, so I removed the dogbone mount of the stock subframe, since the Cup Racer subframes don't have them and again with the help from my father I got the dogbone mount welded on the Cup Racer subframe :
1 week later some more parts came for me : 
I also got these top mount adaptors from Sean at Jade Developments :
After cleaning all parts with wheel cleaner and a lot of scotch pads I started to put the top mounts on. I had to modify the top mount on the car with a Dremel to fit the adaptors. I then put primer with a very tiny paintbrush on the ring and mounted all up :
Also these look like new again thankfully :
So thats how things stand now. It has been an awesome journey for me and I will keep this thread updated.
Cheers !
I've finally decided to make a build thread of my Tracktool project that I been driving since over a year.
I will start completely at the beginning :
So in January 2018 I've bought myself a Clio 197 that has been advertised for months. It has been used for autocross events here in switzerland, so thats why I assumed nobody wanted it, since it had a roll cage in it. But besides the roll cage, the seats, braided brake lines and steering wheel it was pretty much stock.
Because nobody wanted it, I got it for a really good price. But enough talking, here are the pictures when I got home :
After 1 week my Cup Spoiler came so I got it painted and mounted it on and deleted the Clio emblem : Then I ordered a some Renault Sport decals of eBay and a set of white 8j Cup Racer Speedlines and it looked so much better than the Megane wheels : After that I decided to change the Sabelt steering with a MK4 Cup Racer Sparco wheel, along with the MK4 bolt on seat subframe with the Sabelt Taurus seat. But the seats didn't last long as I couldn't see anything with it and they were illegal here in switzerland. I then put the old Sabelt seat back on, but with the Cup Racer seat subframe I was sitting a little bit lower, which was a bonus for me : I finally got to the point, to do some suspension tuning. I have ordered a set of Powerflex black series bushes and swapped them in. They were a pain to put it in but I felt a difference for sure, especially with fast steering inputs : So then I ordered a set of carbon door panels and have fitted them in. They weren't quite plug and play, as I had to cut holes for the windows switch, the speakers and the door lock. But the bigger problem was the door handle. I had to bend the inner door skin, weld the hole close and put a thread insert, so that the handle is aligned to the panel. Wasn't quite the best moment I had with the car... A friend of mine had a set of black 8j Speedline Cup Racer wheels, so I bought them to have a spare set. In my opinion I like the white ones more, but after a 10 min drive they are completely full with brake dust ! I then finally started to do some proper performance mods and bought a set of 2 way adjustable KW Clubsport dampers with adjustable top mounts for the front. At the rear I first tried MK4 Cup Racer Coilovers from ZF, but the Mk4 dampers were quite a bit longer than the MK3 dampers, so I bought a set of Gaz Coilovers for a Lotus Elise at the rear and modified them to the Clio top mount. I then ordered a set of Nankang NS2-R's and put them on the white Speedlines. The car was then ready for its first Trackday. I booked a day at Anneau du Rhin in France for the German Renault Sport Event. The day finally came, I was so excited I only slept 3 hours but never mind. It already started bad as the VVT stopped working on the way there. It was because of a faulty cam position sensor. That was a loss of around 30 hp, but I still wanted to drive, and oh man was it good. I don't know how, but I was the fastest of the street Clios there (and there were around 30 including MK4's) and I was battling it out with a MK2 Cup Racer !! I was benefiting of short straights and high speed corners for my power loss. I also had the Clio 2 wheeling but sadly not there, where the photographers were. After the 4th session my throttle body went into limp mode. I then went home, the car only had a top speed of 90 km/h, so that was a really long drive home.. I then fixed my car after the Trackday, but I wasn't sure if I would keep it. I was thinking of getting a Honda Integra DC2 or a E36 , but I kinda fell in love with the Clio. I just couldn't sell it !! But I wanted a faster car, so I decided to do a complete rebuild starting again with the suspension. I wanted to put spherical bearings at the rear beam and on the front with a complete Cup Racer spec axle. I also wanted to put a better cage in it and maybe a Megane engine swap.So I got then a little garage, where I can work freely on my car and started removing the rear beam :
I have ordered a spherical bearing and a stiffening plate kit from Pure Motorsport. I then started to remove all parts from the beam that I don't need anymore, for example the spring plates. Then I got the beam all welded up thanks to my father : My beam was then painted and I then put studs on my stub axle to put camber and toe shims from the Cup Racer and started putting the beam together : I wasn't quite finished with the beam but I wanted to put the car on the ground with the Cup Racer shims to get some more motivation : After that I finished up the rear beam with rerouted brake lines, new calipers and R26.R discs with PBS pads : I then ordered a rebuild kit for the front Brembos and painted it silver again to look clean again : After that I finally started tearing the front axle down and ordered used Cup Racer parts to complete the axle : Then i chopped up the front subframe for the water cooler same as the Cup Racer for easier access to suspension components : My new subframe and wheel hubs finally came, so I removed the dogbone mount of the stock subframe, since the Cup Racer subframes don't have them and again with the help from my father I got the dogbone mount welded on the Cup Racer subframe : 1 week later some more parts came for me : I also got these top mount adaptors from Sean at Jade Developments : After cleaning all parts with wheel cleaner and a lot of scotch pads I started to put the top mounts on. I had to modify the top mount on the car with a Dremel to fit the adaptors. I then put primer with a very tiny paintbrush on the ring and mounted all up : Also these look like new again thankfully : So thats how things stand now. It has been an awesome journey for me and I will keep this thread updated.Cheers !
