R20 BTG - 200 Cup Track Car Blog

[LiamP]

Nice write up, I am puzzled by that video, if you where rwd it would make sense but the way the entire car spins to the left doesn’t look right. Surely there was some sort of fluid on the track that both of your NS tyres went over just as you started putting the power down.

 

[Beany]

@IainMac Seen similar at Donnington yesterday. I would tend to agree unfortunately the S2000 was exactly where you needed to be for the start of craner curves and then it compromised you for old hairpin. Plenty of red flags yesterday. The gravel traps seemed popular all around the track.

I have enjoyed reading your build thread and your updates.

This….
You needed to be further over to the right which would’ve helped you be over the left ready for the old hairpin corner!
Shit happens but could’ve always been worse!

can’t wait too see in it action at snetterton

 

[Helpimonfire]

The gravel did its job there in a big way! From the video it looks like it slowed you down quicker than your brakes could have done! Either way I'm glad you and the car survived to fight another day, hopefully with a gaggle of Clios around Snetterton, you'll have a better day.

 

[RSRowe]

Absolutely no way that was getting caught.
I’m a firm believer of it just being the nature of slicks. You’ve seen the antics my Baguette comrades get up to on theirs.

You should try the morning at Snett on the 888’s and switch over at dinner. Semis are definitely a lot more forgiving

 

[R20BTG]

A productive afternoon today, first of all continuing the de-chroming mission by replacing the boot badge with one I bought from [mention]DS197 [/mention]

Template with masking tape:

Peel off gently with some trim removal tools:

Clean up the old adhesive with brake and clutch cleaner and a micro fibre towel:

Replace with black badge:

Done, much better:

Then I set about sorting the in-car camera. I bought a hardwired battery eliminator kit for my GoPro:

This kit powers the GoPro with 12v from the car, no battery required. I took a switched live feed from behind the dashboard and connected it up with some black automotive twin core wire. The wiring runs down the cage, under the weather strip by the door, up the cage diagonal to the camera. It’s all neat and tidy just as I wanted it.

Then gave the interior a quick hoover:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RSRowe]

You’re fast running out of things to do now!

 

[R20BTG]

You’re fast running out of things to do now!

Ha! Not really, there’s a list growing for winter:

- PMS rear beam strengthening kit
- Rear beam refurb and powder coat
- PMS solid rear beam mounts
- Battery relocation and V6 air box
- Roof scoop
- New horns

Matt would say:

- Supreme Motorsport supercharger kit


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RSRowe]

I wouldn’t mind the beam kit myself. Was slightly worried it would make the rear a little too stiff though.

 

[suj]

Was slightly worried it would make the rear a little too stiff though.

That's what she said.

 

[R20BTG]

Snetterton update as per many other people on the forum. Snetterton is about 20 minutes from my Aunt & Uncle in Diss, so I travelled down the day before and stayed at their place the night before and after. My 65 year old Uncle came along for the day to see what track days were all about. More on that later!

Rented the Brian James A4 with tyre rack again, made it down in great time with no dramas. Discovery continues to be a superb tow and support car.



I left everything in the paddock the night before as my relatives have nowhere secure to store it. Thankfully everything was there the next day. I headed over to Garage 34 where @R27WTF had set up and had a good handshake and chin wag with Matt. Weirdly, we've spoken so much on phone/Facetime/iMessage/WhatsApp/Email but had never met in person, so that was great to say hello properly.

I left the R888R on, played around with cold tyre pressures, and then just went out on the sighting laps. That didn't really help much!

I'd never driven Snetterton before and had no idea of the layout, corner names, braking points or flow so the first session was just me driving to what I saw in front of me. I'm sure there was a lot of early braking, terrible lines etc. until I got into a rhythm and recognised what was coming next.

Session 2 was a bit of a baptism of fire after a red flag, I was queuing up in the pit lane with the track baguettes behind me. I still had no idea what I was doing so kept them behind for a lap or so before thinking better of it and conceding with a bit of right indicator:







After my big off at Donington during my last outing I was very paranoid about pushing too hard too early, with that in mind @RSRowe and the rest of the baguettes are clearly just fucking mental, as they seemed to be on it from Lap 1. We'd meet again on track later in the day.

I then took my cousin out later in the morning, she's a bit of a petrol head and enjoyed it, but came back in feeling nauseous after picking up the pace a bit.




I'd replaced the Brembo HC discs with the Godspeed J Hook discs, which gave the DS1.11 pads a new lease of life, they seemed to be biting harder than ever and the hotter they got, the better they got. Mega pads, glad I've got another set in the spares box when these are dead.

It was nice to meet a few people, @suj @Big Ben @PITA @LiamP @Helpimonfire @Benno @EthanMenace @burrellbloke (and anyone else I've forgotten). I'm shit with names and faces and even worse when trying to figure out who owns which car, and what their forum username is!

I took @burrellbloke out for a session on the R888R which I hope he enjoyed. I also got some driving tips from @R27WTF about taking the last corner a little quicker. It was nice to give Matt a ride in the car he put together. The car ran faultless all day and just soaked up the abuse.

We joke a bit about supercharging R20 BTG but I don't want to lose the reliability and bullet proof engine, and unfortunately two supercharged cars that were there on the day weren't running quite right for various reasons, so I might have experienced a bit of confirmation bias there.

After lunch Matt @R27WTF lent me his ATS GTR wheels with some good 235/610/17 Dunlop slicks. I bolted them on to see how they compared to the 210/610/17 slicks I had on my wheels. Noticeably better with the increased width, so much so that I bought a set from Malc Buck who turned up later in his van.

Lap 2 of warming up the slicks I was buzzed by the baguettes again and decided to join in the chaos train. I slotted in between @RSRowe leading and @Lawton438 behind me and began trying to stay with them. We were carving through the field, and particularly enjoyed hunting down a poorly driven orange McLaren, who I'd previously overheard having shit banter with his equally talentless mates about the amount of 'shitty Renaults' on the track day. That was like red rag to a bull, and I thoroughly enjoyed showing him what shitty Renaults can do. At one point, the front of the chaos train hit the brakes unexpectedly which caused bit of a chain reaction behind, with @Lawton438 almost rear-ending me under braking. A last minute swerve avoided it.



With a 70kg passenger I was overdriving a bit to keep up and ended up running wide onto the grass on a slow speed corner, which meant I lost the train and just couldn't reel them in again. My Uncle was rather quiet during that particular session on the raggedy edge!

I'm impressed with the MRF ZTR tyres though, they were a match for slicks with passenger. I might try some when I need some new road legal rubber.



In a bit of wheeling and dealing I sold my Autec Wizards and 6 x slicks to @Helpimonfire and bought a the newer set of 235/610/17 rubber from Malc. I'm now looking for a replacement set of wheels. Either the Braid, ATS GTR or another set of OZ wheels. Cash is a bit thin on the ground at the moment after some garden landscaping work at home so might be later in the year.

On a later afternoon session I saw @Big Ben approaching in the rear view mirror, I tried my best to hold him off, I've got him pegged on braking and corner speeds but I just can't keep 310bhp+ behind on the straights so he eventually sailed past (before overheating ).

A really good day, was impressed with Track Obsession, I'll definitely book with them again. Photography from Katie Rose Foster was excellent and it was nice to meet a large number of forum people. I might stay out of the chaos train next time though .

Called in at Cambridge services on the way back and grabbed a pic of the rig in the HGV parking area:



140 miles on track and not a single issue, just ticked over the 60k mark:

 

[suj]

Was great to meet you too Iain and see the car in the flesh, such a great clean build and was looking like it was going well.

 

[Big Ben]

Great write up. Nice to meet you in person.
Car is really really nice. Clean example, beautifully built. Very envious.
Definitely had me covered in the brakes and corners as tbf you should do! Hope we get out again in near future

 

[RSRowe]

Was waiting for this write up

Very much enjoyed the day and was a great little tussle on track!

 

[burrellbloke]

I took @burrellbloke out for a session on the R888R which I hope he enjoyed.

Yes he did. Thanks for the ride Iain. Your car is a perfect example of a Clio 200 pushed to the edge but still retaining all of its unique qualities that make it a naturally aspirated French hot hatch.

 

[tombate911]

Really good write up, always enjoy reading a well written post like that. Car looks great too! I was sat behind Ben when the chain reaction of braking occurred and ended up diving for the inside of the train over Clio’s on the inside of the corner rather than ending up into the back of someone.
Malays the case people with cars like that getting over taken by a proper track car. The only car that was an exception on that day was the M4.

 

[Helpimonfire]

Great write up Iain! I concur that the baguettes are a bunch of mentalists, the Clio train was awesome to watch from the pit wall and I couldn't believe how close they run when I got buzzed by them on a cooling down lap.

You car is an absolute masterpiece and Matt should be proud of the work he's put into it, I'm also really glad to see that your off at Donny hadn't slowed you down too much. I can agree that the MRF ZTR tyres are something special, I've yet to try the slicks I bought from you but that may happen at one of my upcoming days at Bedford or Snetterton (if it goes ahead).

Hopefully be able to get on track properly with you again soon, we only seemed to go past one another on warming up or cooling down laps!

 

[R20BTG]

Cadwell Park Blog 16th September 2021

I've done Cadwell Park a few times now, originally in a white 205GTI that I used to have many moons ago:


Then again a couple of times in a track spec grey 205GTI Mi16 and later GTI6 that I had (this pic was taken in 2007):


The day was run by TrackObsession and was taken over on social media by a load of high powered FWD cars and labelled the #FWDShowdown. More on that later. The car didn't need anything doing to it after Snetterton other than a wash and a poke around. The weather forecast looked good so the day before I went to my tyre place and got the Dunlop 235-610-17 slicks mounted onto the Ultraleggeras and took of the Michelin Cup 2s. Next year I'll be getting a third set of wheels after I sold the Autec Wizards to @Helpimonfire



Collected the Brian James A4 rental again, and it was an early start (5.30am) to get across to Cadwell Park. As the crow flies it's not a long way from me, but the last third of the journey is across the Lincolnshire Wolds which isn't fast progress with a trailer. I was greeted with a lovely sunrise just south of Sheffield:



Arrived a bit later than planned due to a vehicle fire on the motorway on the way there but didn't miss any track time. I got the car loaded off the trailer as quick as possible to make the sighting laps. I'd parked at the top end of the paddock just behind Nigel Pinder in the Pinderwagen. I've known Nige as a mild acquaintance for many years now and remember grabbing a passenger lap in the Golf when it was still pretty tame back in 2007. It's mental now though. We had a chat for a couple of minutes then left each other to it.

Sighting laps went fine, I came back in and parked up. My tactic is to usually sit the first session out to let all the nutters go out and crash into each other, so I sat on the trailer and had some coffee from my Thermos flask and enjoyed the start of a glorious morning.

Because I'm no stranger to Cadwell Park I got into a flow relatively quickly, although I know the track very well, getting used to it in R20 BTG was the challenge for the day. Without a passenger, the Hairpin and Barn are probably a 3rd gear corner, and the approach to the Mountain is also 3rd gear if you can keep up the momentum, but with a passenger on board or if you're stuck behind a slower car they become a 2nd gear corner. It was one of those days when 2nd was a bit short and 3rd a bit long in those particular areas.

Photography again provided by the excellent Kate Rose Foster



I took the GoPro this time and mounted it onto @RSRowe 's 3D printed bracket. The mount is great, my old Hero 3 Silver is dogshit though, it doesn't handle exposure very intelligently like the newer GoPros do.

For those that don't know what exposure is, it's the balance between the amount of black on an image versus the amount of white. The older GoPros simply look to balance the two out, which means they pick the darkest bit of the image (in my case the flocked dash and interior) and lightens everything else, which means the view out of the dashboard is overexposed (i.e. whited out) especially when facing the sun. The slightly newer GoPros have a setting where you can set the exposure point within the frame to tell it which bit of the image you're interested in so the exposure balance is right, and the even newer ones have high dynamic range (HDR) which cleverly brightens the dark areas and darkens the light areas to get a better range of exposure.

So, long story short, I have some GoPro footage but it's not the best because the view out of the windscreen is overexposed in some instances. I'm going to do some research and replace it in the new year.

So, first vid is me chasing John Cobbers Racing 490bhp Seat Ibiza with massive aero. This is what happens when you don't know the track and he did a bit of grass cutting in front of me - I'll bite my tongue on driving standards, but this car ended up backwards in the barrier later in the afternoon.

The second video I've pulled is me having a bit of a play with a Megane RS350 owned by a chap called Christian who goes by the name CharlieCharlieGolf on Instagram. Even with 150bhp less, the Clio can carry more speed and is better on the brakes and I eventually reeled him in. My driving is a bit scruffy here as it was early in the day, Chris Curve is better with an upshift into 4th (I clipped the limiter in 3rd in this clip) and later in the day the Gooseneck is a bit faster too.

It was a busy day, which oscillated between me getting some free track space, but also occasions where I was just in a train of traffic or held up by a faster car.







This 10 minute clip basically sums up the day, lovely clear track, moving over for some faster cars, only to be held up by Westfields, only to be then caught by a faster car, then held up again by another queue of traffic. Spot the wheels on the grass overtake at 6:10 as the Westfield moved over on me! I wanted a little play with the K20 EG Civic owned by Joe, DannyDC2's mate, but a Golf GTI ruined that experience . Finally got past the rolling road block only to be scuppered by a red flag!

I had a little battle with two track baguettes later in the afternoon, but forgot to turn the bloody GoPro camera on. We were pretty evenly matched until I ran a touch wide at Chris Curve and did some grass cutting of my own!

All things considered, a fantastic day, track was great, weather was great, car was faultless yet again. Only downside is that I lost my front tow strap somewhere as the bolt must have worked loose. Terry at Zero Point One has already sent me a replacement bolt and I'll sort that before the next outing.

 

[RSRowe]

Good write up. Was a good laugh watching you boys battle in the afternoon. The red flags were very annoying, as were the vast majority of the straight line heroes. Feel like we got a tonne of track time compared to all the YouTube/Social media Celebrities.

Sorry I was being grumpy when you came round. I was trying to tighten up my steering rack, as it had come loose (I think). The paddock full of bikers was starting to annoy me aswell, as they were trying to set up camp where we were trying to park.

The lack of breakages really is the nail in the coffin for me with regards to boosting

 

[R20BTG]

Yeah I did get a bit of a 'fuck off' vibe so I left you to it

 

[RSRowe]

That’s standard for me in the most part anyways.

Little annoyed we didn’t manage to come across each on track. The grippers made a massive difference on mine