R20 BTG - 200 Cup Track Car Blog

[R20BTG]

Right, let's get this thread back on track (excuse the pun). In Germany I killed the starter motor (again). I order a new one from RPD which was reduced from £220 to £165 (Part number 7711497395):

Renault Clio 197 200 Starter Motor - Renault Parts Direct

Renault Clio 197 200 Starter Motor - Renault Parts Direct - Renault Parts Direct is a web based service from our authorised Renault dealer.

renaultpartsdirect.co.uk

The design is shit. Let me just put that out there. Power is sent to the motor by a terribly designed cable that is exposed to outside elements. Not only that, it is just brazed onto the connectors at each end.

Brazing - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"One of the main disadvantages is the lack of joint strength as compared to a welded joint due to the softer filler metals used. The strength of the brazed joint is likely to be less than that of the base metal(s) but greater than the filler metal. Another disadvantage is that brazed joints can be damaged under high service temperatures"

Kinda tells you all you need to know really, they just get cooked and the wires fail. There are no symptoms to watch out for, one minute the engine starts on the button, the next minute nothing. It appears that aftermarket manifolds are particularly prone to causing this, even when heat wrapped. I'm speculating but this might be because they sit closer to the starter motor, they might have thinner sidewalls, and they might allow more radiant heat to penetrate the manifold. Who knows.

So, having seen 2-3 others fail in this way I took steps to try and prevent this happening to the new one. I ordered some Funk Motorsport wiring wrap (velcro) and wrapped this around the cable itself.



I also ordered a starter motor heat blanket, and trimmed it to fit around the body of the connectors.



This is held in place with metal zip ties:



Then the whole thing is wrapped again in the heat blanket:



The end result is this:


The downside is that the OEM heat shield no longer fits, as it can no longer attach slide into place, but to be honest it seems to have done nothing to prevent failure anyway, so as far as I'm concerned it can go in the bin.

Taking the old starter motor off revealed, yep, as predicted, the shitty designed exposed cable and brazing has failed completely:


I'll be modifying this with some of the left over heat shielding and a crimped on eyelet connector rather than relying on the brazing, and I'll keep it as a spare.

 

[R20BTG]

Engine oil and gearbox oil were changed with an order from Opie Oils in their never-ending DFS sale. Elf Evolution 900 SXR 5w-40 and Red Line MTL 75W-80 GL4 in case you were wondering. No pics of that as you know what it looks like, but the gearbox oil was black and ready for a change (2 x Nurburgring trips and one trackday).

I've also experimented with an old Rentune trick to give some more clearance for the Cup Racer EE bracket setup which is to install a 12mm spacer between the chassis leg and the inner wing bolt:



Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I had a couple of alloy spacers machined up, 12mm thickness, 15mm outside diameter and an M6 bolt hole:



It's not perfect but I can state that:

GREEN - more clearance is gained at the outer wing area reducing the likelihood of rubbing
YELLOW - the bottom of the wing where it meets the back of the headlight has been pushed out a bit, but I can live with this
RED - bonnet and top of wing shut lines are not affected



It has meant that the shut line between the bumper and wing has opened up a bit which isn't great, but I plan on doing a quick-release bumper mod anyway using Aerocatches like @LiamP has on the grey car



Final tweak was to drop the ride height another 10mm, and add a bit more camber. Now running 3.6 degrees up front (was 3.1 degrees before Germany), and add 1.5mm of of toe out on the front.

 

[R20BTG]

I’ve now made some repairs/modification to the old starter motor by doing away with the brazed connection and putting a ring connecter on the end of the cable and nipping it down with the 13m nut, then heat shrinking it all. Feels much more solid.

I’ve just bench tested it by applying 12v to the relevant bits using a link wire I made up and an old car battery and it spins up.

Looks like I have a working spare starter motor. I’d urge anyone who has access to theirs now (looking at you @LiamP ) to make some modifications to these brazed connectors while you can because they are an obvious weak point!

 

[deekay16v]

How does the steering feel with that much camber?

 

[R20BTG]

Feels fine based on my short test drive, although this doesn’t get used on the road. As a road car it would be too much.

Based on the wear of the MRF tyres they can support a bit more camber than I’ve been running.

 

[R20BTG]

Currently on a sun lounger in Portugal but I did a thing before we came away. I was never happy with how Renault chose to mount the front bumper under the wheel arch. Also the plastic tabs on my bumper were damaged and deformed anyway.

The Cup Racer EE setup was the straw that broke the camel’s back with regards to bumper fitment so I’ve fitted a quick release Aerocatch setup and done away with the OEM bolts. I’ve totally copied Liam and the grey car, thanks for the detailed pics [emoji1360]

I might trim off the unused rusty bolt holes when I get back.

 

[Pedro ramalho]

You need to go to Portimão in Portugal (Algarve) and the check the gp track

 

[deekay16v]

Are those aerocatches significantly better than something like this? (https://www.quik-latch.com/bumper-kits.html) Which looks more neat for my eye as a bumper holder.

 

[R20BTG]

Very diplomatically put

The aesthetic’s won’t be for everyone I’m sure, I did consider those button release type of catches but after messaging someone who used them, they didn’t recommend them.

I also considered the Aerocatch 3 panel fasteners but at over 4x the price I decided against it. These would have looked better.

320-2000 Above Panel - AeroCatch

Kit Contents: 2 x AeroCatch® 3 4 x Fixing Plates 1 x Fastener Kit

aerocatch.com

 

[deekay16v]

I would choose function over form anyday, so thumbsup from me then

 

[PITA]

I like the Aerocatch look, has it improved the bumper sag/gap any?

 

[R20BTG]

I like the Aerocatch look, has it improved the bumper sag/gap any?

A little, but it’s not perfect. I think this is down to my wing spacers though. The main problem I am trying to solve is the bumper actually popping out completely and flapping around as seen in the pic below:

 

[R20BTG]

You need to go to Portimão in Portugal (Algarve) and the check the gp track

I popped in today but nothing was happening at the track. My wife shouted at me when I tried sneaking on with our Kia XCeed hire car when the security guard wasn’t looking. She’s such a kill joy.

 

[Big Ben]

I popped in today but nothing was happening at the track. My wife shouted at me when I tried sneaking on with our Kia XCeed hire car when the security guard wasn’t looking. She’s such a kill joy.

Poor kid having to wear that football kit

 

[R20BTG]

Cadwell Park 9th August 2023

OpenTrack, nobody else bothered booking and all my flaky mates have decided to have babies so I was billy no mates for the day. Yay. Weather forecast was great so ditched the PS4 tyres on my Braid wheels and mounted some old Dunlop slicks that I bought from Matt @ Supreme a couple of years ago. They've been in my garage loft taking up space, so I wanted to kill them off and save some wear on the MRF. Kill them off I did.



Borrowed a different trailer from Paul Roddison, Brian James but slightly shorter than the one I'm used to and the Clio only just fit on!



The white on white does look mega, shame the wheels get so dirty



I'd heard about OpenTrack's reputation for over subscribing and poor driving standards but I was pleasantly surprised. Numbers seemed sensible, never once did I have to wait to get on track, and driving standards were good all day. It's amazing how people seem to reel their behaviour in a bit when there aren't acres of run off and gravel, instead it seems to ground people a bit more when you're going to hit something hard if you take liberties. There were only a couple of red flags throughout the day for mechanical recovery rather than crashes, they were dealt with very quickly (20 mins tops), and they seemed to coincide with my breaks anyway so I basically had uninterrupted track time all day.

Had a good battle with a turbocharged MX5 (260bhp), faster than me on corner exit but I reeled him in under braking and round the corners. A few race cars were using it as a test day which I don't mind as they're generally quite well driven. Had a good ding-dong with a Fiesta race car later in the afternoon which was very evenly matched. There was a pair of Civic Type R racers hammering around but couldn't stick with them, they were quick.








This was my front right tyre at the end of the day and the front left isn't far behind, so mission accomplished in killing off the old rubber and making space in my garage



Car was faultless all day, seems like the preventative maintenance and reliability upgrades are paying dividends. Absolutely covered in rubber marks now so needs a bit of TLC when I have some time.

Nothing seems to need doing for Oulton Park next month so I'll get a couple more slicks mounted to kill them off (I've got 4 left).

 

[burrellbloke]

I have only been to Cadwell Park once but I want to go back there next year. I think it is a great track and deserves it's nickname as a mini Nurburgring.

Have you managed to solve all of the rubbing issues with the cup racer set up now?

 

[Beany]

Corr that’s tight. I know I borrowed a small BJT trailer and it was close

 

[R20BTG]

Yeah no further contact with bodywork. That said, these slicks are 235/610R17 which is similar to a 235/40/17 size (smaller sidewall than a 215/45 or a 225/45) so not sure if it's fully resolved yet, but no issues with the slicks:

235/40/17 vs 215/45/17


235/40/17 vs 225/45/17

 

[LiamP]

Looks so mean with that front end, are you going to lower it now?

 

[R20BTG]

I could lower it a bit more but I need to be able to get the straps over the wheel so can’t go too low