Road & Track 197 Cup

[Digger90]

Bought my Renault Sport 197 Cup last month - factory Cup chassis, Recaros, Cup Spoiler etc.

It had been a wife's little runabout for the last 4 years and was in great condition, although with the infamous Recaro bolster wear which I will need to get fixed, plus more worryingly, a crunching 4th gear syncro.

I sold my Porsche last autumn and was missing a fun weekend toy - and having several mates with Clio's I thought I would try one. This will be used at weekends, for the odd runabout to go get a takeaway and most importantly - track car.

Here she is as I bought her - fairly grimy:




And after a good wash and brush-up at home:

 

[Deaks]

What track plans you got for it? Full on strip and cage?

Like the last picture, meaty rear end.

 

[Digger90]

It's going to be used a lot as a road car so won't be stripping and caging it.

I raced in the UK Alfa Romeo Championship many years ago and used to drive my racers on the road in the early days before I went 'full on'. A caged, stripped and harnessed car on the road is just awful in my opinion - great on the track, but horrible on the road.

This car will have quite a few delicious things done to it but within the boundaries of keeping it sensible as a road-going car for now. Kind of like a 'Simoxmino Lite' i.e. not as extreme as his in the engine/suspension dept. but still very useable nonetheless.

 

[Digger90]

The genuine article...

 

[smoggy mark]

Looks good enjoy it mate:thumbup1:

 

[Digger90]

New gearbox fitted now - got it from RSC from their batch of NOS genuine Renault boxes. Fitted with new genuine Renault clutch kit.




The car also had some play in the steering rack, so a new genuine Renault steering rack was installed at the same time.

 

[Digger90]

Had the car fully serviced at the same time - and filled with the best fluids (IMO)...

 

[Digger90]

K Tec Racing decat plus cat-back exhaust - and panel filter.

 

[Tree200]

Awesome, you will love the sound!

 

[gaz]

and the flatspot

 

[Robo_#1]

Flatspot will be easy enough to map out once the OP has finished with their mods though .

Nice little project, you seem to be making good progress. And [MENTION=150]simoxmino[/MENTION]'s car is great inspiration to work with.

 

[Digger90]

tbh - I don't mind the flat spot, it's really not as bad as people make out. I was expecting a sluggish, horrible, prolonged flatspot after reading all the scare stories on here. It's not that bad at all, although I will get it remapped once everything is bolted on.

In the meantime, complete brake system flush and renewal with Super Blue Racing which has a ridiculously high wet boiling point of 198 degrees C.

 

[Rotoryboy]

Is this stuff all OK on the seals? I am looking at a similar fluid for mine

 

[Digger90]

Indeed it is, yes.

 

[Digger90]

And now for some Gordini action...


I wasn't super-excited about the standard steering wheel that my Cup came with.. not a great feel, I found it a bit thin and it was starting to show signs of wear after 59k miles.

Wanted a TDC marker in any case and found a genuine Renault Gordini steering wheel- et voila!

From this...




To this...

 

[Digger90]

Acquired some genuine Cup Racer Speedlines too... these will be my track day wheels and I'll likely replace the standard Cup alloys at some point with a black set of Speedlines, or just get the Cup alloys refurbed.