Last weekend was Cairncastle 2025! The best (and scariest) hill of the year. Its a 2 day event which is run as 2 events. I really wanted to have a hill or at least a sprint under my belt this year before this one especially with the new springs and ARB but with getting married earlier in the year, some bad timing with holidays and then the injector issue on my first hill this year meant that this was my first actual hill.
Decided to stay at the hill from the Thursday night to the Saturday as my friend got a camper and kindly let me stay in it.
Loaded and ready.
One of the first there!
Thought this was a cool view in your rear view mirror on the way back down the hill.
Some action shots
Managed to come away with 2nd in class on the Friday as it was light rain then drying up then light rain then drying etc. Each time you were on the start line you didn't know what to expect, the top of the hill was usually wetter as well. On the Saturday it was dry and the cars with more power went fast again, ended up 5th in class. I think this shows how good and grippy the Clio is, even in the wet. The faster cars are gaining their time over me on the straights, but in the wet my corner speed must be fairly high to hang with them when they aren't as quick on the straights.
The new springs and ARB seemed to help the car. I was worried about the rears being far too heavy for a hillclimb. I brought the old rears with me as they are easy enough to change. I wasn't worried about changing the fronts as they should work with either rear setup. On the first run or two on the Friday when you are still feeling it out and not fully committed yet, I could really feel the new springs/ARB. I was almost turning in too much, the car changed direction so well. It sort of meant that they work better when fully committed and really pushing as its nearly too pointy when you're not lol. I actually ran the damping setting harder on the rear than last year and had less issues over the bumps, I had to soften it a bit on the rear last year, this surprised me a bit. All in all the springs/ARB are a massive success and the car is so pointy, which I like.
The weekend didn't all go without the odd hick up!
With the patchy conditions on the Friday I had a bit of a slide going into fifth corner on the first timed run. This was fine and it turned out a good run compared to others in the conditions. Although a little scary on small roads over 70mph lol
Although the next run... We were kept on the line a long time as the fourth car in front of me went off and needed recovered, then the second car in front of me went off and needed recovered. There was a skift of rain on the windscreen but I didn't think the tarmac would be any wetter than I had experienced so far yet. I was wrong, it was damper than it was. This was the first corner:
I was very lucky to get away with little to no damage. The only damage was the front section of the front arch liner and the front lip on the bumper. I give the last timed run a miss after this to check the car and it got wetter anyway.
Im sure Ill struggle to get an arch liner.
The saturday was pretty smooth. This was my fastest run but I lost 4 and a half tenths on the top section.
This run was only a couple hundredths slower overall but the top section is much better and is 4 and a half tenths quicker up there than the run above.
If I could put the bottom section from the first Saturday video and the top section from the second Saturday video, it would be a really good run for a Clio with standard power.
Cairncastle is such a good hill and such a good event!
Just booked on to a sprint in Kirkistown for this weekend. Haven't done a sprint in the Clio since getting my M3. I'm really interested to see how the Clio goes now I have lightened it more, I suspect the corner speed will be higher than the M3. I don't expect to do good results wise as I'm up against big power cars with 350hp and up or super light cars in the 250hp to 300hp range but it should be fun! If its dry Ill get some graphs up comparing speeds with the M3.
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