Toby's Track-Ready Daily 197

tobydavis34

Platinum Member
Hi guys!

New to this forum and owning french cars in general... so, a bit about me before we delve into the car.

I have been racing cars since 2016, and karting before that. I currently race in the VW Racing Cup and I've always wanted to make my own track car that I can use for customers.

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The opportunity came up with Team-HARD, who are my racing team, to swap my trusty 2.0 Diesel mk5 Golf (mostly used for spare parts for my racing car!) for a Clio 197.

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Luckily for me, my brother Ben races in the UK Clio Cup. He has access to a lot of spare bits here and there, so I decided to turn my bog-standard 197 into a track-ready car, with the goal to get her ready for a trip to the 'Ring with some mates in May.

I'll keep you updated with the mods that I do to achieve this! :smile:
 
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First thing we've done is to add some racing seats and semi-strip the back. I asked the team to do this before I picked the car up if they could find some old racing seats and harnesses lying around! I want to keep this as a daily so I want the dash to pretty much stay as it is, although I've got a few plans / ideas for this moving forwards. Anyway, out with the rear bench, in with the Sabelts.
 
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Having now collected the car, the next job has been a simple de-badge. I prefer a clean look, but I have kept the badges (and templated them) both for future resale and also in case I fancy adding the RS badge back again.

Bit of cheesewire, and a fudge wheel on the end of a drill (to get rid of the adhesive) works perfectly for badge removal, by the way chaps.
 
Just be aware, unless the Germans have relented, you won't be allowed on a TF day with those winged seats as they are not TUV and not approved for road driving. If it is a closed Trackday event you will be fine.
 
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Just be aware, unless the Germans have relented, you won't be allowed on a TF day with those winged seats as they are not TUV and not approved for road driving. If it is a closed Trackday event you will be fine.
Oh really? Thank you.

I’ll speak to them. I’ve got a friendly MOT garage who has said they would pass it to be fair.
 
Oh really? Thank you.

I’ll speak to them. I’ve got a friendly MOT garage who has said they would pass it to be fair.
It is not about a UK MOT it is about what the German authorities will allow on their roads. You will be highly likely to be turned away at the barrier. I am sure a quick Google will bring up all sorts of stories. Unless you can show a TUV approval on the seat, it will be a long trip. It will mean you can spend the entry you save on beer though.
 
Nicks bang on 'unfortunately'

They're particularly stringent on things like cage padding (or rather, the lack of), detachable steering wheels, tow eyes, bonnet clips.

Get yourself booked on a trackday over there. They're mint for the money, plus there's no third party liability
 
Few bits of wrapping done here guys. First off, the windscreen.
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Then I saw some gloss black eBay badges that I felt were over priced. Time to get the heat gun out again!

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Finally, I am not a huge fan of the smiley grille area, so time to add some wrap to the front - make it look a bit meaner? I like it!

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Finally, rear badge.

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Must be at least a second a lap right there.
 
Very controversial front bumper! Surprised you didn’t stump up for a 200 as that has the “nicer” looking front end*

Seems to be coming along nicely.. be interesting to see what else you have planned for it.

*Contenious view I know :smile: lol
 
Very controversial front bumper! Surprised you didn’t stump up for a 200 as that has the “nicer” looking front end*

Seems to be coming along nicely.. be interesting to see what else you have planned for it.

*Contenious view I know :smile: lol
I did a swap for this car with my racing team, who have repurposed my mk5 Golf into racing bits I think!!!

So whilst a 200 would have been nice, I quite like the look of the modified bumper on this 197!

Next to show you guys - splitter!!!
 
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I decided my grey handles and RS badge on the side would look better in black, so I’ve wrapped them gloss black! Also added cheesy insta @ decals. Not sure if they’ll stay...

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Right then! Splitter time.

Ordered one from cmcomposites.co.uk, as although the standard one is nice, I wanted to do something slightly different.

This splitter comes with all you need to fit and it cost £130, not too bad.

Started off by taking the front bumper off - there’s loads of guides for how to do this, so I didn’t bother taking photos. Strongly recommend pulling the arch lining loose though to access the 10mm wing to bumper nut. They were a bit rusty so I replaced them whilst doing it.

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Bumper off, I drew an outline of the bumper onto the splitter and tested how far forward I wanted it.

Then I drilled the centre hole and screwed on the splitter, measuring it to ensure it was central and STRAIGHT!

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The rubber trim was being a bit of a dick so I put a dab of silicone in to hold it on semi-permanently. The kit comes with spacers that are optional, so you can choose to keep the rubber or remove.

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Drilling a few extra holes and fitted the rest of the nuts and bolts. (Feat my missus legs)

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Before I reattached the whole bumper I clipped it on to make sure I was happy and also installed some stays - again, two drill holes each and the adjustable stay made the process really easy.

I went with angled stays within my black wrapped area but it would have worked with these anywhere to be fair.

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Very happy with the final result! I shortened the spacers slightly so that the rubber trim was slightly warped. Now it looks kinda like it was supposed to be there! I really think this looks cool. Just need to get her lowered now, it’s a bit high off the floor. 30mm lowering springs ordered accordingly!!!

What do you think?
 
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Didn’t think I’d like it but I do!

Nice effort doing it yourself. Possibly would’ve preferred straighter stays myself but that’s here nor there.

Looking forward to more updates
 
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