Added Gallic Lightness
Discussion
Finally feel like I have something worth sharing here.
Bought a Clio 172 Cup today, for buttons really. It's like a little rally car- lumpy idle, meaty exhaust sound, darty and just a big chuckle to drive. You can feel the lightness not holding it back and not stopping it from stopping... beautifully. I am enjoying it!
I made one modification today that has added precisely no weight. I tuned the radio to Radio 4 in time for the Inspector rebus play.
Tomorrow, pics of my modifications so far and possibly of the whole car. No showcar, but it does have a BARC sticker in the window, which is supposed to be worth 10 horsepower.
Need to refurb the wheels, apologies but probably Trophy anthracite rather than silver and then to decide whether it remains a cheap hoon car (with added Sparco evo seats which wil reduce weight more than the radio 4 tuning), or do I get carried away. Let's see...
Pics tomorrow!
Edited to add: including some very full on acceleration, ahem, scientific tests, it delivered 35mpg (obc) over 200 miles of motorway, hooneration and trans-london home getting.
Bought a Clio 172 Cup today, for buttons really. It's like a little rally car- lumpy idle, meaty exhaust sound, darty and just a big chuckle to drive. You can feel the lightness not holding it back and not stopping it from stopping... beautifully. I am enjoying it!
I made one modification today that has added precisely no weight. I tuned the radio to Radio 4 in time for the Inspector rebus play.
Tomorrow, pics of my modifications so far and possibly of the whole car. No showcar, but it does have a BARC sticker in the window, which is supposed to be worth 10 horsepower.
Need to refurb the wheels, apologies but probably Trophy anthracite rather than silver and then to decide whether it remains a cheap hoon car (with added Sparco evo seats which wil reduce weight more than the radio 4 tuning), or do I get carried away. Let's see...
Pics tomorrow!
Edited to add: including some very full on acceleration, ahem, scientific tests, it delivered 35mpg (obc) over 200 miles of motorway, hooneration and trans-london home getting.
Edited by Polynesian on Saturday 10th March 22:13
Progress since March has been to install, safely, a set of sparco evo seats. I say safely because after much faffing and worrying about the secure locating of the renault pre tensioners and seatbelts (not using harnesses for road driving) i ended up buying Porshe 993 RS parts to mount them. Is this the world's only Renault/ Porsche RS? it must be now 0.04% Porsche. To be honest, it's doing really well on its Renault DNA.
Still love it, still enjoy the rorty exhaust, the pick up, the ride compared to my "comfy" BMW, and the whole experience.
Few jobs to do include:
painting the seat side mounts and lacquering over some renaultsport logos on them
changing the knackered red sparco covers for black ones
wondering about even more alcantara (i improved the interior with some alcantara bits of trim)
maybe a decent semi dished steering wheel
Must remember... do not spend money on it, just enjoy it!
Clio 172 Cup by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/58146258@N00/]
Still love it, still enjoy the rorty exhaust, the pick up, the ride compared to my "comfy" BMW, and the whole experience.
Few jobs to do include:
painting the seat side mounts and lacquering over some renaultsport logos on them
changing the knackered red sparco covers for black ones
wondering about even more alcantara (i improved the interior with some alcantara bits of trim)
maybe a decent semi dished steering wheel
Must remember... do not spend money on it, just enjoy it!
Clio 172 Cup by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/58146258@N00/]
Edited by Polynesian on Wednesday 18th April 23:15
I'm getting keen on the idea of this thread being a "how much can I not modify the Clio" thread.
I'll report on the ownership experience and you can fine me Ron points (as in petrol not Dennis) for every modification.
I know you can do loads to them but it does get away from the essence, reference Porkies' amazing clio... Totally fantastic but more expensive to run than his exige (according to him). I'll find a link to his car... Worth a look. http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I will be refurbishing the wheels though. In a nice sparkly silver.
I'll report on the ownership experience and you can fine me Ron points (as in petrol not Dennis) for every modification.
I know you can do loads to them but it does get away from the essence, reference Porkies' amazing clio... Totally fantastic but more expensive to run than his exige (according to him). I'll find a link to his car... Worth a look. http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I will be refurbishing the wheels though. In a nice sparkly silver.
Edited by Polynesian on Friday 7th September 20:57
Long ago, before the clio, was a Golf gti mk1 campaign. It had a TSR 1.9 pack C engine, BBS Pininfarina wheels (haven't ever seen them on another car) and it was a HOOT. Here are before and after pics from it's one year at sheffield uni, back in 96- 97. Miss it loads.
1996
VW Golf GTI TSR 1.9 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/58146258@N00/]
1997
VW Golf GTI TSR 1.9 after by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/58146258@N00/]
1996
VW Golf GTI TSR 1.9 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/58146258@N00/]
1997
VW Golf GTI TSR 1.9 after by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/58146258@N00/]
Edited by Polynesian on Wednesday 18th April 23:16
Slight delay in updating this I see...
Well the Clio ended up being a brilliant car to own and drive, lovingly looked after by Mark Fish and driven enthusiastically.
But then I sold it, like an idiot, for a sum of money a standard idiot wouldn't have accepted for it. All to get into a knackered Alpina B3...
Anyway, while I would dearly love another 172 cup, and a barn to keep it in (we live in SE London and there are lots of barns within walking distance of my house), I'd also like to replace/ relive the Gti mk1... that isn't a practical option at the moment, so I accidentally bought a set of 7x15 BBS Pininfarina just like my Lhasa green one had. If I can find the right blend of additives, they might grow a golf on top of them?
Well the Clio ended up being a brilliant car to own and drive, lovingly looked after by Mark Fish and driven enthusiastically.
But then I sold it, like an idiot, for a sum of money a standard idiot wouldn't have accepted for it. All to get into a knackered Alpina B3...
Anyway, while I would dearly love another 172 cup, and a barn to keep it in (we live in SE London and there are lots of barns within walking distance of my house), I'd also like to replace/ relive the Gti mk1... that isn't a practical option at the moment, so I accidentally bought a set of 7x15 BBS Pininfarina just like my Lhasa green one had. If I can find the right blend of additives, they might grow a golf on top of them?
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff