New Car - Trophy #433
Discussion
smithmi81 said:
Nice read and great car. One question why go to all the effort to take the rear seats out only to add it back I with the rear wheel, or is that just for transit to and from the tracks?
I do a 90 mile daily commute, hence the spare wheel, which as mentioned, is normally held down with some rather strong climbing rope, just that doesnt look very sexy for the photos 
And yes, cup racers also use 15's, Speedline 2118's to be precise, they are obviously a lot lower to the ground though, so they dont look quite so tiddly lol.
Right, little update & some pics ...
Blooming brilliant day out at Snetterton, the Trophy is a very very good car straight out of the box, only problem was understeer on the tightest corners, but hey on normal (& melted PE2's) its not really surprising lol ...
Done 4k in the past month doing 'Ring - Furka - San Bernadino - Stelvio passes - Lake Garda - Bordeaux - Lands End as well & as per usual, its performed faultlessly!!
As such, with my 90 day commute as well, i've put about 11k on it since June, so its for sale, to buy something more suitable for 3k a month, ie a diesel Golf
Not all is lost though, as i bought something to part-replace it yesterday. Cue the most confusing picture ever, of both my Trophy's ...
Blooming brilliant day out at Snetterton, the Trophy is a very very good car straight out of the box, only problem was understeer on the tightest corners, but hey on normal (& melted PE2's) its not really surprising lol ...
Done 4k in the past month doing 'Ring - Furka - San Bernadino - Stelvio passes - Lake Garda - Bordeaux - Lands End as well & as per usual, its performed faultlessly!!
As such, with my 90 day commute as well, i've put about 11k on it since June, so its for sale, to buy something more suitable for 3k a month, ie a diesel Golf
Not all is lost though, as i bought something to part-replace it yesterday. Cue the most confusing picture ever, of both my Trophy's ... Edited by Sir_Dave on Friday 3rd September 16:11
paulrhodes said:
Go on Dave I'll bite... 
What's the deal?
and good work on the track time. Did you go with Hamish and the stag-do lot to the ring?
Nah, didnt do the 'ring with them, did a little detour with Sarah on our holidays lol What's the deal?
and good work on the track time. Did you go with Hamish and the stag-do lot to the ring?
ending up paying £2,650 for the 2nd Trophy, something to do with it having 170k miles on it i would imagine 
Little update:
And then there was two
First impressions are very good, & it drives pretty much exactly the same as the other one. Couple of minor issues, ie some of the dash lights are broken (inc. the dimmer), the wing mirrors vibrate like mad & it stinks of cigarette smoke, but hey, not bad for the money!!
Plans are to sell the original Trophy - as i was worried about putting millions of miles in it - then either use the 'new' one for everything, or maybe buy a derv for day to day ...
Either way, i bought these on a complete whim last week in preparation, & oh my god they are just made of s3x/WIN/epicness!! Well, actually its handmade carbon fibre, covered with alcantara & leather, but hey, WIN is close enough... 5.1kg each ...
They're Cobra Technology Evolutions btw, complete with Aluminium side mounts.
Edited by Sir_Dave on Monday 13th September 11:32
Some more pictures following a track day at Haynes Motor Museum on Saturday.
Trophy #461
No clean shots in here detailing freaks.
It gets driven, & it gets driven hard. 172k miles & counting.
Mud is courtesy of the field out the back, which was perfect for handbrake turns
Oh, and the money shot lol:
Trophy #433 (now sold)
On its holidays in August, took in Furka, San Bernadino, Stelvio and various other awesome roads in the Alps, Italy & the south of France ...
Trophy #461
No clean shots in here detailing freaks.
It gets driven, & it gets driven hard. 172k miles & counting.
Mud is courtesy of the field out the back, which was perfect for handbrake turns
Oh, and the money shot lol:
Trophy #433 (now sold)
On its holidays in August, took in Furka, San Bernadino, Stelvio and various other awesome roads in the Alps, Italy & the south of France ...
Edited by Sir_Dave on Wednesday 3rd November 15:26
Luke. said:
172,000 miles and less than £3k. Blimey. Where did you find it?
Chap on ClioSport bought it from his employer when it failed the MOT last year (leaking dampers - not surprising after 170k!!), then when he looked to sell it in September i was all over it like a rash ...Drives exactly the same as my 1st, mint one, so definately bargain of the century
Doogz - Mark Fish has raced/setup Clios for the cup series for years, so when it comes to handling, he's generally the man in the know. Not sure if id drive form Scotland for him to fit some dampers (2 bolts), but he has a very good rep & is fairly secretive about the exact settings he uses on geo - for obvious reasons i guess.
Windy - sorry, already sold them for twice what i paid for them
Gandi - dampers are fine if looked after, this set did 170k before they started leaking, but others last 30k, depends on use i guess. At the end of the day, all suspension components have a lifespan, the difference with the Sachs is that they can be rebuilt rather than thrown away!! H&R's & Bilstein's etc all need a rebuild after a while as well.
Engine wise, all seems ok at the moment, has a full Renault history every 12k from new, so everything has been changed as & when required. From what i could tell, being a company car, a blank chequebook approach was taken
Windy - sorry, already sold them for twice what i paid for them
Gandi - dampers are fine if looked after, this set did 170k before they started leaking, but others last 30k, depends on use i guess. At the end of the day, all suspension components have a lifespan, the difference with the Sachs is that they can be rebuilt rather than thrown away!! H&R's & Bilstein's etc all need a rebuild after a while as well.
Engine wise, all seems ok at the moment, has a full Renault history every 12k from new, so everything has been changed as & when required. From what i could tell, being a company car, a blank chequebook approach was taken
Edited by Sir_Dave on Thursday 4th November 11:12
Another little update following the Brands Hatch trackday on Sunday.
First things first, on Saturday, I realised that my MOT was going to run out on Wednesday, was a tad concerned with its heavy mileage, but it passed 1st time in the morning, without so much as an advisory!! Well done clio.
Whilst I was there, I helped my mechanic swop the DS2500 pads in, & bleed the brakes with Castrol Response Super Dot 4, didnt bother with braided lines as i think they’re a little bit of a placebo (the car feels no different to my 172 cup & previous Trophy that both had them). All done, I popped to Ollie’s place of work to do the oil change and fit the Whiteline ARB thats been sat under my desk for the past month ...
With a KFC inside us, the oil change was sorted very quickly by my able assistant & it was onto the ARB. Firstly, it looked completely different to Nick’s, & secondly it was longer. Hmmm, perhaps its not the right one we thought? Bugger it, lets bosh it on anyway, this is Failsport remember ... nearly 2 hours later, & having given up on the buzz gun, the extended breaker bar & copious amounts of WD40 had got the rear damper bottom bolts out, god only knows what Renault torqued them up to when they changed the dampers last year lol. Once they were done, we quickly offered everything up to car, & realised that yes, we were going to have to fit it completely differently to Nicks, with the droplinks on the inside of the bar instead of the outside :s weird, but there was no other way it would fit. With that finally done, I got ready to leave & took a quick pic of the new addition (for CS of course):
Now, Ollie, being the ex-valeter was incredible upset with the state of the shed Trophy, & after finding out that I had never actually cleaned it, offered to give it a once over, purely as he wanted to see if it actually was still red under all the dirt & grime. It was, the 2118’s were also a completely different shade to what I thought they were lol!!
Then it was onto Brands Hatch on the Sunday, where we were a tad concerned about the weather, especially after seeing -7 on the way over there in the morning!!
However, despite Lee’s unfortunate incident in the afternoon, we had a great day, yes it was cold, but rather sunny in places, with the track offering a decent enough level of grip. Well except Clearways in the afternoon after a TVR dumped its coolant all over the place. Coolant + -1 = ice = sideways Trophy!!
As ever, the car performed faultlessly all day, & the Whiteline ARB (Set to medium) has really transformed the car imho. Whilst i was suffering from understeer on the limit at Snetterton, this has now been replaced with a greater willingness to hold the line, combined with a improved tendency for oversteer. The car is now, & i hate to say it, very similar to the Vts on Bilsteins i had previously, which tbh i was trying to recreate!! I now have the option to steer with the steering wheel, throttle or brakes, the ARB stiffening the rear up to the point where it really is quite twitchy, lovely No more 3 wheeling either, so its certainly doing something back there!!
Anyway, my photos, courtesy of Focussed Events:
Only problem all day was that we were both sliding around on the seats quite a bit (despite harnesses), not great when you're approaching paddock with a dab of oppo that was duely sorted with a cheeky bid on eBay when I got home, hello Cobra Imolas:
In addition, as you can see from the photos, the front wheels could do with a little more negative camber, not just for grip purposes, but to prolong tire life as well, so I may invest in come camber bolts of some sort. The T1R’s were also fine, yes they dont offer as much grip as R888’s, & Nick and Ollie were able to drive off into the sunset ahead of me, but I prefer fun to ultimate speed tbh, & having to fight the car around the track is where I get my pleasure ...
Roll on the next outing
First things first, on Saturday, I realised that my MOT was going to run out on Wednesday, was a tad concerned with its heavy mileage, but it passed 1st time in the morning, without so much as an advisory!! Well done clio.
Whilst I was there, I helped my mechanic swop the DS2500 pads in, & bleed the brakes with Castrol Response Super Dot 4, didnt bother with braided lines as i think they’re a little bit of a placebo (the car feels no different to my 172 cup & previous Trophy that both had them). All done, I popped to Ollie’s place of work to do the oil change and fit the Whiteline ARB thats been sat under my desk for the past month ...
With a KFC inside us, the oil change was sorted very quickly by my able assistant & it was onto the ARB. Firstly, it looked completely different to Nick’s, & secondly it was longer. Hmmm, perhaps its not the right one we thought? Bugger it, lets bosh it on anyway, this is Failsport remember ... nearly 2 hours later, & having given up on the buzz gun, the extended breaker bar & copious amounts of WD40 had got the rear damper bottom bolts out, god only knows what Renault torqued them up to when they changed the dampers last year lol. Once they were done, we quickly offered everything up to car, & realised that yes, we were going to have to fit it completely differently to Nicks, with the droplinks on the inside of the bar instead of the outside :s weird, but there was no other way it would fit. With that finally done, I got ready to leave & took a quick pic of the new addition (for CS of course):
Now, Ollie, being the ex-valeter was incredible upset with the state of the shed Trophy, & after finding out that I had never actually cleaned it, offered to give it a once over, purely as he wanted to see if it actually was still red under all the dirt & grime. It was, the 2118’s were also a completely different shade to what I thought they were lol!!
Then it was onto Brands Hatch on the Sunday, where we were a tad concerned about the weather, especially after seeing -7 on the way over there in the morning!!
However, despite Lee’s unfortunate incident in the afternoon, we had a great day, yes it was cold, but rather sunny in places, with the track offering a decent enough level of grip. Well except Clearways in the afternoon after a TVR dumped its coolant all over the place. Coolant + -1 = ice = sideways Trophy!!
As ever, the car performed faultlessly all day, & the Whiteline ARB (Set to medium) has really transformed the car imho. Whilst i was suffering from understeer on the limit at Snetterton, this has now been replaced with a greater willingness to hold the line, combined with a improved tendency for oversteer. The car is now, & i hate to say it, very similar to the Vts on Bilsteins i had previously, which tbh i was trying to recreate!! I now have the option to steer with the steering wheel, throttle or brakes, the ARB stiffening the rear up to the point where it really is quite twitchy, lovely
No more 3 wheeling either, so its certainly doing something back there!!Anyway, my photos, courtesy of Focussed Events:
Only problem all day was that we were both sliding around on the seats quite a bit (despite harnesses), not great when you're approaching paddock with a dab of oppo
that was duely sorted with a cheeky bid on eBay when I got home, hello Cobra Imolas:In addition, as you can see from the photos, the front wheels could do with a little more negative camber, not just for grip purposes, but to prolong tire life as well, so I may invest in come camber bolts of some sort. The T1R’s were also fine, yes they dont offer as much grip as R888’s, & Nick and Ollie were able to drive off into the sunset ahead of me, but I prefer fun to ultimate speed tbh, & having to fight the car around the track is where I get my pleasure ...
Roll on the next outing
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