Renault R26 & R27 track cars. Meglio in the pipeline.
Discussion
Prolog
I have decided to do a write up for my cars as i love reading other peoples I hope its interesting.
First off before we get to the Renaults a little bit of history as to how I got here
After a history constituting mostly of VAG products including a B5 RS4, C6 RS6, MK5 R32, e91 335d and access to a B7 RS4. They where all fantastic cars in there own rights, the B5 was a stand out for me with sub 50k miles on it and a few tasteful mods curtesy of MRC. It was a beautiful car, devastatingly fast with 3 pedals and a stick, with the sort of wet weather performance to laugh at an M car or AMG and enough space for the dog and holiday luggage. Its a shame I sold it but I mentioned I might be selling and someone made me an offer I couldn't turn down. The C6 was next with 740hp which is silly frankly, you could never truly enjoy it in the UK as it did 0-100 in about 6.5 second just too much with other road users about. After a scare with a well know specialist not doing the sump plug up and all the oil vacating the engine in about 5 second on the a134 which after the appropriate checks and strip down thankfully no damage was found but i did find out that a new engine is 24k plus fitting which was a little eye watering. Taking all these things into account and the lack of fun in the corners i decided to sell up. Finally onto the r32 which was a fun little car but a little boring other than the engine and exhaust note. anyway here are some photos:
Chapter 1: False Start
A couple of years ago I bought my girlfriend a clio 182 to share with her, from that moment I knew I loved the renault rs products. We did some track days and I decided last year I wanted to do some more days. So with that in mind I bought a 172 track car with a full cage and no interior, which weighted in at an impressive 750kgs with no driver. The only issue with the 172 was that it was stripped way way too far it was awful on the road. This was a bit of a turing point for me with track cars realising that i like the GT3 style cars, think Clubsport spec, which the clio was not at all, so i took the decision to break it for parts and look for a new track car.
Chapter 2: Megane
I was sifting though the classifieds on eBay one day in November last year when I spotted a glacier white R26 with low miles and a good history including a couple of trips to Mark Black’s workshop, who is the guru for these cars, at a good price. After a couple of texts back and forth we organised a viewing and I bought it. I ran it as a fairly standard car with a stage 1 map and polybushed front end and really enjoyed it. Ironically probably my favourite car I've owned it just so much fun you can tip it into corners a laughable speeds then get on the power so early you would not believe it just scrabbles its way out the diff is amazing. The feedback from the controls is good and the seats a comfortable.
As the new year came and went, my attention turned towards the track day calendar and a couple of may track days where booked to give me enough time to get the car ready. Here is an overview of the parts I put on the car and the work I did:
Engine:
RS running down pipe with sports cat
Miltek cat back
630cc injectors
pannel filter
Uprated DV
Short shifter
EFI remap 270hp 300 foot pounds
Suspension:
Gams lowering springs
Polybushed
AD08r tyres
Brakes:
Ferodo DS1.11 pads
Brembo HC discs
RBF660
Hel Lines
Interior:
Motordrive Pro2 bucket seats
No rear seats
Schroth harnesses
Chapter 3: First track day Snett 300
I booked a track evening at Snetterton in the beginning of July to shake the the car down before doing a whole track day. The megane preformed flawlessly all evening used a whole tank learning the circuit getting faster and faster. For those of you who know the track I still have a lot of progress to make on Riches, Nelson and Brundle and the infamous Coram. The stand out for me was the braking performance from the ds1.11. I saw some awesome renault RS’s on track including an r27 with a meg 250 engine under the bonnet, which has got me thinking that I’d like a clio fir my self.
I have decided to do a write up for my cars as i love reading other peoples I hope its interesting.
First off before we get to the Renaults a little bit of history as to how I got here
After a history constituting mostly of VAG products including a B5 RS4, C6 RS6, MK5 R32, e91 335d and access to a B7 RS4. They where all fantastic cars in there own rights, the B5 was a stand out for me with sub 50k miles on it and a few tasteful mods curtesy of MRC. It was a beautiful car, devastatingly fast with 3 pedals and a stick, with the sort of wet weather performance to laugh at an M car or AMG and enough space for the dog and holiday luggage. Its a shame I sold it but I mentioned I might be selling and someone made me an offer I couldn't turn down. The C6 was next with 740hp which is silly frankly, you could never truly enjoy it in the UK as it did 0-100 in about 6.5 second just too much with other road users about. After a scare with a well know specialist not doing the sump plug up and all the oil vacating the engine in about 5 second on the a134 which after the appropriate checks and strip down thankfully no damage was found but i did find out that a new engine is 24k plus fitting which was a little eye watering. Taking all these things into account and the lack of fun in the corners i decided to sell up. Finally onto the r32 which was a fun little car but a little boring other than the engine and exhaust note. anyway here are some photos:
Chapter 1: False Start
A couple of years ago I bought my girlfriend a clio 182 to share with her, from that moment I knew I loved the renault rs products. We did some track days and I decided last year I wanted to do some more days. So with that in mind I bought a 172 track car with a full cage and no interior, which weighted in at an impressive 750kgs with no driver. The only issue with the 172 was that it was stripped way way too far it was awful on the road. This was a bit of a turing point for me with track cars realising that i like the GT3 style cars, think Clubsport spec, which the clio was not at all, so i took the decision to break it for parts and look for a new track car.
Chapter 2: Megane
I was sifting though the classifieds on eBay one day in November last year when I spotted a glacier white R26 with low miles and a good history including a couple of trips to Mark Black’s workshop, who is the guru for these cars, at a good price. After a couple of texts back and forth we organised a viewing and I bought it. I ran it as a fairly standard car with a stage 1 map and polybushed front end and really enjoyed it. Ironically probably my favourite car I've owned it just so much fun you can tip it into corners a laughable speeds then get on the power so early you would not believe it just scrabbles its way out the diff is amazing. The feedback from the controls is good and the seats a comfortable.
As the new year came and went, my attention turned towards the track day calendar and a couple of may track days where booked to give me enough time to get the car ready. Here is an overview of the parts I put on the car and the work I did:
Engine:
RS running down pipe with sports cat
Miltek cat back
630cc injectors
pannel filter
Uprated DV
Short shifter
EFI remap 270hp 300 foot pounds
Suspension:
Gams lowering springs
Polybushed
AD08r tyres
Brakes:
Ferodo DS1.11 pads
Brembo HC discs
RBF660
Hel Lines
Interior:
Motordrive Pro2 bucket seats
No rear seats
Schroth harnesses
Chapter 3: First track day Snett 300
I booked a track evening at Snetterton in the beginning of July to shake the the car down before doing a whole track day. The megane preformed flawlessly all evening used a whole tank learning the circuit getting faster and faster. For those of you who know the track I still have a lot of progress to make on Riches, Nelson and Brundle and the infamous Coram. The stand out for me was the braking performance from the ds1.11. I saw some awesome renault RS’s on track including an r27 with a meg 250 engine under the bonnet, which has got me thinking that I’d like a clio fir my self.
Chapter 4: R27
After a bit of looking a viewing two other LY R27’s I found a car with a couple of issues for an ok price, I think I payed too much for it in hindsight but you only live once. Then on the way home it hit a hare and destroyed the front bumper and radiator. Im not very happy with the way the car dives the brakes are rubbish and the car feels a little bouncy from the rear maybe its because I'm not used to the clio yet vs. the megane. It has a small blow for the manifold which should be an easy fix. I have ordered some parts to freshen the car up underneath; Powerflex bushes, Brake lines, brake seals, toyosports manifold, PFC bakes and new discs all round, retrimmed steering wheel, track rods, all link bars, etc. hopefully it will drive better after the parts are fitted. Some Photos below.
After a bit of looking a viewing two other LY R27’s I found a car with a couple of issues for an ok price, I think I payed too much for it in hindsight but you only live once. Then on the way home it hit a hare and destroyed the front bumper and radiator. Im not very happy with the way the car dives the brakes are rubbish and the car feels a little bouncy from the rear maybe its because I'm not used to the clio yet vs. the megane. It has a small blow for the manifold which should be an easy fix. I have ordered some parts to freshen the car up underneath; Powerflex bushes, Brake lines, brake seals, toyosports manifold, PFC bakes and new discs all round, retrimmed steering wheel, track rods, all link bars, etc. hopefully it will drive better after the parts are fitted. Some Photos below.
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