Renault Megane 250 Cup
Discussion
Always enjoy reading the Readers' car section here and fancied joining in. I've been on PH for a number of years, but never really forayed into posting anything of interest.
My history is somewhat boring, but I'm a Engineer by trade with a slight obsession with all things Automotive thanks to my old man and Grandad.
Growing up, I was in and out of the family ran Independent garage. Every 6 week holiday break from school I was there causing more of a nuisance than anything else really. From the age of 12, I worked with my old man doing MOT's on Saturdays with him. A simple job, but at that age it was ace having a bit of responsibility.
My old man was mega into his Rallying and Road Rallying in his younger days, but sadly came to it's end in 1991 with the 'joyous' news of their first born; me.
I've predominantly been around the Ford groups most of my life, having had a number of Focus'es (not sure of the plural of Focus, but there you go), culminating finally to a Mk2 RS. At the time I also had built an ST170 into a bit of a track toy.
The decision to grow up and finally move out of the family home for a second time meant that both the cars were soon up for sale and on their way down the road with the new owners. I bought myself an E61 530d and set about my mundane boring life of house ownership.
My friend had recently built up a Clio 197 from a bit of a rotter and invited me over to Donington to have a play. The car was exceptional, especially given it has basically a standard car with some lowering springs and a cheap set of semi slicks. Looking back now, it was clear that he had an ulterior motive, as a couple of weeks after, I ended up buying it from him.
I owned the Clio for a number of years and did in the region of 30-40 trackdays in it, with a spattering of trips over to the Nurburgring too. What added to the fun is a number of my pals decided to purchase their own Clios, to a point where generally there would be a group of 7 of us on track, all nose to tail in the same make/model of car - much to the dismay of track marshals.
Decemeber 2022 saw the end to the Clio and it was off to it's new 'owner' (I say it like that, because the guy ran a breakers yard down London and I've not seen or heard about the car since).
So I've rambled on quite a bit now, apologies. Back to the title of the thread, my Megane...
I'd set myself a budget (with the intention of doing some work to the car myself), searched online, and posted in the owners groups. A lad reached out to me and reeled off a car with an decent history and a number of mods which I'd planned to do at some point in the future anyway.
It was way more than I'd planned on spending, but we came to an agreement and the car was mine.
A quick service and a trip straight over to Donington.
Take away points from the day:
My history is somewhat boring, but I'm a Engineer by trade with a slight obsession with all things Automotive thanks to my old man and Grandad.
Growing up, I was in and out of the family ran Independent garage. Every 6 week holiday break from school I was there causing more of a nuisance than anything else really. From the age of 12, I worked with my old man doing MOT's on Saturdays with him. A simple job, but at that age it was ace having a bit of responsibility.
My old man was mega into his Rallying and Road Rallying in his younger days, but sadly came to it's end in 1991 with the 'joyous' news of their first born; me.
I've predominantly been around the Ford groups most of my life, having had a number of Focus'es (not sure of the plural of Focus, but there you go), culminating finally to a Mk2 RS. At the time I also had built an ST170 into a bit of a track toy.
The decision to grow up and finally move out of the family home for a second time meant that both the cars were soon up for sale and on their way down the road with the new owners. I bought myself an E61 530d and set about my mundane boring life of house ownership.
My friend had recently built up a Clio 197 from a bit of a rotter and invited me over to Donington to have a play. The car was exceptional, especially given it has basically a standard car with some lowering springs and a cheap set of semi slicks. Looking back now, it was clear that he had an ulterior motive, as a couple of weeks after, I ended up buying it from him.
I owned the Clio for a number of years and did in the region of 30-40 trackdays in it, with a spattering of trips over to the Nurburgring too. What added to the fun is a number of my pals decided to purchase their own Clios, to a point where generally there would be a group of 7 of us on track, all nose to tail in the same make/model of car - much to the dismay of track marshals.
Decemeber 2022 saw the end to the Clio and it was off to it's new 'owner' (I say it like that, because the guy ran a breakers yard down London and I've not seen or heard about the car since).
So I've rambled on quite a bit now, apologies. Back to the title of the thread, my Megane...
I'd set myself a budget (with the intention of doing some work to the car myself), searched online, and posted in the owners groups. A lad reached out to me and reeled off a car with an decent history and a number of mods which I'd planned to do at some point in the future anyway.
It was way more than I'd planned on spending, but we came to an agreement and the car was mine.
A quick service and a trip straight over to Donington.
Take away points from the day:
- The brakes were toss
- CV joints are better when the grease stays inside
- Don't rely on someone else to install wheel studs correctly
I loved my 250 Cup. A trip to RS in Leeds topped the power up to 325bhp, so it was quick. My previous car was a 997 GT3, so I know what quick feels like. I reckon that there would be little between the two in a cross country dash.
The only things I didn’t like about the 250, was the lack of revs (meaning that you were grabbing 2nd gear almost immediately after moving off) and the brakes. I ran out of brakes a few times on track days, but there wasn’t many options back then to improve them. I don’t doubt that the situation is different now, but they certainly needed extra cooling back then.
Enjoy.
The only things I didn’t like about the 250, was the lack of revs (meaning that you were grabbing 2nd gear almost immediately after moving off) and the brakes. I ran out of brakes a few times on track days, but there wasn’t many options back then to improve them. I don’t doubt that the situation is different now, but they certainly needed extra cooling back then.
Enjoy.
Sigmamark7 said:
The only things I didn’t like about the 250, was the lack of revs (meaning that you were grabbing 2nd gear almost immediately after moving off) and the brakes. I ran out of brakes a few times on track days, but there wasn’t many options back then to improve them.
Yeah for sure there's alot more aftermarket alternatives around now. My initial complaints about the brakes at Donington were down to the pads used (I think).The thread is a little behind in time to how the car sits now, so my apologies if it comes across odd with my brains ability to flip between then and now effectively.
As I've mentioned previously, I purchased the car with a number of modifications already fitted to it - performance wise, that included some exhaust fettlings, a Pro Alloy intercooler, and an ITG induction kit. The sales advert stated that the car had an unknown remap on it to the tune of 330bhp and 350lb/ft (on a standard turbo, that's rather optimistic).
I booked in to my tuner of choice, Chris at EFI, primarily to see if the car was running safe after noting a few puffs of fuel out of the exhaust at Donington the previous month. The good news is that it was safe, but down a little on the previous quoted figures at 298bhp and 320lb/ft.
A number of friends and quite honestly, most of the Renault scene use Chris, so I thought it best to get the car mapped with him. A comparison between the old (black) and new (red) dyno results. The boost command previously being much lower down in the rev range which meant that the turbo was running out of steam a little quicker towards the limiter. Chris did mention that the boost target was actually higher than the turbo would ever hope to achieve, so reigned it in a little and sprinkled a bit of additional timing in the mid-range.
As I've mentioned previously, I purchased the car with a number of modifications already fitted to it - performance wise, that included some exhaust fettlings, a Pro Alloy intercooler, and an ITG induction kit. The sales advert stated that the car had an unknown remap on it to the tune of 330bhp and 350lb/ft (on a standard turbo, that's rather optimistic).
I booked in to my tuner of choice, Chris at EFI, primarily to see if the car was running safe after noting a few puffs of fuel out of the exhaust at Donington the previous month. The good news is that it was safe, but down a little on the previous quoted figures at 298bhp and 320lb/ft.
A number of friends and quite honestly, most of the Renault scene use Chris, so I thought it best to get the car mapped with him. A comparison between the old (black) and new (red) dyno results. The boost command previously being much lower down in the rev range which meant that the turbo was running out of steam a little quicker towards the limiter. Chris did mention that the boost target was actually higher than the turbo would ever hope to achieve, so reigned it in a little and sprinkled a bit of additional timing in the mid-range.
My old 250 Cup was mapped by Chris. I had a decat, wagner FMIC, custom intake and it made 313bhp/350ft lbs. I was really happy with how it drove.
Have you solved the brake issue yet? Standard 4 pots are decent, I just ran a plain brembo disc with Carbon Lorraine pads (CL5's IIRC), along with decent fluid and they were incredible.
I still look at these and wonder if I should get another, nothing around the budget compares IMO.
Have you solved the brake issue yet? Standard 4 pots are decent, I just ran a plain brembo disc with Carbon Lorraine pads (CL5's IIRC), along with decent fluid and they were incredible.
I still look at these and wonder if I should get another, nothing around the budget compares IMO.
M.F.D said:
Have you solved the brake issue yet? Standard 4 pots are decent, I just ran a plain brembo disc with Carbon Lorraine pads (CL5's IIRC), along with decent fluid and they were incredible.
I still look at these and wonder if I should get another, nothing around the budget compares IMO.
I have indeed! (I just haven't got that far along in the story yet). I ended up going for Winmax W5's in the front.I still look at these and wonder if I should get another, nothing around the budget compares IMO.
Completely agree with you. I feel like they're the middle ground between a small cheap n/a hatchback, and something from the M division - which in itself brings a whole new meaning to maintenance, modification, and running costs.
Rowe said:
I have indeed! (I just haven't got that far along in the story yet). I ended up going for Winmax W5's in the front.
Completely agree with you. I feel like they're the middle ground between a small cheap n/a hatchback, and something from the M division - which in itself brings a whole new meaning to maintenance, modification, and running costs.
Winmax is a decent choice, look forwards to reading updates.Completely agree with you. I feel like they're the middle ground between a small cheap n/a hatchback, and something from the M division - which in itself brings a whole new meaning to maintenance, modification, and running costs.
Yep, they really are in a class of their own. Natural progression from these appears to be MK3 Megane - M2/M3 - Porsche GT cars.
As I've said previously, when I originally bought the car it was beyond my budget. I was hoping to just jump in and not have to do any work on it.
We’ve seen from the engine oil previously that it’s maybe not had the best of maintenance of recent. With that in mind, what originally started out as me needing 2 new driveshaft boots, has ended up with me replacing the driveshafts, discs, pads, callipers, and wheel studs (the old ones weren't secured with Loctite and this was the root cause of the knocking when on track at Donington).
I could have just put the old stuff back together but I really wanted to do things right ready for the upcoming trip to Germany.
The drivers side, I was greeted with the following:
Essentially all of the dust boots were shagged in the callipers and I was getting some uneven pad wear as the pads weren’t sliding nicely. I really didn’t get on with the Pagid RSL29 pads at Donington, so this provided the perfect excuse for an upgrade.
Callipers, it's only £460 quid for a new pair, meaning there wasn't much of a price differential between the price of new and refurbished units.
The job complete and some braided rear lines and Bluestuff pads for good measure
We’ve seen from the engine oil previously that it’s maybe not had the best of maintenance of recent. With that in mind, what originally started out as me needing 2 new driveshaft boots, has ended up with me replacing the driveshafts, discs, pads, callipers, and wheel studs (the old ones weren't secured with Loctite and this was the root cause of the knocking when on track at Donington).
I could have just put the old stuff back together but I really wanted to do things right ready for the upcoming trip to Germany.
The drivers side, I was greeted with the following:
Essentially all of the dust boots were shagged in the callipers and I was getting some uneven pad wear as the pads weren’t sliding nicely. I really didn’t get on with the Pagid RSL29 pads at Donington, so this provided the perfect excuse for an upgrade.
Callipers, it's only £460 quid for a new pair, meaning there wasn't much of a price differential between the price of new and refurbished units.
The job complete and some braided rear lines and Bluestuff pads for good measure
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