sjparker
ClioTrophy Club Member
Hello Folks,
Aug 2012, at 23 years old, is when I first owned a Clio Trophy, specifically number #196:
Seven months later, I sold the Trophy on 61,000 miles for £5,250 due to being offered a company car and still being early on in my career, I couldn’t justify keeping both. The car was absolutely immaculate and I regretted selling it immediately, but I was equally delighted to see that #196 went on to be a fairly famous and well-maintained car, even into its high-mileage years.
I’ve had many motors since, and have been lucky enough to own some of my bucket-list cars but it has to be said, I’ve never had the exact same feeling as I had owning the Trophy. It’s difficult to understand exactly why as objectively, I’ve owned better/faster cars but there is something special about that little Trophy - and I’ve always wanted to own one again.
I’m fortunate enough to currently be driving a first-generation Audi R8 V10+. Spec includes Audi exclusive interior w/ wingbacks & carbon fibre/alcantara, carbon ceramics, aftermarket Larini exhaust and running roughly around 550Bhp:
You can watch Misha Charoudin take my R8 around the Nurburgring Nordschleife and do 140mph+ in torrential rain. What an experience that was.
I’ve been considering getting a second car for a while in order to reduce unnecessary miles on the R8, which at some point, I will sell because it’s a lot of capital to have tied up in a depreciating asset. When that time comes, I still want to have something that is fairly economical and that I could still enjoy on a b-road/the odd trackday. After fighting heart vs head, I rejected getting something very sensible (and boring) in favour of buying another Trophy to re-live my nostalgia.
Almost serendipitously, a Trophy with two previous owners and 47,000 on the clock popped up on Autotrader one morning. I called up and put a deposit down, and collected last weekend:
It might sound strange that although I’d done some research on the car, it didn’t occur to me until 1 am the night before collecting the car that it was number #197 of 500. I was about to own the consecutive numbered Clio Trophy to the one I'd owned in 2012! I’d be interested to know if anybody else has been able to do similar. I’m sure the chances are slim, but hey-ho, clearly some things are meant to be!
I drove it home whilst having the England v Spain Euro Final on in the background, and even the disappointment of the loss couldn’t remove the smile of being back in a Trophy after many years.
Overall, the car is in great condition but needs the odd bit of work to restore, which I will undertake. Although relatively low mileage, it won’t be a garage queen. I plan to restore fully, enjoy driving and add a few choice upgrades here and there.
It’s booked into Rentech next week to be fully checked and have a few niggles sorted to ensure it’s A+.
I’ll keep this thread up to date with the progress on the car.
Thanks for reading!
Aug 2012, at 23 years old, is when I first owned a Clio Trophy, specifically number #196:
Seven months later, I sold the Trophy on 61,000 miles for £5,250 due to being offered a company car and still being early on in my career, I couldn’t justify keeping both. The car was absolutely immaculate and I regretted selling it immediately, but I was equally delighted to see that #196 went on to be a fairly famous and well-maintained car, even into its high-mileage years.
I’ve had many motors since, and have been lucky enough to own some of my bucket-list cars but it has to be said, I’ve never had the exact same feeling as I had owning the Trophy. It’s difficult to understand exactly why as objectively, I’ve owned better/faster cars but there is something special about that little Trophy - and I’ve always wanted to own one again.
I’m fortunate enough to currently be driving a first-generation Audi R8 V10+. Spec includes Audi exclusive interior w/ wingbacks & carbon fibre/alcantara, carbon ceramics, aftermarket Larini exhaust and running roughly around 550Bhp:
You can watch Misha Charoudin take my R8 around the Nurburgring Nordschleife and do 140mph+ in torrential rain. What an experience that was.
I’ve been considering getting a second car for a while in order to reduce unnecessary miles on the R8, which at some point, I will sell because it’s a lot of capital to have tied up in a depreciating asset. When that time comes, I still want to have something that is fairly economical and that I could still enjoy on a b-road/the odd trackday. After fighting heart vs head, I rejected getting something very sensible (and boring) in favour of buying another Trophy to re-live my nostalgia.
Almost serendipitously, a Trophy with two previous owners and 47,000 on the clock popped up on Autotrader one morning. I called up and put a deposit down, and collected last weekend:
It might sound strange that although I’d done some research on the car, it didn’t occur to me until 1 am the night before collecting the car that it was number #197 of 500. I was about to own the consecutive numbered Clio Trophy to the one I'd owned in 2012! I’d be interested to know if anybody else has been able to do similar. I’m sure the chances are slim, but hey-ho, clearly some things are meant to be!
I drove it home whilst having the England v Spain Euro Final on in the background, and even the disappointment of the loss couldn’t remove the smile of being back in a Trophy after many years.
Overall, the car is in great condition but needs the odd bit of work to restore, which I will undertake. Although relatively low mileage, it won’t be a garage queen. I plan to restore fully, enjoy driving and add a few choice upgrades here and there.
It’s booked into Rentech next week to be fully checked and have a few niggles sorted to ensure it’s A+.
I’ll keep this thread up to date with the progress on the car.
Thanks for reading!
