Trophy #40 Crash

[480bhp.com]

It's not what your thinking [-X [-X [-X

A Crash Diet.........

Seeing as it's only a track car (still drives to the tracks though) i decided that anything that could be removed was removed, i suppose i should have posted a pic, but the garage is full so most of the panels ete are just hanging around loose in the car at the moment.

So what's gone;
starting at the front and working backwards

dash, yep the whole lot top bottom and steel frame (i'll come back to this in a minute)
radio switches etc
front carpet (that's quite heavy with the rubber back)
front foam (don't see the point of this in the 1st place, other than noise reduction)
front seats and runners
all front plastics (doorcards, a pillar, sills the lot)
Rear carpet ( filmsy as hell, a real waste of space)
rear seats (they were actually took out within a day of buying the car in January)
rear plastics etc

To be honest there's quite a pile, but nothing is really that heavy, if anything the front rubber backed carpet was the heaviest single item other than the seats.

Does anyone know where i can buy a fibreglass clio dash (if such thing exists) either that or i'll make a small dash pod out of Cf when i get a minute.

Now for the purists :wink:

don't worry that i've destoryed the interior of my Trophy and it's no longer a true Trophy in your eyes anymore, just think "it's one less in competition when you come to sell yours" so everyones trophy has just increased in value by approx £3.58

Btw, mine hasn't lost £3.58 because i found about £6 under the carpet while i was stripping it, and none of the money was mine to start with

Got plans for the little car over the winter, would have liked to get started now but with 7 trackdays booked and paid for between now and september it doesn't leave much time to carry them out.

Chris

 

[hoolio]

Well I know some will be mumbling into their beards but i've been thinking about this since you mentioned it and well i'm quite interested in the results and TBH it was going to happen at some point, though i'm still not sure about replacing the front dampers. Are you going to be doing any of the stuff that will really make a difference to the weight, removing ac and heater?
Saw Luke at the weekend whos just had the Mark fish springs and adjustable Konis fitted om the rear, i didn't have a ride but from what i saw following him it was certainly scooting around the corners very flat, did you speak to Mark in the end?

GET SOME PICS UP!

 

[480bhp.com]

Hi J,

Someone on Cs said he was away trackside at the end of last week so i've got give him a call tomorrow. I'm not sure about the dampers, i can't make my mind up, while Sachs are very good at what they do, they've possibly produced a compromising damper, at the end of the day there briefing from renault wasn't too produce an out and out track damper, but something which was capable in all senarios, so it may be that they could be bettered, but until i've un pinned them and given them a go, i'll keep them, and give the MF springs a go. Once the springs turn up, i'll be slotting the top damper hole even more and going from 1.45' to 2.30' negative camber on the front, i recently fitted the rear shims too so the rear is now -2 degrees both sides.
Spoke to Custom cages today too, about a full welded in cage, but there timetable clashes with my next 3 trackdays so it looks like the msv 1/2 cage will have to go back in for now.
Part of the plan involves removing the renault electrics, i've wired up from scratch over 20 kitcars so this isn't something i'm scared of, at the moment though i'm just searching out the best ecu with the least hassle to get running right.
Then i'll probably fit a few spa gauges (the best in my eyes :wink: ) to monitor oil p and t and water t plus rpm and speed.
as result of this the a/c will be going and the heater setup will see a redesign.

The main outcome will be lower weight and reliable electrics.

I'll keep a log on here or 480bhp.com once i get going later in the year :wink:

Chris

 

[480bhp.com]

One more thing, I work run my own business in the material handling trade, and as a result i've got a demo weighscale pallet truck, it's been used to weigh every car i've built over the past 5 years, and the clio will be no different, so by the weekend i'll have weighed it (nearest kilo upto 2 ton +/- 0.5% )

anyone care to guess the weight, theres about 4 gallon of fuel in too.

Chris

 

[hoolio]

And the prize?

xxxx seems to ring a bell but it could be wildly out

It was, i know now so i won't guess but like everything else reno it's probably an exageration of the truth.

 

[480bhp.com]

A prize #-o

Ok then that's easy, if anyone get's it bang right to the kilo, they're more than welcome to come and collect any of the parts i've removed which i haven't sold before they get here :wink:

Chris

 

[duffer987]

Apart from the dash... it all seems standard stuff and what most people wanting a dedicated, dry there and back, trackcar would do. Do you notice any difference in it, without all the carpet, foam, cardboard and old newspapers?

 

[BenG]

So your not keeping the seats or the dampers ? all thats left to resemble a Trophy is the red paint !

Im guessing the new weight to be 1026KG w/fuel ?

Ill take the seats.

 

[Luke335]

Interesting project. I look forward to hearing how it goes.

I'm very happy with my Mark Fish suspension setup, but I'm doing 500 miles a week at the moment and about 1 trackday a year . It's definately still a road car in my opinion ( and a good one ). I think you'll need to talk to Mark about sorting some stiffer springs for a dedicated track car.

By the way, which tyres are you running?

 

[480bhp.com]

So your not keeping the seats or the dampers ? all thats left to resemble a Trophy is the red paint !

Im guessing the new weight to be 1026KG w/fuel ?

Ill take the seats.

No Ben i'm keeping the dampers :wink: for now, maybe for good.
as for the seats they've already sold, but if the deal falls through i'll let you know along with the others who've shown interest.

There's more than just the red paint left, there's the little grey trophy stickers too :lol: :lol:

As for the tyres Luke, i run either slicks or r888's in the dry and just use the pe2's if it's wet, there the same tyres/wheels i drive to the trackday on.

Regarding the springs until i've spoken to MF tomorrow i'll have to wait and see.

 

[Luke335]

OK thanks Chris.

I'll go for 1042kg without seats and cage. I'm guessing it weighs more than quoted as standard.

 

[keith185]

Any pics? ;-)

Are you going to remove the air con, that would save you quite a bit of weight? 172 cup setup ;-)

 

[BenG]

I know this may seem the obvious question but why didnt you buy a 172 cup to begin with ?

 

[480bhp.com]

I know this may seem the obvious question but why didnt you buy a 172 cup to begin with ?

Yeah Keith the aircon will go, if it gets hot i'll send the window down :wink:

Ben it's a question i was asked when i 1st bought the trophy, but seeing as the trophy at some point in it's life had been a cat d i only paid 182 money for it £5600 to be precise. all the repairs had been done to decent standard and using all new renault parts, for which i have all the receipts. But one of the main reasons for buying this car was that i was looking for a low mileage car, this one had only done 25k. There's no real reason why i should/shouldn't have bought any other clio, i just set myself a budget for the car (mods are another thing) and stuck too it, i think for the money i didn't do too bad all things considered. Originally i wasn't going to change too much and the trophy was a better trackcar unmodified than a 172/182 on standard dampers etc.

But now i've decided i'll change all the things renault didn't care too much about, which is mainly the electrics, it's one of those things on a track car i hate to have problems with, a simple fault could end your day and the clio's electrics are too cheap to be reliable.

Once i've got rid of the airbags/abs/esp/emmisions/air con/wiring etc the car will be back to basics, an engine and a few lights, no reasons for anything to go wrong or the ecu to get in flap because it's not seeing the values it wants. At the moment i'm just waiting for Dave Walker to get back to me about the Emerald k3 ecu

Cost doesn't worry me, and no matter what you do you never really see your money back again, but i'm used to it, i've probably spent between 5-10k a year for past 5 years on kitcars and i've only really got back about 23k of that.
I don't smoke, drink only occasionally and i'm past the boy racer stage (33 now) for me it's more about how things work and getting them to work right, than all out power and go faster juke boxes. each to there own and all that.

Still i'm working in North wales tomorrow so no doubt i'll pop in at Demon tweeks on the way back and pick a cobra pro evolution seat, only 1 though, passengers can sit on the floor and hold on :lol: :lol:

Just realised i don't half go on a bit :wink:

Chris

 

[keith185]

I know this may seem the obvious question but why didnt you buy a 172 cup to begin with ?

Yeah Keith the aircon will go, if it gets hot i'll send the window down :wink:

Exactly my thinking, keep me posted on the progress.

 

[shiftspark]

1014kg

 

[Cue]

before or after a cage is fitted? Minus the seats etc?

I'd say 1070kg with the fuel, cage and a driver.

 

[shiftspark]

before or after a cage is fitted? Minus the seats etc?

I'd say 1070kg with the fuel, cage and a driver.

Thats unfair I've never seen him he may only be a little fellow or a portly chap ha ha...

 

[Cue]

the dry weight was 1090kg iirc, i doubt if the parts currently removed come to anything over 80kg - not sure thinking about it ... would it be weighed with a seat in it?

 

[keith185]

Taken from http://www.readyforthetrack.co.uk

Clio 182 Trophy (Standard)

Axle weights:
Front 742.5kg,
Rear 420kg
(With a 77.5kg Driver)


Front Left: 365kg
Front Right: 377.5kg
Rear Left: 195kg
Rear Right: 205kg