Well after too many part trackdays and so many engine removals time finally came to call it the end of the day for my Inferno 225, the final straw was yet another turbo failure at Snetterton. While getting it recovered back home the decision was made to give a mk3 a go, the following day a trip into Cornwall to look at two 265's, a yellow non cup and a black 265 cup 8 miles further up the road, the yellow one was nice, but not a cup and at £14K bit too much for what would be a track based car, i don't need it as a daily i have a Grand Espace for that and A SL55 for the good weather trips out. I saw the car in the show room (well sort of show room) the outside was in very good condition, the inside was even better, the only things i could see wrong was the radio button is quite worn and the stitching on the steering wheel , this is probably to do with the country roads in Cornwall, no motorways down this way it's all corners very few long straights. The deal was done there and then, full Dealer service history and i mean full, previous owner even went to Renault to have the tyres changed, there was an advisory for a ball joint, so they agreed to sort this out, two days later and they cant find any play, so okay it's ready to collect when ever you want. 65 mile drive into Cornwall with a bag full of notes. Drove the car home (first drive) felt tight and no abnormal bangs crashes or knocks or such like. Parked the car outside my workshop and there it stayed for two weeks, (apart from getting a brake fluid flush and refill with RBF660), for the first of it's many trackdays to come, first was Donington, totally standard car, i did buy a set of 18 inch cup wheels and a set of 595's just for the track, also bought a set of Performance friction Z rated pads as they worked very well on the 225 with the mk3 brakes, was going to change them at Donington, but the pins were seized, so standard pads then, ohhh they don't work do they. Had a great day learning the car on or near the limits, i'm starting to like this car. A couple of days later was Anglesey, so to get these new pads in was a must, while it was apart i decided to put my plain disc's on, new pins and pads ready for Anglesey. The morning was wet so decided to give the fitted tyres a go, there Goodyear Asymmetric 3's, thought they were very good in the wet but as the track was drying they were getting a bit drifty, so onto the car goes the 595's. Had a couple of big slides and a spin, so i found the limits.
So after Anglesey, i had a good few weeks to do some upgrades, first was a phone call to Charlie @cgrautomotive , talked through the options and ended up ordering a set of BC's coilovers, had them on my 225, but this time going to get them properly set up, corner weighted, cambered front and rear the whole package. So i'm travelling up to Sheffield, might as well give GSM a call to pop in to look at some new seats, i now know why you have to book at GSM, you are the only customer there, plenty of room to look around test one seat after another without tripping over anyone else, one to one service, perfect and there wasn't any hard sell in the slightest. I made a choice after about 90 minutes, printed off a price as a quote and left to think about it. Drive up to CGR, met the guys, as they were just finishing off another job had a cuppa, walk around and a chat. My car was then moved into the workshop and work started. Charlie very kindly dropped me off at my hotel later in the day. Had to be out of the hotel by 10am so took a stroll back to CGR, nice 2 mile walk. All done and dusted by 4pm, packed the car back up and then a steady drive down to Thruxton, booked on with Casper the following day, well i had to try out the suspension didn't I, ohhh my god what a difference, car is so planted now, couldn't get it to step the back out at all, no amount of mid corner braking, lift off mid corner wouldn't upset it, ohh and i tried, we had a great day nothing overtook us all day apart from an Atom. This was going to be the do or die for this car, if with the suspension changes i didn't like it or get on with it, it was going to go, pleased to say it's staying.
That looks amazing! Very interested to see your suspension setup, was truely impressed by it when we had a lap in your old car last year at the ring.
Cheers Jamie Well so much was done to the mk2 that starting off back to square one was going to be disappointing, plus i wasn't really sure if i was going to get on with it, seen so many loose the rear end on the mk3 it sort of scared me a bit, the mk2 was so good at the limit and beyond, lost the rear 3 times big times at Angylesey, so thought get some coilovers on it and go from there, as you can gather it's now staying
Very welcome mate for another passenger lap if you ever get over this way, want to get to the ring again next year so will message you for a meet up
So it didn't stop there I also bought a 3 inch cat back Miltec non res exhaust, it was quite embarrassing at Thruxton, the static noise test with a standard exhaust was 78db , still got the cat fitted at the moment, the de-cat pipe is about the only thing that i have kept from the Mk2, nothing else fits. Also fitted an Airtec stage 1 intercooler, for just in case i pass EFI .
Cheers guys Just got two more track days this year booked, so i am going to call it for this year after them. I need to do the short shift mod and the gearbox mount over the dark and wet winter nights, Will also sort out the cat as well. Don't think there will be much left to do apart from enjoying it
