Dave's super clean trackday machine

it was done by royal steering wheels chris

http://royalsteeringwheels.com/

 

thanks angel. cant argue esp for what he charged. not the easiest bumper to remove either!

 

cheers tobe. think im going to take your advice and get some gloves for the track now so i dont wear it out!

 

going to give a mop next weekend as i wanted to make sure its rock solid first. if i get it clear wrapped i want it as best i can get it!

give it a wax this weekend.

 

haha cat D? think your getting mixed up with another megane on here. mines de-cat not cat D

 

Performance french car expo

took the car to Donington park this weekend for the Performance french car show. the car was in the top 20 show area (thanks again to all who voted for the car to help me make the cut) so i sent a few evenings after work preping the car for the show mainly to remove the swirls from the paint as the ultra red paint seems to scratch even with the lightest of touches and generally make to look as glossy as i could.

heres a few pictures before polishing





although easy to mark the paint takes quite a strong pad and polish combo and a long working time to get the swirls and scratches out. scholl S3 and a purple scholl pad left these results










BEFORE



AFTER







boot lid before and after





where the rear bumper meets the boot lid...









the car was then finished with britemax blackmax on a softer pad before waxing with auto finesse essence.









we headed down to the show the night before to get the car onto its slicks and into its spot in the arena. we hit some thunder storms on the way down but thankfully the car remained fairly clean allowing just a quick wipe over without inflicting to much damage back into the paint. a bit of tyre shine on the slicks and the car was set up.















the car was sat very low at the rear due to the weight of the wheels inside the car. i'd decided on putting the pictures under the bonnet to show the car isnt just a garage queen but that it also gets plenty of hard use on track. im certainly glad i machined the car before the show as the lights in the arena showed off every defect no matter how small. it was great to see people approaching the car and pointing out the slicks and trying to flex my glass rear windows. from the people i spoke to they all seemed impressed with the cars looks and presentation.

also had a good chat to jake honour and shaun from jade developments about a few potential mods to further focus the car on track and spent some time sat behind the wheel of there clio cup racer whist talking to jake.

thanks to all who voted for the car and hope you all enjoyed the show. special thanks to steve who rang me to let me know the alarm had gone off after id wandered over to the circuit!

Dave

 

Thanks steve. Were at blyton on the 26th which will probably be my last outing this year. Post up in the trackday section though next time your on circuit and will try to book on if funds etc allow

Dave

 

Haha thanks Paul

 

Thanks mate. Ive always been in 2 minds about fitting the R spoiler. Spme days I think they look great then im not so sure.

 

Thanks will.

 

Think some people just get the R mixed up with the R26. Mines covered top to bottom in finger prints after show but with people looking round its to be expected I guess.

saw loads of people messing around outside. Tossers who give genuine enthusiastic people a bad name.

 

yeah that will probably will have been mine Paul.



the wheels were originally gold and it had VXR recaros in

as for comparing the fiesta to the megane its the megane thats impressed more on track thanks to a much better chassis making it more adjustable and much more grip. the extra torque also makes it far easier to pass on circuits with longer straights.

we'll definitely have to arrange a trackday next year. im hoping to do a few tracks ive not done before including rockingham if the dates fall right for me and will be sure to post it up on here.

thanks for noticing how clean it was even on a trackday

Dave

 

thanks brigsy

the slicks world great once there warm. if anything these are a bit wide for my 8.5J wheels at 240. i think i'll have better grip still with a tighter fitting 235 slicks once these are ruined but they are holding up well so far

 

headed to blyton park again for one more trackday before the winter weather really starts to set in. there were a few of us with a mix of renault sports including some 182's and tubes in his black R26 on the cars first trackday. the idea was to do blyton again so i could further learn driving on slicks on a circuit with good flat run off and its also less daunting for other who had little or no experience driving on track.

thankfully the weather held up so i was able to get the slicks on before the sighting laps and keep them on until i ran out of juice in the afternoon. with lots of traffic it took a while to get any proper heat into the tyres and the colder temperature and track temp made it harder still but by mid morning i was getting enough clear track (between constant red flags) to get some real heat and therefor use the slicks to there full potential.







note how much Tubes dad enjoyed his passenger laps















as you can see in a few of the pictures the 2 wheels on the inside appear to be both half way off the ground under hard cornering. i had the BC's set to 15 front and rear then firmed up to 20 front and rear once the tyres were warm which seemed like a good compromise between grip and feel.

one thing i struggled with was the retrimmed clio wheel when i had gloves on as its almost to thick to get a proper grip on which is swaying me towards the thinner, smaller wheel from the clio cup cars which felt perfect when i sat in one at performance french car but i'll see how the idea of no cruise control sits with me before i do anything.

thanks for reading

Dave

 

Thanks david. I'll have to look into that and see what I can find out.

 

It certainly was good fub twig! Well spotted still. With lower track temps it was a fine balance between going quick enough to get them warm and not over driving and upsetting the colder rubber. I did have a small tale out moment but nothing to serious!

Dave