Not Normal Dan's R26 F1

You a local lad?

 

I'm actually from Church Gresley in South Derbyshire but my friend and his farther in law own and run Centre of Gravity, I spend a lot of my time in the Birmingham area though

 

So I got sick of the standard Renault head unit and lack of connectivity so I took a trip over to bass junkies, a local audio shop in Derby

I originally set me budget at around 200 all in with any looms and facias needed

Soon as I got in there one unit caught my eye due to the display and fact you could change the illumination and display colours.

It was the pioneer DEH-X9600BT, it retailed in at 240 and 285 with all the fitting kit but I had to have it.



So I returned home happy as a pig in shit, it does everything I could ever want.

Bluetooth connectivity
Two USB outputs
Hands free phone operation
Works with OE controls and much much more.

So I set to work fitting it, only took a few pics but made a tidy job.

Removed the head unit and storage tray and the glovebox so I could route the USB

Drill hole in the glovebox for USB and fitted a nice grommit







And one all fitted and tested

 

I was gonna go down the double din screen route but I felt I wouldn't make the most of the features and couldn't warrant the extra out lay

 

So had a parcel today, nothing overly exciting just some service bits from Adam at Renault Wolverhampton



Spark Plugs
Oil
Oil filter
Pollen Filter

Also ordered some ferodo DS1.11 front pads from G172 of Cliosport.net, he comes highly recommended and really competitive.

Also popped up to see Dom at

shopnshine.co.uk

for some more detailing supplies, this guy is really competitive and doesn't try to sell you the most expensive products on the shelf. Also full of good advice when it comes to cleaning your motor

Anyway got back and thought I would give it a scrub, here's my method

Jet wash pre rinse
Valet Pro snow foam
Two bucket wash using megs gold class
Valet pro iron out
Valet pro de tar
Autobrite cherry gloss polish
Autobrite project 32 paint seal
Megs tyre gel
Autoglym wheel seal
Megs clear vue glass cleaner

Here's the result





Also sent the v5 off to the dvla to put my private reg on at last

 

80 quid and a couple of pence delivered mate, ordered Monday here Tuesday! Can't get better then that mate

 

Well the pads turned up today, excellent service only ordered them yesterday dinner time



Hopefully get them fitted over the next few days along with the Mr Pink pins and strip and clean of the rear brakes

Had a spare 20 minutes so swapped the plugs just got to change the oil and filter tomorrow

 

Well progress been a little slow, been getting ready for me holidays and new job at work coupled with loads of work on other peoples cars but I have a small update



Well progress been a little slow, been getting ready for me holidays and new job at work coupled with loads of work on other peoples cars but I have a small update







Finally got me paperwork off the DVLA to put me reg on the car, now it feels like me own haha

Also just booked me first proper open pit lane track day at Donnington Park in October. Really looking forward to it hopefully I can make some good improvements with me driving style and highlight areas of improvement for the meg

 

No mate I'm from Swadlincote in Derbyshire but not a million miles away from Nottingham and sometimes go there (usually for hooters lol)

It's the 26th of October open pit lane with javelin

 

So today I decided seeing as I finally had a bit of spare time I'd fit the bits that were gathering dust behind the sofa.

These were

Ferodo DS1.11 race front pads
Me Pink brake pins
And oil and filter

First things first I thought I'd crack on with the brakes. Now I've fell victim to these w**k pins before on a few 197's which resulting in me angle grinder coming out but I knew these hadn't been done that long before I bought the car.

So I did the passenger side first and a good whack on each pin and they shot out! Then I removed the pads and gave the calipers a good clean

Old pins out





New DS 1.11 (actually awesome)



New pins courtesy of Mr Pink



I fitted up the brakes and moved onto changing the oil so I drained the oil and removed the filter, got all me bits from Adam at Wolverhampton Renault





I then carried out a spanner check underneath in preparation for it's first track day at Donnington Park next month

 

So far there epic, I bedded them in as ferodo stated but still taking it easy but even at half pedal pressure I can't believe how quick they scrub off speed, it's night and day!

It's October the 26th mate, it's a Sunday. I've rented a pit garage to so even if weather turns lousy we'll have shelter

 

Sweet, be good to put a name to the face

More then welcome Kieran, Helen will be there so more then welcome to drag Laura along

 

Haha Helen has come to understand now that 8/10 days out are car/Motorsport based lol

 

So I took a trip upto PFC expo yesterday, rude not as it was only up the road at Donnington and I had a slot on the cliosport.net stand.

Now I've been pondering over exhaust options for the megane for a while purely for decibel and performance levels as I intend to do a few track days a year at least in it.

Now I got wind that scorpion were producing a new system for the 225/r26 and I was rather intrigued as always found there stuff of decent quality and there fairly local.

Now lone behold scorpion had a stand but couldn't sell one direct to myself and Whybee are the main distributor and have some sort of rights but luckily they were there too!

So I popped over to those guys and the inevitable happened and I walked away with a 3 inch turbo back with decat system for the steal of 420 instead of 645!

It won't be fitted just yet as I intend to do it all when I fit new solid flywheel and r26r clutch and do my suspension and steering refresh as I know the downpipes can be tricky



And there it is in its new location, the hall way haha

 

Will do mate, if it's anything like the car they had on the stand it was surprisingly quiet just the odd pop and crackle and whoosh!

 

There the pipes I've had, the stainless inwardly rolled but they do do titanium cut ones but the pipes are interchangeable

 

So Sunday was the day of reckoning for me and the megane! Was our first proper open pit lab track day at Donnington Park!

I booked this back in July, bit of an impulse but boy am I glad I did! Only question I have is why didn't I do this sooner!

So a bit about the day, got there around 7 o'clock to find my reserved garage and unloaded the car of tools and various spares and fluids.

Pit garage shot



To say I was a little nervous was an understatement. My biggest worry was how would I cope out on track with more experienced drivers and how would the car put up?

So I signed on and carried out a few basic checks on the car and torqued up the wheels.

Then the missus arrived and we attended the briefing, which put a lot of my concerns at rest and answered a few questions.

Then it was time for our sighting laps, of which there was 3 off to get a feel for the track.

Then got back to the pits and that was it, open pit lane session started. So after taking a bit of advice I gave it 15 minutes or so before I headed out.

So first lap thoughts, fucking awesome! Took it steady to get a feel for the car but soon got into a momentum and started really enjoying myself!

Mine and the missus track que selfie haha



So a few friends turned up to take pics, offer advice and Pete my pal who works for centre of gravity brought along some nice intercomp pressure and temp gear for the tyres to set the tyres so I got the most out of them

Pete setting tyres after some fast laps



And some pics from the day
























Missus taking part in some photo bombing!









All in all was a great day and I can truly say I've got the bug!

I would like to make some changes to the car in form of coilovers as I really think it could benefit from being stiffer and the adjustability and some nice ns2r tyres.

Had a great day though and the main thing is the car took it all in its stride and came home in one piece!

The closing shot!

 

I've definitely got the bug now, like I say there's a few upgrades I'd like to do before next spring that'll hopefully improve the car ten fold but even in standard form it was rather impressive.

Caldwell looks great, I've heard some folk call it the "mini ring!" It's certainly one I want to drive

 

Yeah that was one thing the missus did complain about how much she got thrown around.

I am tbh looking at fixed buckets as the car is predominantly a toy and we have a 1 series m sport diesel for the miles

 

What the NS2-R track tyre?



The one that seems to be taking the track day market by storm and comes in 2 different compounds?

 

So what do you suggest and don't say R888's lol

Thing is the car has still got to remain road legal.

In terms of suspension setup though I'll be working to conjunction with centre of gravity who are very well respected in Porsche scene and Motorsport in general