Here's a writeup of my Renaultsport Clio 182 trophy...
SharkyUK's RenaultSport Clio 182 Trophy
My RenaultSport Clio 182 Trophy is a limited editon model (with only 500 having been made) and the following images and narrative depict my ownership and experiences with this fantastic hot-hatch.
Service History and Maintenance
A few details of the Trophy's service history and maintenance/repairs carried out. This section will be updated over time as necessary.
Service History:
- 1409 miles - Oil change - 29/09/2005
- 11,466 miles - 12k service - 03/07/2006 (Renault)
- 24,000 miles - 24k service - date TBC (Renault)
- 36,352 miles - 36k service - 18/03/2008 (Renault)
- 41,720 miles - Oil change - 09/08/08 (Rob)
- 41,720 miles - MOT - 09/08/2008 (Rob)
- 47,000 miles - 48k service - 10/11/2008 (RenTech)
- 53,955 miles - Oil change - 26/08/2009 (Rob)
- 53,955 miles - MOT - 26/08/2009 (Rob)
- 61,923 miles - 60k service - 28/04/2010 (K-TEC Racing)
- 70,000 miles - MOT - 14/09/2010 (Rob)
- 72,600 miles - 72k service - 16/10/2010 (RenTech)
- 72,600+ (will be documented in future updates...)
For all services and oil changes I have only ever used Oil Silkolene Pro S 5W - 40. The Trophy also only gets fuelled with premium petrols such as Shell V-Power or Momentum 99.
Maintenance and Repairs:
January 2008 (Renault dealership)
- ECU bracket replaced (under warranty)
- Passenger Recaro seat bracket replaced (under warranty)
- Rear washer jet replaced (under warranty)
November 2008 (RenTech)
- Health and diagnostic check
- Broken fog light replaced
- Underside seal check/inspection
March 2009 (Rob)
- New boot lock
- New factory brake discs
September 2009 (Pro-Speed)
- New full stainless steel exhaust system with 100 cell sport cat (replacing stock system)
October 2009 (Rob)
- New front-nearside brake slider (to replace broken item)
- New OEM front brake pads
October 2009 Onwards
- Future work will be updated as part of ongoing project thread...
In The Beginning...
The Basic Car:
The car was initially registered on 27/08/2005 and I purchased it on 16/08/2007. As standard the car comes with:
- Cruise Control
- Air-conditioning
- Traction Control
- Fog Lights
Limited Edition Extras:
The car comes with a few extra limited edition 'niceties', including the all-important number!
Other notable extras include:
- Recaro half leather / half suede front seats
- Lightweight Anthracite Turini Speedline alloys
- Sachs Race Engineering Dampers
- RenaultSport Clio V6 255 roof spoiler
- Front splitter
- Capsicum Red paintwork
It was a friend who convinced me to purchase a RenaultSport Clio Trophy. I had always been interested in Japanese performance cars - and still am - but I was hearing good things about the Trophy. So, a very good example was found to be for sale in Malvern and I purchased and picked it up on the 16th August, 2007.
As mentioned, It was a very good and clean example with 24k miles on the clock. There were only a few minor problems that needed addressing (all of which could be easily resolved) - the windscreen was chipped, the alloys had some very light scuffing, the number plate was cracked and it was running a poorly installed aftermarket induction kit.
Here is the Trophy the day after I bought it:
The First Modifications:
The first round of modifications were simply to fix the issues I mention above. These were:
- New Windscreen
- Silvertec Indicators - front and rear
- New RenaultSport Trophy themed number plate
- Standard Induction kit re-fitted and the aftermarket item disposed of
Silvertec Indicators - front and rear
New RenaultSport Trophy themed number plate
September 2007
In September 2007 I changed the brakes. It was actually a group-buy on a Honda Civic Type-R forum but a deal was negotiated whereby I was able to purchase slightly different components (for the Trophy) but at a discounted price.
- CRN grooved brake discs
- EBC Red Stuff pads
- Goodridge braided lines (red, front & rear)
- Castrol DOT 5.1 fluid
The uprated lines and fluid were great but the discs and pads were average at best - both from cold and even when up to ideal operating temperatures. The net result was that I swapped these out in March 2008 and replaced them with:
- OEM discs
- Ferodo DS2500 pads (front & rear)
I was shocked at the state of the CRN discs and EBC pads when they came off. Considering they had not really been on the car long and had not been abused too much they were in pitiful condition; warped discs and split/disintegrating pads. You can see for yourself in the pictures below.
It's safe to say I was much happier with the OEM discs and Ferodo's!
Ferodo DS2500's front & rear
December 2007
So Christmas 2007 rolled around and, again, there were more gifts for the Trophy.
- Custom painted engine cover
- Custom made mats
- Custom made battery cover
- ClioSport red tax disc holder
- Personalised carbon fibre keyring
Custom painted engine cover
Custom made mats
Custom made battery cover
ClioSport red tax disc holder
Personalised carbon fibre keyring
April 2008
It may have been April but we weren't fooling around when it came to purchasing a set of brand new Turini Speedline alloys (and centre caps). Having agreed to buy them we started out on a 700 mile round trip to pick them up. Any excuse for a drive... To this day these new alloys remain completely wrapped and packaged up as my original Speedline's are still in pretty good shape.
Due to the loss of the front splitter (courtesy of a soft grassy verge on a tight country road) a new replacement item was bought, albeit made from carbon fibre. In my opinion this is much better than the stock item and sets the front end off nicely.
- Brand new Turini Speedline alloys
- Carbon fibre front splitter
New Turini Speedlines Alloys
Carbon Fibre Splitter
July 2008
In July 2008 I took the Trophy to PowerStation to obtain baseline performance figures whilst she was still in stock form. The idea was that, after the rolling road day, I would start looking to mildly modify the Trophy. Here are a couple of photos on the rollers.
For a stock Trophy I was quite happy with the result. I was even happier considering the fact that the car was due for a service at the time and it wasn't running too well on the day of the dyno. The dyno graph is shown below:
August 2008
August is also my birthday month and 2008's birthday saw more generous gifts for the Trophy.
- Chrome K-Tec front strut
- Carbon fibre rear strut
- Personalised number plate
The increased rigidity did not upset the Trophy's dynamics in any noticeable way and it still likes to c0ck it's leg up like an excited puppy that's about to take a pee! The quality and finish of the struts is top notch so they also look as good as they perform.
Chrome K-Tec front strut
Carbon fibre rear strut
Personalised number plate
November 2008
Despite only having been to PowerStation a few months prior, November 2008 saw me taking the Trophy back there for Rebel Motorsport Club's annual rolling road day. I wasn't expecting any results too different from the previous visit as I had not had any performance work carried out on the car. Below is a video of the Trophy on the rollers.
[video=youtube;-No4qaYgS18]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-No4qaYgS18[/video]
Here is the dyno graph from this second visit to PowerStation. Again, I was quite happy with the result for a stock car.
December 2008
It didn't seem long since last Christmas but Christmas 2008 was here already and Santa had yet more goodies for the Trophy.
- New engine cover nuts and bolts
- Samco coolant hose kit
- Samco induction hose kit
- Custom made battery cover (to replace the older, tarnished one)
- Meguiars G220 rotary polisher and detailing kit
Samco coolant hose kit
Samco induction hose kit
Custom made battery cover (to replace older, tarnished cover)
September 2009
I had to wait a while for this but good things come to those who wait... At the end of September my car was booked in with Charlie at Pro-Speed (Cardiff) for a new exhaust system. I knew the sound I wanted, the look I wanted and I knew that Charlie would deliver (based on his previous work and recommendations). However, things never quite go according to plan...
At the last minute I was called away to work in Germany and thus was unable to take the car into Pro-Speed myself. Fortunately a friend was available and kindly offered to help me out by taking/picking up the car on my behalf (thanks!) The first time I saw and heard the exhaust was when she came to pick me up from the airport only a few hours after it had been fitted. The sound was great and it looked great, too... even in the dark night sky.
The exhaust is a full stainless steel system with a 100-cell sports cat. It retains the dual exit pipes but has a 3.5" bore to better fill the holes. A slash cut finish perfectly aligns with the rear end of the car too, making for a system that looks as good as it sounds.
November 2009
Without a doubt the Trophy has been driving (and pulling) better than it has ever done before and I can only put that down to the new exhaust. Even better is the fact that it seems to be noticeable across pretty much the entire rev range... a fact that was clearly in evidence following our recent Rolling Road day at PowerStation. Below is a picture of my Trophy on the rollers followed by the dyno plot (the dyno plot is overlayed with runs from previous occasions):
As can be seen in the dyno plot above there has been a slight increase in performance with each visit to PowerStation. The stronger/bolder colour lines are indicative of the recent run whereas the faded lines show the plots from two previous visits.
Here is a video from a recent Club run we did. A few people had asked me what the exhaust sounded like (both inside and outside the car) so here's a video giving some idea of the in-cabin sound. When the weather improves I'll look to get some external video footage too... apologies as the sound quality isn't brilliant (it's a bit muffled!)
February 2010
Another item was bought for the Trophy and I braved the freezing weather to fit it earlier today. It's a new and improved footrest. Between you and me, this little addition adds approximately 25bhp in terms of additional power output. Sssh, don't tell everyone otherwise every man and his dog will be after one... Joking aside, this really sets the driver's footwell off nicely. The standard Renault item (i.e. a black rubber-topped footrest) didn't really cut it and looked a bit cheap. However, the addition of this new footrest remedies that and, as you can see, looks much better.
As well as the new footrest I fitted yesterday, I also bought a new stereo/headunit to replace the Alpine unit. It's a Kenwood system that is i-Pod, i-Phone and Bluetooth compatible. It also rather handily accepts USB devices so simply plug in a USB stick full of music tracks and away you go. I'm not really into big ICE installs and subs so this headunit should see me good for quite some time. As long as I can tune into my favourite radio stations, play MP3's and CD's, and plug in USB sticks - I'm happy. Now, where did I put my Duran Duran album?
I just need to read the instructions now to figure out how it works!
March 2010
March is already here and we had our first Club event of the year earlier this month; a rolling road day at GotBoost in Llandow (as asked for by many members in the Club). I wasn't expecting any spectacular results as I had made no modifications to the Trophy over the winter (largely due to spending most of it in Perth, Western Australia) but thought I'd throw it on the rollers all the same.
Sadly there were a few issues with the rollers on the day (calibration issues) but it wasn't too far out when it came to my time to roll. The dyno graphs are shown below. I'm not sure what was going on with the power delivery as it seems very 'lumpy' and the AFR seems all over the place. Still, I'm not complaining as it was a good day out - a chance to meet up with friends old and new and the car is driving great anyway!
As always, cameras were at the ready to grab a photo or two. We also improvised and used a bullet cam to capture some footage as we didn't have a video camera available on the day:
[video=youtube;YGzEO5dq8zg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGzEO5dq8zg[/video]
As I write this, the mileage has just crept over 60k so it's time I contacted Rentech to get it booked in and serviced. I've also got a few more minor updates coming over the next month or two (hopefully) all being well.
April 2010
April has been a bit of a busy month and there have been a few changes to the Trophy over the last few weeks. As with most things performance car related, it's not been too kind on the wallet... but I'm more than happy with the results I've seen from the various work that has gone on recently. Please read on to find out what's been going on recently with the T...
April is the month in which Castle Combe Circuit hold their annual Spring Performance Car Action Day and, as per usual, we had decided to have a Club stand for our members. Obviously I was looking to put my Trophy on display (and wanting it to look as good as possible) but there were a few things that needed addressing. Most notably, parts of the paintwork had started to oxidize very slightly and the red sheen had started to wash out and look more pink-ish. Additionally, there were also a few minor swirl marks that needed attention - although these weren't too bad as the Trophy (depsite being driven hard) does get lovingly looked after! Rather than have a got at cleaning and detailing the car myself I decided to enlist the help of a friend and Club member - James at Ti22 (
http://ti22.co.uk).
I booked the Trophy in with James for the day before the show (for a full correction detail) and planned to drop the car off the evening before that. And that's when things started to go wrong!
On the evening that I was to drop the car off with James, I pulled up outside his business premises and promptly kerbed my alloys...! I wasn't best impressed and the grinding sound of Turini meeting kerb was not a pleasant one. A quick inspection followed and the alloys, surprisingly, had a few chunks missing - along with a good few layers of lacquer and Anthracite Turini. Oops indeed. If there was to be some good news, it was the fact that there was a tyre and exhaust place a couple of streets down and the fact that I had a spare brand-new set of Turini's at home. The downside was that it was late and the garage was closed so I'd have to contact them in the morning and see if they could help me out. Leaving the Trophy with James I returned home for the night.
I loaded my new Turini's into the Fiesta (our runabout car) and got up early Friday morning to make my way to the tyre and exhaust place. (Thankfully I have a very understanding boss as I should have been in work that Friday morning...) I sat outside the garage and waited for the owner to arrive. When he did arrive I approached him and explained the situation. To be honest, I wasn't expecting a favourable reply but that's exactly what I got! He simply told me to bring around the alloys/tyres as and when I was ready and he'd swap them over to the new set for me. As a result of their help I was back in business - so I think the least I can do is a big shout-out and "thank you" to Beechwood Tyres and Exhausts (Newport, Gwent). Gareth, Dave and Owen - you're all legends! With the tyres and alloys now sorted, I had a bit of a chat with James and then made my way (late) into work. I was very much looking forward to picking up the car later that evening and seeing the results.
I wasn't disappointed when I made my way back to Ti22 that evening for the pick-up. Even under the dark evening sky, the Trophy looked better than ever before. It had a deeper glossy red shine and the Swissvax treatment had worked wonders. I really couldn't thank James enough. Even some of the faded plastics had come back quite nicely, too.
The Trophy looked great the next day at Castle Combe and the glorious weather made it even better. I was really impressed with James' work and would not hesitate to recommend him. His work is top-drawer and he's a real nice guy as well. With that I'd like to express my thanks to James (
http://ti22.co.uk). I'm sure those that saw the Trophy at Combe would agree that it looked pretty good (even if the stone chips adorning the front do give a little indication as to the real reason I bought this car!)
Around mid-April, I contacted K-TEC Racing with a view to having a few items of work carried out on the car (including a 60k mile service). I was very impressed with their quick response and friendly replies to my questions and queries and couldn't wait to get the Trophy down there. It was going to be a long two week wait...
Two weeks later I took the day off work and set off early to make the journey from Wales to Dorset. The weather was good but sadly the traffic wasn't and I soon found myself snared up in stop/start traffic - even at that exceptionally early hour. Thankfully I had allowed plenty of time for this and arrived at KTR in good time. I was greeted by Daryl and soon had a much needed coffee in my hand! Shortly after that, my car was taken into the workshop and I took the opportunity to relax a little as the work was being carried out... (I had planned on getting some photos if possible but my camera wasn't working; I think it was a dodgy lens connection).
So - what did I have done?
I had the air filter element replaced with an ITG performance element (I thought it was about time I got rid of the old one). I also had uprated engine mounts fitted, including the upper gearbox mount. I had started to notice a fair bit of 'movement' over previous months (and a greater loss of traction when accelerating hard) hence the reason to go with the uprated mounts.
Engine-wise, I also opted to have the CNC matched inlet work carried out. I'd been looking to have this done for a while and saw no point in waiting any longer! To accompany this the PTFE gasket kit was installed (cylinder head to lower manifold gasket and manifold to plenum gasket). With a bit of luck this will help keep the temperatures down a little and, in conjunction with the port matching, offer a mild performance increase and improved throttle response.
As already mentioned, I also had the 60k service carried out and had the uprated Powerflex polybush kit installed along with the uprated engine mounts. To cap it all off, I also took the opportunity to have KTR remap the car to make the best of my current modifications (in their new custom-built dyno cell). Being realistic I wasn't expecting too much in the way gains and was hoping more for an improvement in the throttle response (which I'll get onto shortly).
Below is the dyno readout showing the performance gain from the remap.
As can be seen in the graph above, I've got a nice little increase in both horsepower and torque across the rev range. The increase in torque (coupled with the improved throttle response) made for a grin-inducing drive back home to Wales! In a nutshell, the Trophy is now driving and pulling better than I've ever known it to. When I plant my foot it now instantly picks up and the traction is noticeably improved, too. The biggest surprise was the in-gear difference that the modifications have made; again with the pick-up and power delivery much more evident and welcome. The way in which the power is delivered is also smoother and a quick glance of the speedo suggests that it might be wise to pay more attention to it until I've become more akin to the different feel that the car now gives me.
Sure, the car may have a bit more vibration in the cockpit with having the uprated mounts fitted - but this is a very minor thing and something that doesn't concern me. The car is in great shape, it's driving beautifully and I'm chuffed to bits with this latest round of modifications. What next I wonder...?
A big "thank you" to K-TEC Racing for their excellent service and work (and I hope you don't mind that I used a few of your images from your excellent new website...)
October 2010
Isn't it amazing how quickly time flies when you're having fun? October saw the 72k milestone reached (thanks in no small part to the amazing Scotland Tour I went on last month). Since the last service, the Trophy has been running absolutely beautifully but it had become more evident that it was time for the next service. And, whilst on the aforementioned Scotland Tour, a very strange droning sound had materialised and yet I couldn't quite determine where it was coming from.
As I'm quite fussy as to who works on the car I booked it in with Dave and Mike at RenTech, Portsmouth. Ok, so it's a fair distance to travel (to/from Wales) but their work is great and their prices very competitive... and they're a good laugh, too! So last Friday I booked a hotel in Portsmouth and made my way down in the evening. Having arrived at the hotel I parked up, showered and grabbed a taxi into town to meet up with a work colleague/friend and would eventually arrive back at the hotel in the small hours of the morning.
Surprisingly fresh and awake I took the car into RenTech Saturday morning, had a brief chat with Dave (mentioning the droning sound) and then went off wandering to find some breakfast and kill a few hours. My instructions were simply to service the car (including the new belts) and to fix any little niggles they came across (such as perished manifold seal, etc.) They were going to ring me if anything expensive or unexpected turned up...
...and it wasn't long before I got a call from Dave! I wasn't far away from the garage so agreed to return and to meet up with Dave and Mike to discuss the issue they'd found - i.e. the source of the droning sound. To cut a long story short, the problem was the rear wheels (especially the NSR). The rear wheel bearings should have had disk spacers fitted and clearly these were not present. As a result, there was an awful lot of play on the rear disk. Obviously this had knackered the rear wheel bearing and, to paraphrase Mike and Dave, they had never seen a bearing in such a fubar'd state. Not good. It was not safe to drive. On top of this, they could not get the spacers delivered and fitted until the Tuesday. I would have to leave the Trophy with them and return Tuesday.
Without further ado I hired a car from the next door hire place (it was cheaper to hire a car for 4-5 days than to catch a train!) and returned on the Tuesday. By now the T was in perfect health and I was desperate to get back into the driving seat! I paid the balance and was soon comfortable in the Recaro's and ready to head home. The drive home was fantastic - smooth, pulling like a train and - best of all - no creaks and rattles (apart from the cabin vibrations due to the uprated engine mounts).
The work carried out was:
- Oil and filter, gearbox oil, pollen filter
- Brake fluid, engine coolant
- Spark plugs
- Forte fuel treatment and engine flush
- Cambelt change
- Accessory belt change
- De-phaser pulley change
- NSR bearing and disk spacers
- Exhaust manifold-to-cat seal
Once again, a big thanks to Mike and Dave at RenTech for their great work and for looking after both me and the Trophy.
Thanks for looking. More updates as and when they happen...
