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Burpspeed Version 2: Race Car Build



  172 Race Car
Finally, Its done



Oulton Park Report:

Onto the last race of the season at Oulton Park and scene of our engine failure 12months ago whilst on course for a top 3 finish. The weather was forecast to be dry but there was no sign of the 30 degree plus temperatures we had a year ago. The circuit was damp from overnight rain and the sun began to poke through the trees. As the 3rd qualifying session out, we were pretty confidant it would be dry for our group. I’d done a total of 3 laps last year so really wanted to get some dry running in. The garages were ours for the meeting and Tony had it all set up ready for the off. Scruiteneering past without a hitch as I’d wired up the rear sidelights they’d been mentioning for the last 3 meetings.

Out onto the circuit for qualifying and it was still very damp and slippy. Not great conditions for the brand new tyres we had on the front. The safety car was out on lap 2 for a stranded car exiting Cascades, so a familiar story for me of very few laps and there was still no real dry line. No grip was the only advice I could give Tony when I came in to hand over.

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He pounded round as best he could, the track getting faster every lap. With 1 lap to go Tony had us in 10th place. On the final lap he took half a second off each sector, as a dry line had now formed, and was on course for a top 6 position, only to loose time in the final corner going off line to pass a slower car. Almost everyones best lap was their last. After qualifying we ran through the prep list as the sun continued to dry the circuit. It would be dry for the race for sure.

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Some epic homemade chilli for lunch then it was race time. On the out lap I had a good go at getting the tyres warm and exploring the grip level. The track was completely dry now as we lined up in 10th place. The lights didn’t stay on for long and my initial getaway wasn’t great and bogged down slightly. But that meant I had forward momentum and no wheel spin so I floored it. The car got great traction and I made my way through the gaps over to the pit wall and was alongside Russ in the MG as we braked for turn 1. I clipped the inside kerb, had to lift and had a big sideways moment. I passed another car into Cascades, being slightly cautious and was into 5th place.



The gap to the cars behind was quite big and I tried to hang on to the very quick group in front. I set our fastest lap on lap 2 despite a lock up in the hairpin, a handful of opposite lock in the middle of Druids and running wide at the last corner. I’d found the grip levels and the guessed setup we had wasn’t too bad, so I settled in and tried to reduce the mistakes. By lap 4 I’d started to drop away from the leading pack slightly and Simon in the white Civic began to catch me after a slow start. Over the top of the hill there was a slippery surface flag displayed. As Simon came alongside I could see Russ in the MG spinning across the grass at Knickerbrook. Not knowing if I’d driven through something oily, I was far too conservative into Druids and the Civic got by into the last corner. Still in 5th place but annoyed with myself.


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By the end of lap 5, Lee in his rapid Saxo had caught me after I’d made another mistake at Druids. I went defensive for the next few corners and he got by at Cascades. Russ was regaining lost ground in his MG and was now my next worry. I’d decided no one else was coming through though and after half a lap of elbows he gave up and pitted. I now had clear road ahead and nothing in my mirrors for the first time in 10 minutes. The Boon Civic was a few seconds behind, this I thought was my chance to push on.

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But exiting the first chicane there was a yellow flag for a car off to the right. A very slow Civic was crawling up the hill. I couldn’t pass until the green flag, loosing me around 3 seconds and that put the Boon Civic right on me. Yet again I had to drive the widest Clio in Cheshire. I managed to hold him off for the next 3 laps and had a close call lapping some cars in Druids. Jamie’s 205 was slowing with fuel pump failure as I came to pass a Clio. I had to stand on the brakes hard to avoid hitting him. Biggest fright I’d ever had racing.

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We pitted at half distance, the end of lap 10. A great stop again, with a pit lane time 4 seconds quicker than anyone else, but I’d lost too much time to the leaders early on for us to take advantage. Tony rejoined 5th with only James in the number 12 Clio still to pit ahead. So when he had, we’d be 4th.

Nigel in the 84 Peugeot had been leading early on. He came in at the start of the pit window and served his success penalty. So was now coming back through the field. He caught and passed Tony on lap 12. At several seconds a lap quicker there was no point trying to hold him off. Tonys lap times were slowly coming down despite several corners being slippy with mud. He could see the group ahead but had no way to catch them. We weren’t quick enough. All he had to do was maintain the gap to the Boon Civic behind and as usual got really unlucky passing lapped traffic.

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On lap 17 Nigel slowed in the Peugeot with engine problems, promoting us back up to 4th. As Russ in the Class B MG was ahead we earned another trophy for 3rd place in Class A. What a great way to end a brilliant year. Although we slightly felt we should of done better. Our fastest lap was a massive 2.8 seconds quicker than last year but everyone ahead of us was faster.

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All in all a great season of more highs than lows. Particular highlights are the results at Silverstone and Donington. Both very unexpected. Low point being Anglesey. A place we normally go well at turned out to be our worst result of the year and the car wasn’t fun to drive at all.

On reflection I’m sure we will be over the moon. But it may take some time to sink in.

 
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  Cup In bits
Good write up and well done on the season's results Burpspeed!! All going well I will see you out somewhere next season :p.

Demon start as usual, do you run a LSD? I had a look but gave up with 193 pages.
 
  Clio 172
Looks very impressive with that drive by vid and the 31 car field going by proper race field. Was the red and yellow integra there after its last outing at Donington? And well done again guys, top season. I hope I can make more than one round next year and show some more support.
 
  172 Race Car
Yea 31 cars in race. Don't think that integra was there no.

It was a great year. Be hard to top it tbh. Series is getting more competative all ther time
 
  182/RS2/ Turbo/Mk1
Epic writeup, your photgraph and video quality there is fantastic in particular.

Fingers crossed you can find enough pennies over the closed season to still be competitive next year too!
 
  172 Race Car
We have had an issue with geometry all year that only came to light part way through. That will be corrected and improve things slightly.

Other than that I don't want to go into details. Its competition at the end of the day and i know people spy on here lol. ;)
 
  172 Race Car
Everyone. We got a diff so did Andy Joss and Ian Collins coz they'd seen on here (or website) we had one, Lol.

Keeping cards a little closer from now on, :p
 

shiftspark

ClioSport Club Member
  R53 GR86
thought you said you were putting one of them fan jobies on the inlet ? lol

I suppose thats the problem of a build blog its very interesting from an arm chair point of view of what work goes into a build or its a build manual for your competitors ( we best down load it all before you change it !)
 
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That's been on my mind too - the burpspeed blog has been a massive source of inspiration for me and a few friends - but it did occur to me that with so many Clio's now in the series it's a bit easy for everyone to end up with identical cars by just reading a few blogs

I'm gonna be a bit more cautious about posting engine bay shots from the events in the future :)
 
  172 Race Car
Was good but not the best, that was the red flagged start at Donny.

Had great starts/First laps all year.

Qualified to end of lap 1:

Brands 7th to 5th
Silverstone 10th to 8th
Anglesey 7th to 6th
Mallory 3rd to 2nd
Donington 10th to 4th (red flagged start) 10th to 8th (restart)
Oulton 10th to 5th

Oulton the best start/first lap but Donington or mallory the best getaway. Tonys First 2 corners at Silverstone tho the best moves, Lol

Might do a vid of starts
 
  M140i
Awesome season, hats off to both of you (and all the others that contributed), proud to be associated with u guys :) Now when can I borrow the car lol ;)
 
  Clio 182 Race Car
Everyone. We got a diff so did Andy Joss and Ian Collins coz they'd seen on here (or website) we had one, Lol.

Keeping cards a little closer from now on, :p

Bit unfair that Jay was were the first to build a Clio for tintops and i have been building race cars for 30 years -I told you that ours needed a diff in response to one of your questions - I have always been honest with what I have done to our car whenever you have asked. I was just joking when I said that we bought a diff in response to you. I read the forums because its a good and sometimes amusing read - not to spy! For anyone unclear my Clio was the one on pole at Oulton and finished second in class third overall.
 
  172 Race Car
Ian, all very tounge in cheek mate. Hence the 'Lol' and the :p. And the 'Lol' and ;) in the original post.

In no way a serious comment, thought that was obvious. :S

Was a response to someone asking what our plans were, just a bit of fun mate, as you know more than most about us and next year etc. yes we do appreciate all the advice you have given as we hope likewise
 
  Clio 182 Race Car
OK rant over - sorry for jumping down your throat. I do appreciate the advice that you and Tony have given us and I do genuinely respect your superior knowledge of all things Clio. All I am interested in is getting the Clios among the Hondas.
 
  172 Race Car
No probs mate,sorry for the missunderstanding. Dont beleive everything you read on the internet.

Btw, did we mention we were building a 375bhp Clio engine to use next year?
 


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