Clio 197 R27

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Dmur197

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I sold my old Clio 197 F1 edition in January for a Megane R26, but recently I had been having an itch for another as although the Megane was much quicker, it wasn't just quite as fun as the Clio.

I saw a racing blue 197 F1 on Instagram from England and sent him a DM asking him to let me know when he wants to sell. And a couple of months later, he got in contact. We arranged the sale and i got on Friday the 20th July. Fortunately it wasn't too expensive to add the Clio onto my insurance policy along with the Megane.

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So it is a racing blue Clio 197 F1 edition. #320/500 and 1 of 36 in this colour and the only modification is a KTEC cat back exhaust which I think has quite a distinct tone to it.

I spent most of Friday and Saturday detailing it as there were plenty of swirls to remove and things to do to it to get it to a level I was happy with. It's first time out after collecting it was to the RMS BBQ that following Sunday where Jamie took these great pictures. This was also my first time attending any RMS meet and it was a great day.

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So far all I have done to the car since collection was remove the sun strip and change the silver headlights for the smarter looking black insert ones.

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Are there any other 197 owners on here? I haven't seen many around my area. I'll be keeping this thread updated with any changes to the car.
 

300trophy

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Belfast
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Megane 275 Cup-S
Very nice indeed. Was this Stuart Albones old car? Really looks a nice example. What part of the country are you from? Will look out for you on my travels.

If you’re a Facebook user join the Renaultsport Owners Club NI Page - the car will go down a storm.
 

Ben P

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Lovely. Always loved a 197 in rb with the splitters and spoiler!
Would I have seen this around the north coast past few days?
 

Dmur197

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Dmur197
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80
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Ballymoney
Very nice indeed. Was this Stuart Albones old car? Really looks a nice example. What part of the country are you from? Will look out for you on my travels.

If you’re a Facebook user join the Renaultsport Owners Club NI Page - the car will go down a storm.

Thanks! Yea it is his old one. I'd been following him for a couple of years so knew the quality of cars he bought.

I'm from ballymoney and I am on the Facebook page, unfortunaly I wasn't able to make the last meet you organised.
 

JackMO

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549
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North Coast
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Golf GTI
Car is looking real well, and she is minty fresh in the flesh!

Still need my run out! ;)

How does this stack up against the Megane in your opinion?
 
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Dmur197

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Dmur197
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Ballymoney
Car is looking real well, and she is minty fresh in the flesh!

Still need my run out! ;)

How does this stack up against the Megane in your opinion?

The Megane is much quicker but to me it doesn't feel just as fun.

In my mind the Clio is the perfect hot hatch. It is not over powered and the handling and feel you get from it is the best thing about it, and it looks as much fun as it actually is. It looks and feels like a toy compared to the Megane which is a good thing.

The Megane is a much better daily. The gearbox has a more sensible ratio so when your sitting at 70 the revs aren't at almost 4k like the in the Clio. It's seats are much easier to get out of rather than having to climb over the bolster of the clios recaros as you can see below.

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The Megane does handle very well, but doesn't give you the same confidence round corners as the Clio does. In terms of speed the Megane is on another level. There is so much more torque compared to the Clio. I had a play with an FK2 Civic Type r and an e46 M3 and there was nothing really in it between them.

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Dmur197

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Dmur197
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Ballymoney
Thanks for all the nice comments guys!

My future plans for the car would be to lower it, either by springs or bilstien b14 coilovers. And also a set of wheels, something along the lines of the OZs, but any wheels for these seem to be hard to come by.

I have a KTEC intake arriving this week so I will update the thread when that gets fitted.
 

jagged

RMS Regular
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370
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tyrone
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640D G.C. E36M3
Racing blue a great colour in these ' took a test drive in a 197 non cup back in 2010 ' half a mile later knew I had to have one ' . two proper cars you have there .
 

Dmur197

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Dmur197
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Ballymoney
Haven’t posted any changes to the car on here since August so a few things to update on the thread.

As I mentioned back in August I have now fitted the KTEC intake, sounds great, but no noticeable performance changes which I expected due to previous experience.

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The next thing I changed was the suspension. I got a set of KTEC coilovers due to them being affordable and hearing a couple of positive reviews.... I should’ve listened to the many negative reviews on them as they were crashy and rattley and cheap. I knew it was a bit of a gamble but for what I paid I thought they’d be worth a try. But they did sit nicely, probably the only good thing about them.

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Sold them less than a month later and replaced with H&R springs, which feel much, much better coupled with the cup shocks compared to the coilovers.

The next thing that changed was the diffuser. I’d always liked the 200 diffuser but they seem to be quite rare, but I finally managed to get my hands on a gloss black one which I much prefer the look of, the picture below also shows how it now sits on the H&R springs I previously mentioned...

A53B59B7-BAD5-4B8A-976C-8C5B42E1CC80.jpeg


Another thing I’d always wanted since I had my original 197 over 3 years ago was a set of Autec Wizards that I bought a set a couple of months ago but haven’t been fitted yet.

FADD798D-6B66-48C2-BEF7-31093C049213.jpeg


The plan is to get a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 3’s for these and put them on when the weather improves.

The most recent change and my current favourite is the lowered subframe from Rentune. It lowers the drivers Recaro by 5 cm which is a significant drop, that was one thing I wasn’t keen about on the Clio was how high the driver sat, but that is now sorted. The picture isn’t great but does give an idea to how much it lowered it.

0CF7053B-EC36-4748-98F1-F08FCFAEDE82.jpeg


I’ll try harder to make more regular updates rather than one big update with 5 or 6 changes.
 

Woodcutter

RMS Regular
Messages
31,237
Absolutely love this wee Clio, its the only colour I'd buy them in, looks soooo good!

I see one of the Millsport guys have one too. A very rare colour and two of them in Ballymoney!

I'm going to organise an RMS meet at P&C for spring time all being well, hopefully you can bring the Clio along.
 

JackMO

RMS Regular
Messages
549
Location
North Coast
Drives
Golf GTI
Haven’t posted any changes to the car on here since August so a few things to update on the thread.

As I mentioned back in August I have now fitted the KTEC intake, sounds great, but no noticeable performance changes which I expected due to previous experience.

View attachment 223311 View attachment 223312

The next thing I changed was the suspension. I got a set of KTEC coilovers due to them being affordable and hearing a couple of positive reviews.... I should’ve listened to the many negative reviews on them as they were crashy and rattley and cheap. I knew it was a bit of a gamble but for what I paid I thought they’d be worth a try. But they did sit nicely, probably the only good thing about them.

View attachment 223313

Sold them less than a month later and replaced with H&R springs, which feel much, much better coupled with the cup shocks compared to the coilovers.

The next thing that changed was the diffuser. I’d always liked the 200 diffuser but they seem to be quite rare, but I finally managed to get my hands on a gloss black one which I much prefer the look of, the picture below also shows how it now sits on the H&R springs I previously mentioned...

View attachment 223314

Another thing I’d always wanted since I had my original 197 over 3 years ago was a set of Autec Wizards that I bought a set a couple of months ago but haven’t been fitted yet.

View attachment 223315

The plan is to get a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 3’s for these and put them on when the weather improves.

The most recent change and my current favourite is the lowered subframe from Rentune. It lowers the drivers Recaro by 5 cm which is a significant drop, that was one thing I wasn’t keen about on the Clio was how high the driver sat, but that is now sorted. The picture isn’t great but does give an idea to how much it lowered it.

View attachment 223318

I’ll try harder to make more regular updates rather than one big update with 5 or 6 changes.

Solid progress. Agree on the springs, it does feel particularly nippy and darty on the road now! Found a shot there I took of it that last day(y) @Dmur197

Daniel Edit.jpg


I'm going to organise an RMS meet at P&C for spring time all being well, hopefully you can bring the Clio along.

I'd be very game to attend that!
 
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