Flame Red Megane 275 Cup-S

bill

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Sorry mate i should have said i hated Renault service not the cars 3 months they had my car i loved my Laguna it was so nice.
Yes it was the Monaco GP all the bells and whistles still miss it today.
 

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Sorry mate i should have said i hated Renault service not the cars 3 months they had my car i loved my Laguna it was so nice.
Yes it was the Monaco GP all the bells and whistles still miss it today.

Sorry to hear that about the service etc! I would be a fan of the Laguna coupe, really nice shape etc.
 

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Something pretty cool on its way to me!

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I’ve been informed that it is probably the only one in the UK with less than 5 having been produced worldwide!

Photos to follow when it arrives! (Hope it’s not an anti climax for me or anyone who’s interested lol)
 

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Better not just be a new gearknob :p

Haha! It’s not lol. Probably weighs as much though 😳🤔.

Apparently it’s been delivered this morning. Out from work this afternoon so will pop some photos up tomorrow 😃
 

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So the part I was waiting on arrived on Friday. I had been putting off ordering the stainless steel version from CGR Automotive for quite a while. Their lead time on items can be quite long as they make systems for Le Mans Cars amongst other race cars. They also are quite poor with communication which meant I could never fully nail down a definite delivery date - their work however is first class!

This came up for sale last week and after a few days of negotiating with the seller I finally bought it. It is a CGR Automotive downpipe made from a ‘superalloy’ called Inconel. It’s the same superalloy used to manufacture F1 exhaust, it’s used in their aerospace industry and apparently used in nuclear reactor cores!

The chap selling it had a full Titanium exhaust made up by CGR and the downpipe made from Inconel. Due to heat it isn’t recommended to have the downpipe made from TI so something lighter again was used.

It’s seen less than 1,000 miles but shows some nice blue through it due to the heat cycles. It’s extremely lightweight, weighing just over 1kg. Due to its properties it is extremely labour intensive and difficult to weld (though the welds looks good to me!).

CGR Automotive have produced 5 of these downpipes, probably down to how much they cost, and I’ve been told there isn’t another one in the UK. It seems a real shame to fit it to the car as it’s a work of art but I really can’t wait to hear what it sound like paired up with the TI Akrapovic on my car!

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Here is the TI system (for a Megane R26) made up along with the Inconel downpipe I now own. Downpipe looks a good bit different now with some heat through it! Fantastic looking system though, at a cost of around £3,400 I believe!

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svensktoppen

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Inconel is the dog's for this 😎 You're a very lucky man getting your hands on that, won't have been cheap new by any stretch!
 

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Inconel is the dog's for this 😎 You're a very lucky man getting your hands on that, won't have been cheap new by any stretch!

Is it something you are familiar with? I had heard about it being used in F1 exhausts quite a while ago and had seen Charlie Roper (CGR Director) mention it quite a few times. It was expensive new, I think it’s about 4 times as expensive as the stainless steel version!

I didn’t pay anywhere near that amount thankfully - and if I did have that sort of money it wouldn’t be a downpipe for a Megane I would be after lol.
 

svensktoppen

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I was surprised as well seeing an inconel downpipe for a Megane, lol. Must be from some racing programme.

It's been used in high heat applications in aerospace for a while, like you said.

And also in money-no-object race series for a while.

It is very light, but not as brittle as Titanium, and has excellent heat transfer properties. But not cheap, lol.

It's also turning up on exotic race cars now, like track focussed variants of Ferrari, McL, etc.
 

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I was surprised as well seeing an inconel downpipe for a Megane, lol. Must be from some racing programme.

It's been used in high heat applications in aerospace for a while, like you said.

And also in money-no-object race series for a while.

It is very light, but not as brittle as Titanium, and has excellent heat transfer properties. But not cheap, lol.

It's also turning up on exotic race cars now, like track focussed variants of Ferrari, McL, etc.

I think they were made more as a ‘look what we can do’ type of thing and it just so happened that 4 or 5 where sold. The customer who bought this used it on his track toy and it’s now found its way to my daily 🤣.
 

Gambit

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Is it something you are familiar with? I had heard about it being used in F1 exhausts quite a while ago and had seen Charlie Roper (CGR Director) mention it quite a few times. It was expensive new, I think it’s about 4 times as expensive as the stainless steel version!

I didn’t pay anywhere near that amount thankfully - and if I did have that sort of money it wouldn’t be a downpipe for a Megane I would be after lol.
Tasty!! they where mentioning last night on Top Gear that the McLaren 600LT uses inconel for its exhaust
 

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Tasty!! they where mentioning last night on Top Gear that the McLaren 600LT uses inconel for its exhaust

That’s where the similarities between the 275 and 600LT begin and end 😋. That is cool though! Must get watching TG, actually forgot it was on last night!
 

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Took the car to Scotland for the Stenaline Car Club day trip. Absolutely brilliant day. Set off on the 0730 ferry and back on the 1930 ferry home and drove around 230 miles.

Took in some brilliant scenery and excellent driving roads. Scotland really is a lovely place and can see me doing to North Coast 500 at some stage after doing a slightly shortened version of the South West Coast 300!

Was great to stretch the Meganes legs a bit. Driving can be a bit mundane at times, especially when you daily a car which is much more capable than the commute to work via dual carriageways and the odd ‘B road’. I actually turned to the other half yesterday when we had just driven the A702 between Elvanfoot and Carronbridge (a road so good that I went back on myself and drove it again!) and said to her that if I was ever thinking of selling the Megane to bring it back to this very road.

I know it’s only a Megane, and those who have driven one will understand, but they are a perfect choice for this kind of trip. There are definitely faster cars from A to B but the feedback the car gives, the mechanical feel of the gear change and LSD, the nice rip of the Akrapovic and the Cup 2 tyres made yesterday very very enjoyable. £39 well spent I say!

Here are some photos from the day;

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A702;
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A702;
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Dumfries;
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Mull or Galloway;
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Mull of Galloway;
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Mull of Galloway;
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Mull of Galloway;
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Portpatrick;
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Hopefully Stenaline run this again as I would love to do it again and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone!
 

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So I have been giving a front splitter some thought. Although there is a front valance which has been carbon dipped on the car I have been on the lookout for options. Flow Design sell them (Australian based 😞) which could be an option but the shipping prices are very high!

What does everyone think?

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They do also sell side skirts, this is the only image I have which is taken from their website as I don’t know anyone who has them fitted yet;

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In other news I have decided to retire the Megane from daily driving to and from work. Recently we our parking spaces have been moved and a few colleagues vehicles have been damaged. It happened to my Clio and I don’t want it to happen to the Megane. A friend was selling his Yaris 1.3 VVT-i which has been in his family for around 10 years so I took a look last Friday and done a deal. Will be getting the car this evening but here it is;

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Will probably remove the swan neck from the towbar but apart from that it’s all good and mechanically sound!
 

Gambit

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like the splitter, dont like the side sill extensions, they are too squared off at each end for my liking. Like the Yaris also, always had a liking for that model (y)

the problem is retiring it from daily driving will start having you wondering whats the point of having it at all in about 12mth time as youll barely be using it - no matter how much you say otherwise then it becomes an expensive ornament :worried:
 

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like the splitter, dont like the side sill extensions, they are too squared off at each end for my liking. Like the Yaris also, always had a liking for that model (y)

the problem is retiring it from daily driving will start having you wondering whats the point of having it at all in about 12mth time as youll barely be using it - no matter how much you say otherwise then it becomes an expensive ornament :worried:

Yeah I’m not sold on the extensions either to be honest! Will see if anywhere UK based comes out with a similar design.

I get what you mean but I really can’t run the risk of it being damaged at work. If it where to be damaged it would really put me off the car and I don’t want that to happen. Will still use the car at weekends and if we head anywhere in the evening. Also planning on doing the NC500 next year with a few fellow Renaultsport owners :grinning:
 

veedubnoodle

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In other news I have decided to retire the Megane from daily driving to and from work. Recently we our parking spaces have been moved and a few colleagues vehicles have been damaged. It happened to my Clio and I don’t want it to happen to the Megane.

Where have they moved the parking to? I was always down near the Motorrad building during my brief stint there. Hateful place to park but thankfully never had any issues.
 

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Where have they moved the parking to? I was always down near the Motorrad building during my brief stint there. Hateful place to park but thankfully never had any issues.

The department I work in has been put up the very back of the site, behind the BMW and Citroen workshops. Only moved about 4 weeks ago as we had been behind the JLR showroom which was great but in those 4 weeks 3 cars have been damaged.
 

veedubnoodle

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The department I work in has been put up the very back of the site, behind the BMW and Citroen workshops. Only moved about 4 weeks ago as we had been behind the JLR showroom which was great but in those 4 weeks 3 cars have been damaged.

Aye that's where I was. Nightmare, guess I was just lucky.
 

svensktoppen

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Don't worry about damaging the car. Go down that road and you'll end up with a garage queen never used. And then you'll get sick of it just sitting there. And it won't do the car any favours either, just sitting not being driven causes much bigger problems than the odd stone chip or parking ding.

It's a car - drive it! Race it, break it, fix it, race it again. Enjoy it!

If it's just an ornament you want then get a poster, it's much cheaper 😇
 

civic_tom

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I’m not familiar with these but that looks great. Has a really nice aggressiveness to the styling, without going overboard.

Personally I like the front splitter, but wouldn’t go for the side skirt extensions.
 
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