The Spec

Spec'ing up a car for any application is always tricky. With a limited budget it makes it even harder. Clear goals need to be set out for what the car and project as a whole has to/needs to achieve.

After a bit of a think the following 'goals' were decided on.

• Minimum Power/Weight ratio of 200bhp/tonne.
  
• Capable on road and track without being too compromised for either.
  
• As much suspension adjustability as reasonably possible.
  
• Maintain use of as many standard components as possible to minimise running and repair costs.
  
• Maintain drive by wire throttle actuation and standard electronics package for reliability.
  
• Reduce weight where ever possible without heavily compromising the car for road use
• Be capable of repeated 58.5 second laps around Brands Hatch Indy.
  

Based on these a spec was developed to achieve as many of them as possible within budget. It'll need to be trimmed down a bit during the course of the project!

Engine spec was the first to be drawn up. The car needed a reliable 200bhp, if not a smidge more to meet the target power/weight ratio. This is easily achieved on ITBs/Port Throttles but for cost and reliability reasons I wanted to maintain the single throttle butterfly/plenum setup. The pic on the left shows the final spec.

Suspension and brakes was an easy job. Having worked with Gaz kit previously they were asked to produce a set of their 'Gold' Coil over dampers to my specification for the front of the car with a seperate damper and adjustable spring platform on the rear.

Braking wise the standard none ABS Clio Cup setup is pretty good and all this would require was an overhaul to ensure all was in decent spec, some 5.1 Fluid, Brembo HC discs and a set of Performance Friction 97's in the front with standard rear pads. Performance Friction were our supplier for the Britcar 24 hour where their 01 compound pads ran in the front of the BPM Clio for 12 hours at a time with perfect performance and reliability. The 97 compound pads are a slightly milder pad more suitable for combined road and track use.

First on the list is the need to acquire a car. With prices for 172 Cups at 3.5K - 4.5K and as the base for this project was going to be pretty much rebuilt I really didn't to pay out for a mint car as 1) Most of the stuff going onto it would be new and 2) It was going to spend a fairly large amount of time being battered around race circuits.

I needed a standard car that was either high mileage or a Cat D/C. With high mileage cups being rare (as most end up in ditches before 50K miles) I was expecting to start this project with a bent shell.