Driver Scaff
Car Renault
sport Clio 2.0 16v
Deep Forest Time 1'23.008
Report
The Renault
sport Clio 2.0 16v has been touted by many as the greatest hot hatch ever made in its stock form, even the well respected Evo magazine placed the Trophy third in their Car of the Year group test. The cars that beat it? Well the Ford GT came in third with a Ferrari F430 second. The praise for the car continues with the final comment on the little Clio being " What I'd say to anyone out there is, forget everything you've read about the 205 GTI and the mk2 Golf and the Clio Williams. Just go and drive a Trophy. That's where the benchmark is."
So what happened when you take such a wonderful starting point (and the stock Clio is just that), throw some mods at it and see what it makes of Deep Forest, a route that has become renown for testing front wheel drive cars to the limit.
Well lets find out, with a heavily modified Clio, set up to deliver an aggressive drive at Deep Forest, will it still lead the pack or is this a test to far.
I'm not looking for overall speed here (with only 265 bhp on tap thats no shock), but rather if modifying the Clio still allows the fundamental 'rightness' of the stock car to remain, even when driven right to the limit.
Scaff's 👍
Right from the start the Clio shows a very happy relationship with the tarmac beneath it, traction is still an issue over some of the larger bumps and dips, but on the whole the car wants to remain in contact. The soft dampers helping here and even when contact is lost, when traction returns it does so without any nasty side effects to the steering.
One thing does dominate this Clio's character; it demands to be taken by the scruff of the neck and flung around the track. It has amazing initial turn-in and bite, griping with the front end, while the stiff Anti-roll bars at the rear allow many corners to be taken almost sideways, the final corner at Deep Forest in particular.
To take advantage of this turn-in you have to brake very hard and deep into the corners apex and turn hard, the front tyres bite deep and securely and you can feel the rear as it breaks traction, get back on the gas and it shoots down the following straight.
Its like driving a Clio Cup car, great fun if you're in the mood to get rough and ready with it.
In more gentle sweeping corners the car will settle into light understeer, but a lift of the throttle soon has the back mobile and the front end tucking back in. Lift off oversteer is always present, but not in a vicious manner, in fact its easily controllable.
Scaff's 👎
Being front wheel drive, aggressive acceleration out of corners is always going to be an issue, the Clio makes good showing of it, but good throttle control is a must if you don't want to simply spin the power away. The normally aspirated tune helps, as it ensures the power can be delivered in a measure manner, without the sudden spike in power I found with a more powerful turbo charged version I also tried (that was no faster around Deep Forest).
Understeer is also present and while this is a negative for the car, the way it which the Clio minimises the level of understeer is amazing for a front wheel drive car.
Now, the main problem with the Clio is the manner in which it has to be driven to extract the most from it. Unless you are happy to throw the car around the track (a style that I must admit does not come naturally to myself) it just will not play. This, sometimes natural, reluctance to treat the car in this manner does cause its own issues, more than once I found myself turn-in to early, finding the right point can be tricky.
Overall
Its not a car for power junkie, but then what front wheel drive hatchback is going to be, nor one for drivers who like things neat and tidy.
It is however a car that remains far more than the sum of its parts, despite the lower power output and running on medium compound racing slicks, its lap time still remains respectable.
In closing even when modified to this level, the basic traits of the Clio more than shine through, they actually still keep adding polish to the package.
I've driven many front wheel drive cars at Deep Forest and the vast majority have frustrated and disappointed in equal measure, the Renault
sport Clio can however hold its head up high. Once again it has proved itself worthy.
Spec
265bhp@6,250rpm
226ft/lbs@5,400rpm
910kgs
0-30 2.6 secs
0-60 5.6 secs
1-100 11.4 secs
1/4 Mile 13.741 secs @ 111mph
Top Speed 166.21mph
Racing Exhaust
Racing Chip
NA Tune Stage 2
R3 Tyres (front & back)
Racing Brakes
Brake Balance Controller
Racing Suspension
Fully Customised Transmission
Triple Plate Clutch
Racing Flywheel
1 way LSD
Weight Reduction Stage 3
Port Polish
Engine Balance
Oil Change
All are shown Front then Rear
Spring Rates = 5.5 / 4.0
Ride Height = 115 / 120
Damper
Bound = 2 / 3
Rebound = 3 / 4
Camber = 2.5 / 1.0
Toe = 1 / 2
Stabilisers = 1 / 4
Brake Balance = 6 / 3
Gearbox = Auto 10 (adjust as required)
And, if you haven't noticed by now, I really love luxury sedans. Especially fast ones. 
I took these pics my self in Hong Kong when I visited there in 2003. 
