Every spare minute I’ve had this week (lunch breaks and nights included) I’ve been working on finishing the Clio off.

After I fitted the air box/filter to the ITB’s I knew I wanted to do this photo.

Enjoyed doing another strobist shot, need to do more!

I also took a little setup photo so you could see where the flash/umbrella were placed

One things been really bothering me though – the 2nd hand Jenvey setup came with some really old disgusting sock filters. I hated them and they were falling apart so I started looking for a better alternative.

I found a company called Reverie who make carbon back boxes for the Pipercross sausage filters – but these back boxes can also use a full carbon airbox which is what I want eventually.

While I was at autosport international I bumped into the owner of Reverie and had a good luck at the kit and eventually handed some cash over and came home with a back plate.

I ordered a sausage filter from Burton Power which turned up next day and I set about fitting them. Was very nervous cutting carbon fibre but all went well! I even cut a little hole in the box for the air temp sensor which tidies the install up a treat.

Yesterday I headed over to Autosport International at Birmingham NEC.

Excellent show, some brilliant cars, including this insane 205 with an evo engine in it!

I also managed to pick up some carbon air box goodies for my Clio, and got a load of ideas for other things I’d like to do this year, including a digital dash setup and datalogger!!

I want to get more into photography again this year, so I’ve decided to do a Project 52

A photo every week for the whole year.

You can see them all on my Flickr, but I’ll also post them all on here with a little bit of a description about the photo.

This week I helped my mum clear all my old toys/games/photos out of her loft. I found lots of goodies like my old top trumps and lego – but also my scalextrics set!!!

I got home and set it up straight away and decided to do a bit of a strobist shot

This was taken with my speedlight on a bracket directly above the track, long exposure and 2nd curtain sync on the flash.

Comments welcome!

I bought a stereo blanking plate off ebay and trimmed it down, fitted the gauges into that – I think they look spot on.

For the aerocatches I actually got a 2nd hand scrap bonnet and used that to cut and measure up until I was 100% happy with how they fit – then I made stencils of it and cut the same holes into my bonnet. It’s a very tricky job and took me and Leah most of the afternoon – but the results speak for themselves!

Today I bought some Bimarco Futura bucket seats, side mounts and subframes. Also picked up a PTFE gasket for the throttle bodies that should reduce heat transfer between the head and the bodies

I was hoping to be painting the interior and cage by now but the temperature is around -3c and I don’t think the paint will take so I’m switching my plans around a bit

I’ve also tidied up the loom for the Omex 600 and put my brave face on and chopped out all the old renault loom for the engine. Luckily it all still ran afterwards

You can see in the photos the wiring distributor block for the battery in the boot of the car – and the fuses for the omex etc..

I also fitted an Innovate LC-1 wideband controller and put a gauge on the dashboard for it, so I can keep an eye on the fuelling while on track.

As we had the rest of the afternoon spare we decided to fit the Jenvey’s and see if it would run – it did!!

I later found out I’d forgot to bung a lambda hole up so it’s blowing quite a bit and the ITB’s need balancing – but you can’t beat that feeling when a modded engine first fires up!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

I did something a little impulsive recently – I bought a set of Jenvey Throttle Bodies (ITB’s) for the Clio.
I’ve decided over winter to keep the Clio off the road and up it’s power output a bit with some serious tinkering

I think Anglesey is now my new favourite track – there’s a lovely fast back section, lots of technical tight corners and the way the track climbs and dips remind me of the nurburgring. I will definitely be going back there again next year!

The car went brilliantly. It’s still understeering a little bit but at lunch time I had a play with the rear ARB and stiffened it up some more – it seemed to help the initial turn in. I’m also still running quite badly worn uniroyal rainsports which just aren’t any good on track. Next year I’ll be getting R1R’s or A048′s

Anyway here’s a few videos from the day – first one is me finally getting to have a play with a good mate of mine Mark Thorp in his throttle bodied AX. We’ve been joking about going at it on track for years and years but never managed to do it. Was brilliant to finally have a little battle on track

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

And another quick video playing with Titch in his MX5 and Ben in his 306 Rallye

Click here to view the video on YouTube.