Phil Barker

Late Night Tinkering, a photo by Phil_Barker on Flickr.

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 had a track day at Anglesey last Friday and it was SUPERB

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

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

Earlier this year I saw that Renault Sport were holding an open pit track day at Brands Hatch, it’s one of my favourite tracks so I couldn’t say no.
Booked a room for 2 nights at 7 Hotel Diner, which by the way is amazing – a proper old 50′s style american diner, and headed down there for a play.

This was my first track day since the cage had been installed, and I also took the car for a geometry setup before hand – which showed my front wheels had a lot of toe out from the DIY camber adjustments (woops).

The handling was transformed, the car feels so much more planted – I loved every minute of it!!

I also got to drive one of the new Megane RS250′s which was different. I can’t say I like the electric steering – it makes you feel very disconnected from the road – but it was certainly quick in a straight line!!

Here’s a few videos