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It takes a brave man to snap up a car that’s suffered from cambelt failure, especially when the car in question is renowned for being as nippy, agile and fun as a squirrel on disco biscuits. A car that no matter who’s owned it before has undoubtedly been given a good seeing to on a regular basis. So, when 24-year-old Luke Ward spotted this early 2000 plate 172 at a junkyard near him he just had to find out the reason it was about to be weighed in. “Valves had meet pistons in pretty much the most catastrophic way and rather than foot the bill, the insurance company had decided not to pay out,” explained Luke.
Perhaps understandably with secondhand prices for such an extremely capable hot hatch currently at crazy levels compared to equivalent Type Rs and GTis (it’s not unusual to find 53-plates with 70k going for around £2500 – £3000) the owners insurance company decided it’d be easier to write it off rather than foot the costly engine rebuild. “I got in there and snapped it up for a great price,” revealed the canny Kent lad, continuing, “The plan, well at the start at least, was to get it running right and then sell it on at a profit.” A local garage helped Luke out with the engine rebuild, a job that needed a monster shopping list including new pistons, valve springs, auxiliary belt, injectors, head bolts, head gasket, cambelt, inlet and exhaust valves, timing belt and a new radiator before the car was back on the road.
Unfortunately Luke’s plan to move it on at a profit had one downfall; the driver. He fell head over heels in love with the speed and that electrifying chassis, so a plan was hatched to get it ready for the track. With everything in the back end consigned to the bin and the stock set of OZ F1 rims painted satin black he was happy to roll around until attending Trax (a performance car show) a couple of years back. “Every Clio there looked like mine. Who wants a car that looks the same as the person parked next to you? I like to put my personality into a car, truly make it an extension of myself.”
FK Highsport coilies followed shortly there after with a set of spangly new Cades Eros wheels before his attention switched to detailing the bay with a dash of white paint on the BMC CDA carbon induction kit and inlet manifold. That carbon fibre rocker keeps things looking neat, while a K-Tec Racing exhaust system with a turn down TDi style tailpipe and a K-Tec Remap freed up a few extra horsepower.
Similar love has been spent inside. Luke tarted up the interior with some black alcantara here and there and a neat but very effective ICE install that’s based around the recently installed HAVAIR 4 valve, solenoid air ride kit. “The coilovers were great, but things got too impractical with bottoming out and beaching everywhere after winding them all the way down,” laughed Luke. And when his detail obsessed better half, Lauren, started going to shows with him, her funbags ultimately made the airbags an easy choice. “She was in danger of going home with black eyes everytime we went out. The air ride made the most sense because of her shirt potatoes,” revealed the cheeky scamp.
New wheels compliment the car. This time 8×15 Axis O.G wrapped in Nankang 185/45 rubber. They tuck perfectly out back thanks to flared and rolled arches and custom made 4 degree camber shims.
Rounded off with some Tiffany blue detailing on the wheels and the Renault badges along with a smoothed front bumper and a Phase 2 rear bumper. This is one Clio that Pappa and Nicole would prefer on the road rather than in the crusher.
- Styling: Smoothed front bumper with plate recess deleted, Mk2 Clio Phase 2 rear bumper, FK LED rear lights, rolled and flared arches all round
- Tuning: 2.0 16v Renaultsport, BMC CDA carbon induction kit colour coded white, KTR carbon fibre cam cover, full engine strip down and rebuild, PTFE inlet manifold gasket set, KTR Exhaust system with downturned tailpipe, KTR Remap, NGK Lazer plugs
- Chassis: HAVAIR Option two independent front and rear four 3/8-inch valve air ride, three gallon tank, HAVAIR front struts, custom rear setup, Viair gauge + console, 10mm lines, Compbrake solid top mounts, Axis OG 8×15-inch rims (ET0), 25mm spacers to clear calipers
- Interior: Standard 172 Renaultsport pews, custom MDF boot floor, full Mk2 Phase black carpets, Momo Team 280mm steering wheel, headliner, A+B+C pillars, centre console and door sills all trimmed in black suede
- ICE: Alpine CDA 9853 CD MP3 Headunit, Alpine E type door speaker front and rear, VIBE PULSE 10” sub and 600w amp