Starting life as a humble Clio RS 172 in 2003, the ‘Mistress’ was purchased in 2012 and was quickly transformed into a very capable track car. But it just wasn’t enough, so when RenoTech hatched a plan to drop a Renault Megane RS 225 drivetrain into a Clio weighing only 985kg I just couldn’t say no 😉
After an initial proof of concept was successfully launched in 2014 taking outright fastest at the OzRS national event it was time to make sure the engine could stand up to much more punishment and was sent off to Jim Donohue at Specialised Engines for a makeover. The engine build consists of Wossner forged pistons, PEC I-Beam forged rods, King race bearings, Inconel valves, uprated valve springs and conversion from engine bolts to engine studs.
To support the new engine the whole wiring was removed and replaced with an entire custom harness from head to tail courtesy of Prowire. Consisting of motorsport Tefzel wire, Raychem dr25 heatshrink, and genuine Deutsch connectors the loom was paired with a complete Motec ECU system including Motec M130, PDM32, 15 button keypad, flex fuel sensor and colour Motec race logger dash with GPS.
Add to this a whole new fuel system with rear mounted swirl pot with internal pump, Turbosmart fuel pressure regulator, with Speedflow teflon lines, and genuine fittings throughout.
Initial results after tuning are 197kw/385nm at the wheels running on E85. Whilst more timing and boost are available, the engine iteself has reached the limits of efficiency, and will require some additional work on the inlet and exhaust sides to push the figures towards the mid 200kw at the wheels area.
Update – changed out the agricultural 2.5″ exhaust for a new custom 3″ Koya Works straight pipe and increased power to a 238kW/435Nm at the wheels