Well it's about time i got some pics up of the new addition....
Me, my brother and my dad have all gone 'in' on buying a track car. To the joy of the frenchies we eventually picked up this 205 for £1200...

Quick Spec:

405 Mi-16 Engine conversion (aprox 150bhp in standard form?)
Solid engine mounts (vibrates like fook)
Induction Kit & Full exhaust system
Lowered & stiffened suspension
Upper front Strutbrace
307 HDI Big Brake conversion
+ a few track type mods, i.e. sunstrip, bonnet pins etc, purely for practicality...

When we got it...









Brake conversion...







C2 Induction Cone Fitted



Engine bay as it stands...



Always handy




Well having spent a few hundred £ on it and a couple of hours in the garage (mostly for my dad) it was time to get it on track......and we couldn't have chose a worse day.

Track - Mallory Park, weather - SHIT.

A few cars signing on...







Pug all ready to go..






It wasn't the best day for it tbh...the pics show that. We missed the whole of the morning session due to the fog and when it cleared enough to go out it wasn't much fun (in my case).
My brother went out first, and did fairly well...he had a good bout with a Clio Sport (2.0 new shape) which was standard engine, but semi-track prepared (stripped out, rollcage, coilovers etc etc), overtaking him at one point..
Lots of cars there, some cossies pussy footing around, impreza's doing the same. I was impressed with some of the Alfa's, no idea what they were though...
Anyway, after my brothers go the time came for my first EVER track day, and first real drive in this weird french little box....
....3 laps in and into the gravel i go.....sideways
It was a nightmare...i got mauled by most cars out there (I did take a few)
Coming down the main straight at around 115mph, i brake a little late, change gear a little bit to slowly and by the time i've turned it slightly the back end is trying to overtake me!!!! I immediately put on full lock to conteract the spin which led to a fairly long drift into the gravel. Luckily, I could reverse out but it really did kick my confidence.
I continued on, gently, and 1 lap later coming into the 'Esses' on the back straight i noticed the back end trying to riggle around (which ended up fcking my corner apex) and at that point i decided to call it a day.

Pics upon my return lol





In fairness, a few guys did the same. 1 Almera made an almighy mess of driving in a straight line and snaked into the barrier (closed the track for 30mins as a result). A few others end in the gravel at various stages throughout....

A few vids of the actions:





In one of the videos towards the end a Subaru tyres to impersonate exactly what the Almera did in diving into the barrier....

Unfortunately, this outing has left a little sour taste regarding the 205...
it's not a very forgiving car. I'm very impressed with how well it pulls in a straight line (quicker than the Fsi, albeit with less torque), but the handling was pretty dangerous in my opinion. We are looking into sourcing a 309 Gti rear beam to hopefully solve this problem, by my personal aim will be to get some track time in the Fiesta, hopefully on some sort of airfield track day to get used to the whole track scenario...


comments etc appreciated

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L333SYA - Ford Cougar 2.5 V6
RR - TBC

looks good

yeah 205's are known for aggressive lift off oversteer and being very light on the rear end

Andy all French bias aside, that looks like a tidy example!

Like I said in the other thread, test to see if the rear beam is shagged or not. What tyre pressures were you running? Are all your brakes working correctly as well? May need a quick check!

It may also be worth taking it in to a specialist who has equipment like this - http://www.pro-align.co.uk/products/whe ... igners.htm

It may have just been a mixture of the really bad weather/visibility and driving a car totally unlike your FSi.

Regardless, looks like a cracker! Let me know next time your going, I'll pop over to Mallory!

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Rest in peace Ben "Jam" Elvin. Gone but never forgotten.

Love it

A mate of mine has a 1.6 GTI and that's pretty nippy nevermind having 150bhp under your right foot he has solid metal rear mounts if I remember correctly and said they helped a huge amount

To be honest i think the spin/drift was a combination of things....
Tyre pressures too high, not being used to the car, poor conditions and probably in need of a new/uprated rear beam...
It will be the priority over the winter to improve that situation anyway.
Lift off oversteer isn't necessarily new to me, but when it's so snappy it is lol...
i looked at a few pictures of Mallory Park (and the corner i went off on - Gerrards) and I probably didn't make it half way round the corner lol. Very scarey on my first track day!
Anyway, thanks for the comments, I will let you know when i'm next down there

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L333SYA - Ford Cougar 2.5 V6
RR - TBC

looking good there andy

in regards to your fez, there was a 2.0 16v mk3 fez raping a few cars at the pf track day at brands today, it was flying