| Long Term Test | Renaultsport Clio 200 Cup |
Been anywhere interesting?
Silverstone. For a Renaultsport track day. It's all part of the Renaultsport experience apparently, and it's a good way of enjoying your Renault hot hatch on some great tracks. On this first event of the year it's Silverstone's national circuit, though other dates take in tracks like Spa, Oulton Park and Bedford Autodrome. Silverstone required an early start to make the 8.30am driver briefing and rain upon arrival didn't bode well - the last time I drove Silverstone in the rain resulted in a high-speed spin at Copse corner in my 205 GTI. Thankfully, I had all day to play and the Clio has a very good stability control system...
Anything stand out...?
Finally I've really been able to enjoy the Clio's tremendous performance without fear of my licence. It's a great fast road car, but my schedule lately has meant more often than not it's been hacking up and down motorways rather than blitzing back roads. The chance to really wring it out at Silverstone was a real treat, and demonstrated just how capable and ridiculously fast the Cup can be. Even in the wet. With Silverstone's surface doing its best to spit me off the track, the Clio gripped tenaciously, the stability system only every giving a helping hand on the very fast mid section and exit of Copse.
With all the cars on track largely matched for performance the Renaultsport event is a great way to really enjoy your car. There's the opportunity to try other Renaultsport products for free too, while inexpensive instruction allows you to get the most from your circuit and car. For just £169 it's as big a bargain as the Clio Cup itself; indeed, if I wasn't saving for a new house (or if I'm honest, a double garage with a house attached to it) I'd be sorely tempted to buy my Clio and sign up for all the available track events.
...and for the wrong reasons?
The fuel consumption at Silverstone was horrendous. Every gearshift-warning beeping red-line quest meant that the Clio was hosing fuel into its 197bhp 2.0-litre engine. Having just done the calculations I'm glad to see a fuel consumption figure fitting of such antics. I emptied the tank in 198 miles, that including about 120 miles on the motorway to Silverstone. The consumption figure comes out at 21.9mpg, which is still pretty respectable. Some parsimonious driving earlier in the month - on the Clio's all too often motorway airport runs - saw me get 35mpg from a tank, giving me an average of 29.9mpg over the last few weeks.
I should be glad that the Clio is proving so economical, but it does rather emphasise that it's not getting the thrashing it so rightly demands. That, or it's just economical, which, given its light weight and big power output isn't too unbelievable. Annoyingly the lighter socket on the Clio has given up working, which we only discovered when plugging in Racelogic's neat Video VBOX with the intention of filming our on-track fun at Silverstone. I'll be popping into a Renault dealer as soon as possible to get it looked at.
Where next?
I think I'm going to have to rectify the lack of proper back road blasts in the Clio with a few exploratory runs out into the countryside. Now the evenings are getting a bit lighter and my diary's not so full I'll be sure that the last few weeks with the Clio are fun-filled. We're not yet sure what we'll be replacing it with, but the hot hatch bug has bitten hard enough again to have me haul my old Peugeot 205 GTI out of its garage and have it sorted out for the summer. My old classic hot hatch will have a tough job getting anywhere near the Clio's level of performance, but with the strict way the roads near me are policed that's perhaps no bad thing...
