Hi there
Drove the car in the wet yesterday, its really superb, the R1R's have huge amount of wet grip, as you get close to the limit they do warn you with some mild slip, if you over do it, they break away fast and slide a good few feet before regaining traction, so not the most progressive but very impressive indeed.
The braking performance however on the R1R's is shockingly impressive, even with no ABS you can brake so hard in the wet the stopping power is fantastic and the pedal feel is very impressive as you can brake right upto the point of slip pretty much and modulate as required, but the way it can shed speed is very impressive indeed, at super high speeds, three digits, then things can get a little squirmy but its not really the kind of car you should be trying to stop fast from triple digits, but it can do so very well, but at around legal speeds it can stop insanely well.
The brakes ability, performance and feel is fantastic, probably the best out of all my car and only beaten by the M3 and Jaguar really at trying to stop from speeds beyond 130mph, which in fairness the Clio would struggle to exceed 130mph anyway.
It is such a fun little car, I can't recommend it enough when it comes as a point of fun factor, a BMW 640D in the wet was driving so hard on a country lane in the wet, yet for me in the Clio I felt like I did not even need to try, for me it was just a breeze to keep up and even when joining a dual carriage-way I was on the power so much earlier that even after a good 1/4 mile run he was one car length ahead, its ability to corner, put power down is very impressive, can certainly shock other cars, that is a low kerb weight and sticky tyres for you. Plus its a lot more fun!
Yes its no super car killer, doing some back to back runs between it and the Jaguar and the SVR can corner everywhere faster, even in wet, it is quite mind boggling in fact how quick the SVR can corner if you really push, at first it feels like it will let go as it feels so alive, but you just push beyond it and the SVR can have astonishing pace, but do have to be careful in wet due to its extra mass and power. Likewise with the M3 there is some corners where the Clio may rival it, but long sweepers the M3 does have an edge, but in all fairness shows how capable the Clio is to not be far off the M3, infact on a tighter circuit I can see the Clio been as quick, yes a more flowing circuit the M3 will be gone. Though of course the M3 is running on a less sticky tyre.
Still such a fun car, it is mechanically perfect now, all that is left is 182 manifold, sports cat/exhaust (stealth) and EFI map, then just enjoy it and don't put too many miles on it. Should all be done next month, then over Winter the M3 can get a few jobs I want to do on it along with a set of new wheels and some sticky AR1 for Summer and track days. Probably gonna get a nice set of Recaro F1 seats for the M3 as well.
Currently running an EP3 which is definitely faster but just doesn't have the fun factor that the Clio had, might be time to start looking for one...
