The Clio RS may be a hot-hatch for day to day use, but it does have some specific features. While in the city, I had problems with overly "sharp" brakes and lack of torque at low rpm, on track, however, everything changes. Gearshifting is available on 7500 rpm, shift light and zoom help not to miss the right moment.
Brake pedal, surprisingly, gets hard, but not because of overheating. 4-piston Brembos are very stable. They just need more effort to get necessary levels of deceleration. Brake pedal feedback is wonderful - you definitely feel the threshold after which ABS is activated.
Steering is clear enough, with good feedback and pleasant resistance. These are 2 main advantages of Clio RS - brakes and steering.
By the way, Clio RS seems to be the last one with non-turbo engine among B-class hot-hatches - Corsa OPC, as you know, is equipped with 1.6T, MINI as well. VW family (Polo, Fabia, Ibiza and probably Audi S1) have 1.4 turbo/compressor. Ford Fiesta's gone.
Our conclusion: Clio RS is one of the best hot-hatches for those, who are just starting to participate in track days.
Clio's laptime: 1:57.4
When the new Fabia RS and Ibiza Cupra will be available for tests (more likely in October) their lap times could be compared with Clio RS.
By the way, this summer we ("Za Rulem" magazine) started cooperation with another new track - Nizhegorodskoe Ring (NRING).
Since Peugeot RCZ sales just started at that time, we decided to test 156 hp coupe with its direct rival - Audi TT. Unfortunately it was impossible to compare cars with reasonably close engine performance levels - Audi TT Roadster had 2.0 TFSI with 200 hp output as well as AWD drivetrain and DSG.
Despite that, we got astonishing results: being almost 50 hp more powerful, Audi TT was actually 0.02 seconds slower than RCZ! The reason must be combination of extra rigidity of coupe bodied RCZ, lesser weight and mechanical gearbox, which is preferable on a track while breaking.
Audi's best lap was 2:06.96, Peugeot showed 2:06.94.
