The ultimate hot hatch?

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We’ve had some amazing cars and people on our site, but we haven’t had anything French yet. In our opinion French cars are overlooked when it comes to their German and Jap counterparts. Renault however, is always a company that has stood out for producing some of the best performance hatchbacks we’ve seen on the roads over the past 3 decades.

A man who will testify to that statement is Clio-mad Aaron and his equally bonkers Clio RS 200. Aaron is an HGV mechanic and welder from Pembrokeshire Wales and he’s a proper car nut - “If I'm not working on vehicles as a job then I'm doing it as a hobby”. Although it’s not just working on cars that Aaron is good at…

From an early age he was involved with rallying and like any of us, developed a love for all things motor vehicle quickly after. At the age of 13 Aaron was helping friends and family with rallying “whether it was cleaning the windscreens or refuelling on the mid event services”. He didn’t stop there. After becoming a navigator for a few years he decided it was his time to take the wheel and at 18 jumped into the driver’s seat himself.

“This came with its ups and downs. Some great results over the years yet some horrific crashes. Where in 2013 after a big accident I decided to officially retire from rallying but do still spectate as much as possible.”

What was next for Aaron? Sit back with a brew and a biscuit? No chance… Over the years Aaron has modified his fair share of cars, be it for rallying or daily drivers. Previous builds have included numerous Vauxhall Nova’s, Corsa B’s, Escort XR3I’s and then eventually, the Renault Clio – 172 cup, 182 (x3) 197 – if you know you know… “I then moved onto the Clio 200 which I still own and is my best creation yet”.

We love a before and after pic, as does everyone – in the 2 years that Aaron has owned his Clio RS 200, it’s undergone quite the transformation to make it a truly unique and bespoke example. “I've done a crazy amount of work and plenty of custom bits to make it unique and making us believe it is the only 1 around like it”. 

The engine “is fairly standard” … Fitted with 402 cat cams, MS ported inlets, enlarged throttle body, K-TEC induction kit, A/C delete (who needs cold air anyways…), Toyo exhaust manifold, Miltek non res system and red silicon hoses. Aaron has recently dropped the engine out of the frame, rebuilt it with new components and painted it red (for those extra bhp gains) … So, if all that work comes down to “fairly standard”, then the rest of the build is going to be pretty spectacular.

Engine done, now for the handling, and with Aaron being an ex-rally driver, you can almost guarantee he has done the work to get this Clio handling like it is on rails. Fully packed with full Powerflex bushes, Yellow Speed coilovers, fully adjustable top mounts, Puretrack and Ultra Racing braces to keep the chassis in check while the Goodrich brake flexis and Pro-Line Motorsport rear axle kit “keep brakes in order”.

The interior has also been modified with new black and red Corbeau seats, Kolor Koncept red seat belts, black retrimmed headliner, alcantara pillars and sun visors, K-TEC floor mats, carbon dash inserts and parcel shelf. The cherry on top for the interior? A custom Vibe boot build.

As it stands the car has already had plenty of work done to it to bring it to a very high-quality standard. Now we turn our attention to the outside “where the most work has happened”. Kicking things off with the unique Porsche purple 3AE respray making it pop in all the right places when the sun shines. On the front Aaron has a full carbon bonnet and bumper insert partnered with an F1 diffuser. Custom splitter and fog surrounds paired with the bumper vents help make this one of the most unique bumpers we’ve seen on a Clio RS. Airfilter duct, wiper scuttle arms and windscreen trims almost complete the front. Let us now address the ‘elephant in the room’ – the custom made, one of a kind, made in his living room, carbon morrette style headlights. These really put the icing on the cake with the front of this build, using the original lights and brackets from the Clio, Aaron cut and moulded a pair of Ford Focus morrette headlights into the Clio lenses and then sent them away for the carbon fibre treatment.

On the roof Aaron has a cup racer carbon roof scoop coupled with carbon roof strips and carbon aerial. The side of the car has once again, uniquely custom made DTM style cup mirrors which are moulded into the original baseplate and finished in carbon. Carbon door bullets and door strips along with skirt extensions, skirt spats, custom fuel cap and wind deflectors complete the side. Moving onto the rear and leaving no stone unturned on this build, we have a genuine cup racer carbon spoiler, smoothed tailgate, Corsa VXR rear bumper vents that are moulded into the Clio’s bumper, carbon bumper spats, exhaust tips and colour coded diffuser to finally finish this mega build off, “there is no part I like more it's all been a dream come true build”.

This might just be the most modified car we’ve had on TLNTD, and could very well be the ultimate hot hatch, what do you reckon?  There is likely more carbon fibre on this car than there is the original body, and the carbon won’t stop there either, as Aaron has a rear diffuser currently being moulded in carbon and wants to add a full carbon zero-point technologies gear shift. You can see this amazing example of a Clio RS 200 at all the Castle Combe action days this year where Aaron will be representing Drive Club Cyrmu. You might even see it at Players, Gravity and Max Power reunion too.

“Thank you to people and companies that have been involved with this build. Without them, close friends, and family I wouldn't have achieved what I've achieved. So, to my children and wife Sophie Louise Barrett for putting up with me outside and always running things through my head I thank you and my close family and friends I thank you.”

And we thank you Aaron for letting us peek a little further into this incredible build. It’s always amazing to hear stories about our followers and we love the having this opportunity to be able to share these amazing builds with you, down to the last detail! Head to Aaron's Instagram and see the build in all it’s glory for yourself – trust us, it’s worth it.

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Stay safe and we look forward to setting some meets up across the UK very soon!

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Photo credits to Aaron Barrett & Earths Eye Media