This is my second Renault Super 5, a 1986 GTL. Just like the one before, it's a rally beater, almost 100% stock due to budget limitations. I'm a university student and work as a motorsport marshal for now, it's a paid job (usually) but it doesn't pay much. I do it mainly because motorsports are my drug, the cash is a nice side effect. I don't think I'll stop doing it even when I get a full time job... unless I'll be the one on the track that is.
Now let's take a look at the junker, shall we?

1400cc OHV, 5-speed manual.
Modifications:
Cat delete, revalved shocks, +2 sizes wider wheels, BiMarco (local FIA approved brand) race seat, Sabelt 4-point camlock harness, GTE/GT Turbo steering wheel.

So, what do I do with it? It's rarely driven outside of competition. I race it in all manner of amateur events, rallies, slaloms, sprints, tarmac, gravel, snow, you name it.
The mods I'm most satisfied with are improvements to driver's workplace. The race seat and harness really made me drive seriously, before it was a sloppy job or perhaps even time wasted as far as my development as a driver goes. There's still a bit of tweaking left, mainly to seat mounts and position, also I'd like the shifter to be a bit closer to the driver. I might also consider dropping the car a bit and installing an engine skid plate but that's about all (maybe a tach?). Also, I'll probably switch from 175/65R13 to 175/50R13 tires, can't really decide, though. I like the progresivness of higher pofile tires and I'm unsure how I'd do on low profile's.

It's small but it prefers faster courses (as do I), gymkhana-style tight set-ups are not what it likes (me likewise). Despite it's size, the steering rack ratio is 'slow' maing such tigh courses a tiring and unrewarding experience. Besides, I prefer to flow rather than jerk the car around. It's softly sprung, the shocks are revalved but it's far from being a decent suspension, without changing springs/trosion bars it just doesn't work like it should. The shocks don't like short bumps, the car flies over them. Handling is typical for little French cars, huge amounts of lift off oversteer. You actually have to apply neutral throttle on corner entry in most situations to get rid of it. Also, the rear likes to bounce around sometimes. Having said that, when I got a chance to really unwind it at higher speeds (Poznan race track) it felt great, fantastic throttle steering and 4-wheel tire slipping in corners. I was scared of it at first but the more I race the more I like the handling.

The engine is a trusty Cleon series iron block OHV with an early EFI. Clearly a cruising engine, it's a low revver (max hp at 4750rpm), but it's smooth and economical. A 1400cc engine in such a small car results in decent performance and the extra bit of torque pushes the car along at a tolerable pace. More importantly, it feels well matched to suspension and brakes, making a nice, balanced package. My biggest gripe with it is that it doesn't fit in the 900cc-1300cc class, bumping me to the 1300cc-1600cc class with fast cars like Saxo VTS, 106 Rallye and the cursed VTEC CRX.

As you can see, it looks like crap. That's because I care more about tire slip angles than clearcoat light reflection angles. Especially since that clearcoat might be gone the next second when I'll ram a stack of tires, violate some bushes or scrape against armco. Pretty much half of the body was cut off and replaced/rebuilt from scratch as it turned out it pretty much turned into brown dust... curse you, tinworm. I'll never be suckered into such costly repairs again. It seeme a pretty small job at first but the deeper it went the more s*** surfaced.
Mechanically it's more or less OK... for its age and price. The gearbox works fine but makes quite a multitude of noises, few of which are pleasant and none healthy. Engine happily clacks with its pushrods and apart from emiting a bit of smoke works like a champ. But the age shows, just like and old man it tires easily, after flogging it around a bit longer stuff seems to go out of whack a bit.

And a little video of the Froggy on action:
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=l6zhkGU21hc

Update:

Further tweaks to the cockpit, finally got proper seat mounts fabricated and the steering column got an extender. Bought 175/50R13 tires which turned out great.

However, in a whole the car heads to the crapper. I was clueless enough to take thos low profile tires to several fast and bumpy events, which bent a control arm and ripped a ARB end out of it. That was fixed but I can't afford to replace leaking shocks. To make matters worse, the engine lost compression (as low as 6.5 bar in one cylinder, should be 9.5) which results in blowing oil over the piston and into the valve cover, then outside, not to mention a big loss of power. So now not only I get intoxicated with oil fumes (I can of couse shut the ventilation down and suffocate) but I guesstimate I have around 35-40hp at the wheels. Oh, and the tinworm has been doing it's job too.

For now, I plan to race it until it dies. I'm doing my master's now, so I should be able to get a job and replace it within a year or two I hope.