Tag Archives: R

Avante Garde Hyper Typage – Devine DS

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Star of the seriously bizzare at the 2014 French Motorshow was the Devine DS which Citroen offered up as a vision for the future of it’s DS brand.

Divine DS, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

As if to emphasise the DS as a stand alone brand the Devine features no Citroën badging.

Divine DS, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

While the avant garde design is based on the most important C segment hatchback dimensions, think Citroën C4, Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus, the Divine DS does not prefigure any specific model that is being planned for production.

Divine DS, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The 20 inch front wheels are powered by a 266hp 1.6 litre four cylinder engine sourced from sister company Peugoet’s RCZ R model.

Divine DS, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

It is unlikely that the front hinged front and rear hinged rear scissor doors will ever go into production on any model, they were fitted merely to offer viewers a great view of the bold hyper typage interior.

Divine DS, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

According to Citroën ‘Hyper-typage’ is a new concept for an interchangeable interior ambience manifested by dashboard and door scrolls that can be changed in just 15 minutes.

Divine DS, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The three ambiances envisaged are sober‘Mâle’ alternating alternating carbon fibre textile with glazed, burnished leather, sophisticated and elegant ‘Parisienne Chic’ made in cooperation with fashion embroidery experts Maison Lesage, and finally a darker and even more glamourous ‘Fatale Punk’.

Divine DS, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Fashion jeweler Swarovski was responsible for setting crystals into the Divines head lights and door panels.

Divine DS, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Exterior design leader Bertrand Dantec points out that since technology provides a panoramic digital rear view both the interior rear-view mirror and rear window have been dispensed with, though the rear view door mirrors have been retained.

Thanks for joining me on this “Avante Garde Hyper Typage” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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City To City Racer – Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R

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In June 1854 on the Bristol & Exeter Railway a broad gauge steam train set an out right speed record of 82 mph that appears to have stood until July 1934 when a Milwaukee Road class F6 recorded a top speed of 104 mph to become the fastest steam train.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

The year before the Wright Brothers made the first controlled powered flight William K. Vanderbilt recorded a top speed of just over 76 mph aboard his Mors in 1902 to set the first Land Speed Record for a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine, the following year AEG and Siemens & Halske built an electric train that recorded a top speed of just over 130 mph.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

Having pioneered the Panhard System of placing the engine in front of the automobile and driving the rear wheels with the aid of a clutch operated gearbox and pioneered the use of a steering wheel in place of the hitherto ubiquitous tiller steering Panhard et Levassor were vying with their former collaborator Gottlieb Daimler to supply the best vehicles in Europe to Royalty and industrial leaders at the turn of the 20th Century.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

To ensure their clients awareness of it’s products Panhard et Levassor took part in the popular city to city races of the day, Émile Levassor crossed the line first ahead of another Panhard et Levassor in the 1895 Paris Bordeaux Paris race, but the cars only had two seats, four seats being mandated for prize eligibility.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

By 1903 Panhard et Levassor had developed it’s 70hp model to compete with the Mercedes Simplex.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

The 13672 cm³ / 834 cui 70 hp S²4M 4 cylinder motor and chain drive train was fitted to an R chassis along with two seats and a fuel tank and enough space to carry a few spare tyres.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

16 70hp Panhard et Levassors are believed to have been built, I believe Charles S Rolls, of Rolls Royce fame, drove one in the fatal 1903 Paris Madrid race, but retired before the race was abandoned at Bordeaux and city to city racing was banned in France.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

Felice Nazzaro won the 1km flying sprint at Florence in June 1903 aboard his 70hp and 2 days later won the La Consuma Hillclimb in the same car, a week later Baron Pierre de Crawhez won the 500km Circuit des Ardennes driving another 70hp and Felice rounded out his season with a win in the 10km Padua-Bovolenta Sprint and flying 1km Padua Sprint in October.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

Richard Black’s 70hp, seen in these photographs at a Brooklands Double Twelve meeting with Michael New at the wheel, was first registered in the UK on the 1st of October 2007.

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500lb Competition Diet – Porsche 911 R Replica

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In 1967 Porsche put it’s 911 model on a competition diet to bring the weight down by 230 kgs / 500 lbs to 810 kgs / 1786 lbs to produce a new model the 911 R.

Porsche 911 R, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

A limited run of 4 factory cars and 19 customer 911 Rs were built by Baur at their body shop in Stuttgart with fibreglass paneled doors, bonnet / hood and boot / trunk lid. Additional weight saving was achieved by using plastic door hinges and bumpers.

Porsche 911 R, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

The standard interior was completely deleted in favour of the bare essentials needed for racing or rallying competition, the lightweight side windows were louvred at the rear.

Porsche 911 R, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

Power from the flat six motor was raised from the original type 901 130hp to 210 hp using the type 901/22 motor from the 906 Carrera or 230 hp from the four cam type 901/21 motor.

Porsche 911 R, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

Homologation for the GT class required a minimum of 500 identical vehicles to be built, so with only 24 cars completed the 911 R was forced to run in the prototype class against the likes of mighty Ford Mark IV’s and Ferrari P4s which both had motors more than double the size of the 911 R’s 2 litre / 122 cui flat 6.

As a consequence notable results were hard to come by although the 911 R did score two outright wins the first in the 1967 when Hans Hermann, Jochen Neerspach and Vic Elford shared chassis #3, fitted with a 4 cam motor and Sportmatic transmission, to win the 84 hour Marathon de la Route at the Nurburgring.

Tour de France, Dunlop SP Sport, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

The second significant 911 R victory came in 1969 when Gérard Larrousse & Maurice Gélin won the 1969 Tour de France beating the Chevrolet Corvette driven by Henri Greder and André Vigneron as seen in the black and white photo seen above in a 1970 advertisement for Dunlop tyres.

Today’s featured car seen at the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed is a replica 911 R that started life as a far more humble 1967 4 cylinder Porsche 912, according to the blurb in the windscreen this car took over 1200 hours to complete.

Thanks for joining me on this “500lb Competition Diet” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a couple of Porsche 912s.

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