As we head into another week of fettling around the house doing what we can to keep our minds occupied during this bizarre ugly time we live in right now, it’s time to blow up the week that was with a good bit of tire shredding and high-RPM shenanigans. In other words, hey y’all, watch this!
The Citroën Deux Chevaux has never been regarded for its speed or handling, instead it has been a staple of everyperson transportation in Europe for decades. It’s a bit sloshy through the corners, it handles about as well as a lashed raft in choppy seas, and its bodywork is best replicated by a tin of Heinz legumes. Some daft Frenchman decided it needed a rework and fitted this old 2CV with a Suzuki GSXR 1100 engine. Christ on a cracker, this thing is quick.
In a series of videos on the l’art du pilotage YouTube channel—brought to my attention by the nice blokes at Goodwood on Twitter—the protagonist is shown beating the hell out of this little twin steam horse carriage for everything it’s worth. Lurid powerslides through the corners. Trackday battles with icons from Ferrari and Porsche. Tarmac rally competition. This madman has taken a 2CV places that Citroën never would have thought possible.
The 2CV in question has been lightened quite a bit, from a factory 1300 pounds down to 1100 pounds. And power is up from a standard twenty-something horsepower aircooled flat twin engine to a massive 150 horseponies. My brain can barely comprehend these numbers as belonging to an automobile. Sure, there’s very little torque, but it just encourages you to keep the RPMs revving to the stratosphere.
Your homework for the weekend is to watch this selection of videos of the car doing all kinds of batshit awesome.
My personal favourite is this wet weather hillclimb. What a lurid ride that must have been.
Sadly these videos only come in four-minute-ish chunks. I would like to watch an hour or more of this car doing what it does. Just big revs and flappy sheetmetal going fast. More this.