Paying homage to an unlikely icon of automotive design, the Citroen 2CV.
When one of the design requirements for a car is that the customer should be able to drive eggs across a freshly ploughed field without breaking them, you know some unusual choices are going to be made. Especially if interpreted by an unusually gifted engineer.
In 1934 Citroen went bankrupt, and so Michelin, its largest creditor, took it over. It then did a market survey to see what a low-end car should be able do. France at that time had a large rural population which could not yet really afford cars.
From the results of the survey Pierre Boulanger, the vice president of Citroen and chief of engineering and design, derived the main items for the ‘mechanical umbrella on four wheels’, and listed the requirements for what was called the TPV (Toute Petite Voiture – very small car).
It would be a sturdy, low cost, low maintenance car, more basic than that other icon, the Ford Model T, able to transport four passengers and 50kg of goods across muddy rutted regional roads and not use more than three litres of fuel per 100km (95 miles per gallon). It also had to be easy to drive, for first time drivers.
French persistence
The designer of the car was a mechanical genius, Andre Lefebvre. He had already designed the Citroen 7CV ‘Traction Avant’, a front-wheel-drive sedan that broke new ground in handling, performance and efficacy, turning it into a favourite of bank robbers, because it was the ideal getaway car.
Lefebvre had come to Citroen from Voisin, an aircraft and car manufacturer, where he had designed the Voisin C6 Laboratoire, a grand prix car that was probably the first monocoque racer, bringing his experience as a race and rally driver
この記事は Racecar Engineering の December 2017 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Racecar Engineering の December 2017 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Talk the torque
More thoughts on in-wheel motors and their effects on twisting force
Rolling about
An explanation of the limitations of a previous load transfer article, bringing jacking forces into the mix
F1 breaks schedule records
The FIA has confirmed no fewer than 23 races on the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship schedule, the highest number of grands prix ever to be held in a single season, and that has led to criticism from some teams that will be on the road for eight months.
Under pressure
Toyota may have finished first and second at Le Mans this year, but the effort required to overcome a fuel delivery problem and finish with both cars was Herculean
Physics at work
Dutch company, Intrax, offers Racecar Engineering an insight into the technologies it employs to optimise its suspension products
Williams' 2030 ambition
Williams Racing has committed to becoming climate positive by 2030 as part of an all-new sustainability strategy.
Diff'rent strokes
Racecar looks at the different types of mechanical differential, their benefits and limitations
Das Boot
A curious Twitter exchange fired up a unique, hydrogen-powered, cross-country project that will contest the Baja 1000 in November 2022
Air born
Every racecar engineer's dream is a blank sheet of paper design. When Hoonigan and Subaru approached Vermont Sportscars about building the next generation of Gymkhana racer, that's just what the company was given
Remote control
Called variously ‘virtual garages’, ‘mission control’ or ‘race support rooms’ is the future of race engineering sitting in the warm back at HQ?