Citroen DS3 Racing limited to 1000 units
Here’s a hotter version of the Citroen DS3 that the French company will debut at the Geneva show in early March, limited to just 1,000 production units. The car is rather unimaginatively called the Citroen DS3 Racing and gets its 1.6 liter BMW-SPA Prince engine boosted up to 200 horsepower, up from the original 156hp unit installed in the stock DS3. Torque gets upped to 275Nm from 240Nm Cars United State Of America, Car United State Of America, USA Car, USA Cars, Car USA, Cars USA.
Citroen achieved the 200 horses with remapping the turbo and ECU control, “modified and optimized powertrain components” (oh such detail) and installed a special tail pipe and exhaust muffler. To cope with the extra power, brakes have been upgraded to 4-pot calipers at the front and all four wheels get new discs, including drilled discs for the rear. The steering has also had some updates to be more “precise” and to suit the new larger tyros. The suspension gets stiffer springs, adapted front and rear shocks to handle the increased power, front and rear track gets widened by 30mm, and the car gets lowered by 15mm. Finally, the ESP programming has been updated to suit the new components (Cars United State Of America, Car United State Of America, USA Car, USA Cars, Car USA, Cars USA).
Citroen DS3 Racing anti retro Mini Cooper S rival!
At the Geneva show, Citroen Racing (Citroen’s STi/Allianora) paraded the DS3 Racing that’s set to go on sale in the second half of 2010. Limited to 1,000 units, the DS3R comes with plenty of carbon trim – on the front bumper, lower body trim, wing extensions, door side moldings and spoiler, to be exact. The Grey show car was nicely contrasted with orange on the roof, wing mirrors, grille and rims (18-inch, looks really wicked) and wore some funky decals. Orange and carbon are also repeated in the cabin, which has a high-quality feel to it.
The first ad I noticed once touching down at the Geneva airport was one for the Citroen DS3, which had the headline “anti-retro”. We all know that the DS3 is pitched as a rival to BMW’s Mini, and the ad is clearly a jibe in the direction of the bug-eyed car. I understand the DS3’s appeal for those who either don’t “get” the Mini’s retro looks or simply look at it as a fashion fad. With creative design typical of Citroen and a modern, classy cabin, we reckon that it will do very well in Europe. Citroen took the 1.6 THO engine (as found in our Peugeot 308 Turbo) and boosted output to 200 b hp, while torque is up from 240 NM to 275 NM.The gains were achieved by “optimizing power train components”, modifying the turbo, remapping the ECU and adding a sports exhaust system. With these figures, the DS3R will outpace a Mini Cooper S.
