Miguel Sánchez
Few cars can say that they have outlived their successor. In fact, if a case like this comes to you right now ... Please make use of the comments to this article because we have only one in mind: that of the Citroen 2CV. The car that, with more than 5 million units sold and 43 years of life With a mechanics practically the same as that contained in its first series, it stands as an example of irrefutable practicality and resistance.
In this case the successor was the Diana 6, which appeared in 1967 just 20 years after the moment his "father”. Moment in which French society had recovered a higher and urban standard of living after the destruction caused by the Nazi occupation in a country with industrial centers but with an interior full of small agricultural producers.
What did this mean? Well what Citroën saw a commercial gap adapting its successful and rushed 2CV to a new urban middle class that demanded practical but not so spartan vehicles. The result was a car that, although it was sold as "substitute" of the 2CV… Actually it supposed a reformulation of the same one clearly framing it in the automobiles of segment B.
For better or for worse ... The truth is that this car barely had substantial differences in chassis and engine with the 2CV, so its little disruptive character has made it appear before posterity more as an evolution of the great 2CV than as a model with its own entity. Thus, its commercial life ended in 1983 -seven years before that of its predecessor-, but as it usually happens in most of the exciting popular classics ... Many of its units took on new lives.
Why? Well, simply because if your passions are mechanics and racing ... Unless you are an eccentric billionaire, Aston Martin and Ferrari surrounded by large teams of engineers and competition mechanics remain on the pages of magazines. Only affordable cars like a 2CV or a Dyane 6 give motor enthusiasts a chance when it comes to makeovers and racing.
This opens the door to an exciting world: that of the restoration or adaptation of vehicles in garages where tools for the exercise of mechanics are piled up next to household junk. That is, the world of fans who dedicate their effort and time to make real homemade virguerias at the blow of an ingenuity that supplies the lack of means.
But let's stop making words and illustrate all this with an example that surely will not leave you indifferent. This is the adaptation that some Spanish fans - father and son - have made of an old Dyane 6 to turn it into ... A racing beast with the 24 Hours of Spa 2CV and Derivatives in the sights! All this counted with the good visual work to which the channel of Guillermo García Alfonsín “Power art".
BUT WHAT IS THIS?
It is surely the question that many of you have asked yourself when you saw the first photos of our protagonist. And the thing is ... Although there are obviously lines on its body that give it away as a Dyane 6 or 2CV, the truth is that it is practically unrecognizable.
This is due to the enormous work done with the panels of a body that widens slightly compared to the original, mixing aluminum parts with other fiberglass In order to create new volumes where the aerodynamics -parting from how little cared it is in the Dyane 6- receives some small touch-ups thanks to inserts that help reduce turbulence.
However, the most interesting of this evolution is found under those same panels, since although the chassis has not been touched too much, many elements have received a new treatment; Yes indeed, always under the rules specified in the 24 Hours Spa manual for 2CV and Derivatives, a competition of the sweetest in which the wild side of these little ones comes out every October on a hard track, full of water and fog on those dates.
The first thing that strikes us as soon as we open the panel that covers the engine is the same as the presenter himself: the low height at which the engine is. This helps the car to obtain a very low point of gravity, an element that adds up when creating a car that is much more stable and rigid than you might think coming from a purebred Citroën.
The stabilizers that have been incorporated contribute to this and thanks to which the fiber of the bodywork manages not to rub the ground even when taking tight curves, adding to this hardness in the suspensions a grip provided by the tires mounted on 2CV rims widened thanks to their assembly with the outer profile of a Peugeot 406.
But… Let's go to the heart of this bronco Dyane 6: its engine. An engine capable of delivering 40CV and that is basically the original one, incorporating yet another exhaust system -a "flamethrower”That stands out on the left side- and a new carburation system vertically with respect to the cylinders. A twin cylinder "boxer”-Another of the curious similarities that Guillermo Alfonsín draws with respect to the 911- endowed with a legendary resistance capable of pushing with vigor the only 600 kilos that marks the whole set.
All this controlled by the original 4-speed gearbox -where the 2nd and 3rd are in the same vertical- and some disc brakes from a Citroën GS -yes, that car that can go "to the lame leg”On three wheels-. In short, a competition Dyane 6 with quite a few modifications but with none of the substantial ones. What can be done with ingenuity and many hours in the garage!
WHEEL SENSATIONS
One of the most interesting moments in the video is when Guillermo himself throws himself to test the car on the Calafat Circuit. And it's a pity that it was a rainy day of those that ask you for a little more restraint because ... Raising the speakers a little to hear that rough sound "Like an old motorcycle”. and also knowing that its behavior is as rigid and fun as that of a kart with some power ... It makes you want to be there tied to your only Recaro seat galloping the 40CV of a car that offers very sporty sensations regarding its power.
Something that is exacerbated thanks to a very low driving position, in which the legs are practically stretched out and the rider wrapped in a safety cage dictated by the rules of the 24 Hours of Spa. Those same 24 Hours for 2CV and Derivatives that the father of the current owner fell in love with on a trip to Belgium in the early 90's, deciding to build this Dyane 6 "special”Who from 1995 to 1999 participated in ascent races in Catalonia.
Later - and as happens many times in the classic world - family and work obligations ended up parking this little demon in the garage until the next generation dusted it off and updated it with new settings and a completely new electrical system. And all for, one day, to be able to run that energetic and sympathetic test that the father fell in love with. The exciting stories that a classic always hides, right?
A 2CV OF RACING THROUGH 'CROWDFUNDING'
This story has so excited Guillermo Alfonsín and his Power Art channel that just launched an ordeal that we would love to be able to fulfill. The topic is as follows: what if they buy a 2CV or Dyane 6, prepare it, explain video by video the entire evolution process, thus showing aspects such as mechanics, grip or aerodynamics and after all this ... They manage to run all 24 of Spa for 2CV and Derivatives in the category of “to prototypes"?
The idea seems delicious to us. If it also seems to remind you that they are orbiting in the idea of making a crowfunding -collective patronage- to finance the project. We will see what happens. And on the part of the enthusiastic father and son responsible for this unique Dyane 6… Just hope to see them race shortly at Spa 24 with their creation. Passion that passes from generation to generation, hours of mechanics and competition. This story has the best of the world of classics. Or not?
