Albert Ferreras
[su_dropcap style = »light»] H [/ su_dropcap] In one of the countless daily car searches, I happened to find two photographs that piqued my curiosity. As can be shown in the context of this article, these are two images published on April 12, 1929 inside the pages of the now-defunct Spanish publication. The new World. Both stamps were published under a strong headline: «A new and definitive triumph for the 'Citroën' six-cylinder».
The protagonist of the event is, in fact, a six-cylinder Citroën «Six», which is photographed in one of the images together with several people who come to see its engine and who even climb on its roof. As a side comment, and except for the detail of those perched on the car, the ritual of opening a hood in any concentration or act of classics continues today to have the same effect of attraction on the respectable propeller.
But let's get back to the matter at hand. In the second of the published photographs, perhaps the main of the two, three people appear next to the Citroën posing for the camera: Messrs. Sirvent, Puigcarbó and Blasco, in a place that, logically, should be located in the city of Madrid .
From here, the big question that arises is: What is the origin that gave rise to these two photos, taken by Contreras and Vilaseca? Obviously, and from what is written on the side of the vehicle, a record (in time taken) that was broken on the Barcelona-Madrid route. As highlighted, it was completed in 8 hours and 42 minutes, something apparently unthinkable at the end of the 20s, taking into account the state of those roads, which were unpaved roads in many of their sections, and paved in others. .
As a reference, at present, the 620 km that separate the Plaza de Catalunya in Barcelona from the Puerta del Sol in Madrid (to take two representative examples) is carried out, according to the calculations obtained through Google Maps, in 5 hours and 31 minutes. , of course, at a speed of 120 km / h on the highway, and with standard urban traffic, that is, without traffic jams.
Absolutely standard?
In the two illustrations, the captions are those that offer us all (and only) information that we have. In the first of them, you can read:
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«Messrs. Sirvent, Puigcarbó and Blasco, who, with a completely standard six-cylinder“ Citroën ”car, broke all the“ records ”with the Barcelona-Madrid journey, covering the 633 kilometers in 8,42 hours, at the fantastic speed of 72,756 kilometers per hour.
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And in the second, the most concise, it is pointed out as a complementary comment: "The notary Mr. Victoriano de la Calle timing and controlling the arrival in Madrid of the six-cylinder" Citroën "that broke the" record "Barcelona-Madrid". The first intention of this article was to have come to specify the details of this exciting (for the time) adventure. But, finally, everything has been in an unsuccessful search for information. That is, there is no further reference to this.
And in addition, it has opened a range of more than interesting questions: How was the challenge conceived? Who were its protagonists? Was the challenge due to a specific official study commissioned by the State? Was it a private initiative funded by the vehicle manufacturer? Except for this last question, which may have a more or less logical explanation, of the rest, only one word can be said: nothing.
Presumably, the double V spike brand, or one of its points of sale in Spain, may have had something to do with the record, but they are speculations. The Citroën C6 Six was launched precisely in 1929, the year in which, as mentioned, the test was carried out.
The vehicle was a restiling of the AC 6, presented at the Paris Motor Show a year earlier. With a 6-cylinder in-line engine, a displacement of 2442 cc, and a power of 45 hp at 3.000 rpm, it reached a maximum speed of 105 kilometers per hour, only approximately 30 km / h above average speed. used to get the record.
With the data provided, and what has been possible based on them, perhaps reading this incomplete article will serve to gather all the information that we lack. Hopefully someone can bring us more light on this curious feat that, 86 years later, continues shrouded in a halo of mystery.
