Ring Reviews

First lap: Citroen DS3 Racing

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Parent Category: Nurburgring

Created on Friday, 01 July 2011 19:31

Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 April 2012 22:04

Published on Friday, 01 July 2011 19:31

Written by Dale

It's the year 2011 and there are a lot of hot hatches out on the market. For half the world they remain an unknown and misunderstood car genre, even though for us Europeans (and the Japanese too) they're part of our automotive lifestyle. And in the world of hot hatches there are, of course, legends. Honda with it's Civics and V-TEC JUST KICKED IN YO powerbands, Renault and it's divinely steering Clios. VW and the increasingly bloated Golf GTi (you know it's true).

One manufacturer that hasn't been on my own radar much in the last couple of years is definitely Citroën - and that's despite spawning such legendarily mental cars as the AX GT and Saxo VTS (they were always driver's cars, even if some idiots bought most of them, painted them mint green and hung around in cinema car parks...).

Now Citroen, or maybe I should say Citroën Racing, are very much back on the plotting screen here at BTG. Because I've just driven the DS3 Racing and saying it's a lot of fun would be like saying Liberace liked to dress up a bit... 

Allez, Allez, Allez!

Under the bonnet and behind the acres of radiator and intercooler lies the same engine as the Mini - a 1.6 four-cylinder turbo making 207bhp so easily that you forget how fast it can move a small 1150kg body. Peak torque kicks in below 3000rpm and it pulls all the way to the redline with such a linear urge that you hardly need to touch the gear lever. In comparison to the noisy Clio 200, which needs a damn good stir on the gear stick every few seconds, it lends the little DS3.R quite a casual air. In fact the light-yet-clicky gearbox is just another extension of the 'so what' gallic attitude - it's so easy to shift up and down the 'box that you're not quite as involved as you would be with another shift (again like the Clio, with it's tight-and-not-so-light clickety shifter). Unlike naturally aspirated counterparts, the turbo DS3.R's gearing is understandably longer to take advantage of that fat torque curve. On a shorter circuit this could be a detriment, but on the Nordschleife it's a massive plus. Third gear does all the work, followed by fourth and fifth. Sixth gets a look-in just as you're about to nail the bottom of the foxhill at well over 200km/h.

Actually, the more I think about it the DS3.R got more in common with a much larger and much more refined Renault, the blisteringly quick Megane 250. The Clio's a lot cheaper than either and while it's closer to the DS3.R in performance terms, it simply can't compete with the whole package:

This, I grudgingly admit, is a damn impressive cockpit. At first glance the tangerine trim and lashings of carbon actually made me wince. But when you get yourself sat in the standard bucket seats, start fiddling with the brilliant stero and just... you know... settle in... well, it feels good. Yes, I know, I'm easily won over, but you would be too. The carbon is beautiful, the colours of the LED clocks just so bright and crisp. It even has a little scent cartridge to fiddle with. I asked about the scent of Le Mans pitlane on the second round of pitstops, but all Citroen had was citrus bouquet...

Arrêt!

Of course it would be pointless to put the car together with this much power and this much carbon-fibre if it didn't live up to the reputation that more basic and more crazy Citroën hatchbacks have won over the years.

And the DS3.R really delivers here. Carbon blister arches draw attention to the wider track, big wheels and suitably big brakes. I drove the car on it's stock pads and tyres, fresh from the showroom, and it laughed at the Nürburgring. No, it didn't just laugh, it gallically scoffed at it. The pedal feel is superb, the wheel both light and tactile - and none of this changes over the course of a lap. The steering might be lighter than a 1990s Saxo or Clio, but thankfully it's lacking nothing in feel.

Asking a little too much of the front tyres? You'll know about it. What about if you panic and come off the gas at the same time?

Well, as the de rigeur French oversteer swings into action with the swiftness of a general public strike, the steering wheel will gently align itself to your intended (naturally) slip angle. The generous caster provides that controllability that makes an oversteery hatchback fun. And not just dangerous. Although it's got to be said, while the ESP allows some very quick lift-off corner entries it absolutely sh*ts itself on the traction-control routine. All power disappears for a millenium (about a second) and it's bloody intensely annoying when it happens (see the video below). But I'm kind-of happy to report that it can be turned off completely. Though I suspect that poor drivers will turn off the ESP intending to exit corners faster, when in fact the lift-off oversteer will be waiting around the proverbial ESP-free corner to murder them noisely and messily.

Just to return to the cosmetics for one clumsy moment; those big wheels are actually 'only' 18-inches. They just look bigger. Apparently that's called 'reverse rim' technology and has nothing to do with men meeting each other in public toilets for mutual pleasure. And that back-end sports 'normal' twin exhaust pipes. Thank God, not another centre exit exhaust and fake aerodynamic diffusor...

The BTG conclusion:

At £23k or over €30k this is a pricey car for a 1.6 turbo hatchback. But unlike some machines on the market, you can actually feel where a lot of the money goes. There's no fake carbon here or crappy almost-black plastic trim. The brakes, the suspension, the wheels - even the headlights and tailights - they're all quality and share little with lower-end Citroën commuters. Contrary to magazine tests, the DS3Rs competition is unlikely to come from the bargain-basement Clio 200 (as awesome and as fast as that little giant-killer is). No, the DS3.R is aimed squarely at it's own genetic cousin; the posh MINI Cooper Works machines. And it would be a close fight around the 'Ring between a JCW and a DS3.R. One that I'd dearly like to put together...

Citroën DS3 Racing
supplied by Citroën Niederlassung Frankfurt

Specification
Engine: 1.6 litre turbocharged inline-4
Gearbox: Six-speed manual
Power: 207bhp @6000rpm
Torque: 202lb/ft@2000-4500rpm

Top speed: 145mph (limited, apparently)

BTG time: Coming soon! :)

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