Virtual GT is virtually a reality
BY RON HAMMERTON | 1st Jul 2009
Britain’s Autocar reports that the French company is planning to put the mid-engined gullwinged Citroen GT – or GTbyCitroen as it is officially called – into limited production for just six buyers prepared to part with about £1.1 million ($A2.24m).
Originally conceived for the Gran Turismo 5 PlayStation road-racing game, the one-off supercar concept was shown to rave reviews at the Paris motor show last October.
Such was the reaction to the typically quirky Citroen that the company started serious consideration of a production version.
Now, Citroen products and markets manager Vincent Besson has given the project the green light, with the road-going version set to make its debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September, Autocar says.
Quoting a senior source at the company, Autocar said most of the concept’s features should make the final production version, including the carbonfibre construction and interior copper trim.
Certainly, the concept Citroen GT driven by a select group of journalists around London last week as a prelude to the car’s appearance this weekend at England’s Goodwood Festival of Speed was armed with a throaty V8.
The Sun’s Ken Gibson wrote that the five-metre-long GT stopped early-morning commuters and tourists in their tracks with its striking silhouette and “sound that would wake the dead”.
Gibson says the GT was a brute to drive, with heavy controls and gear changes that clunked into place.
With exaggerated racer air intakes and an elongated tail, the Citroen GT was designed by Gran Tourismo creator Kazanori Yamauchi to look fast. A graduated white-to-grey paint job accentuates the speed effect.
The curved cockpit glass mimics a Le Mans racing sportscar, as do the bulging wheel-arches housing 21-inch wheels.
Two race-style seats with four-point harnesses provide a low-slung driving position in the darkened, smoke-glassed cabin which is garnished with copper and steel finishes. A head-up display dispenses with the usual dials.
British car fans at Goodwood will get to see the Citroen GT unleashed for the first time on the famous hill-climb course.