CITROEN DS3 RACING BLASTS INTO SOUTH AFRICA

If it was Citroën South Africa’s intention to light up our fires and make our day, then they’ve succeeded. The little French outfit (little in SA anyway) has announced it will begin selling the very limited edition DS3 Racing in this country with immediate effect. The car is based on the DS3 but boasts extra fangs. And bite, apparently.

Citroën may not immediate conjure up images of anything related to racing for those who’ve never heard of that multi-million dollar sport called the World Rally Championship. But the brand is actually quite dominant when it comes to racing, having won 7 consecutive WRC championship with Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena. Now they’ve crammed all that knowledge and experience into this little sweetheart.

Except it’s not exactly a sweetheart. The DS3 Racing is powered by a 1.6-litre THP engine with a turbo strapped for dear life. It promises 152kW of glory, as well as 275Nm of torque to boot. As a result, one can expect to hurry from 0 – 100km/h in just 6.5 seconds, topping off at 235km/h.

Externally there’s a sporty kit to go with the stiffer suspension springs, a 15mm lower suspension, a more precise steering system and special 4-piston racing brake calipers. Those orange alloy wheels are 18-inchers and compliment quite nicely the chrome door handles and tailpipe.

Only 1000 are being produced for the world market, and Mzansi gets a whopping 10. Ok, so it’s not exactly whopping but I bet it’s 10 more than what Kazakhstan or Alaska are allocated. So hurry up and place that order. They are priced at R399 000 a pop.