2006 - Espera Pontarlier

GT-C1

The Citroën GT-C1 presented by the Espera students is a little marvel. Some time ago, Sbarro and his students brought out the Picasso Cup, a large MPV with gullwing doors. The C1-GT is strongly inspired by this model: it has the same stylistic lines, but on a reduced scale, which makes this chip even more impressive.

A kind of Picasso Cup downsized, the GT-C1 has all the makings of an angry chip (photo: Tuning53)

Concentrated

The Espera class of 2005-2006 designed this car in collaboration with Citroën, and Marc Chatrieux in particular. The donor car body was completely stripped. A custom-made six-point roll bar was fitted, along with extended running gear and six-piston brakes from a Citroën Xsara WRC. The car is fitted with BF Goodrich 225/35/19 tires mounted on 19" OZ UltraLeggera rims. At the rear, an anti-climbing bar supports the spare wheel, visible through the rear window as on the Picasso Cup: this was a request from Marc Chatrieux. Most impressive of all are the gullwing doors. But the one-piece kit that "surrounds" the car gives it an aggressive look and increases its width to two meters! The white paintwork is pearlescent with bluish tones.
With its wide fenders, gull-wing door and twin tailpipes, the GT-C1 oozes sport (photo by Dominique Fontenat for Option Auto).

Plumage and antlers

The interior features two Recaro buckets with harnesses. The interior has been painted in matte carbon gray.
And the engine? This is surely the GT-C1's weak point. The engine comes from a Citroën C2 VTS. It's a 1600 cm3 four-cylinder developing 125 horsepower. Although the weight remains very low, at 900 kg, the power output is a little too low to match the performance of the bodywork.
Snowplough (photo by Dominique Fontenat for Option Auto)

It took Franco Sbarro's students almost six months to design and build this Citroën C1, worthy heir to the Picasso Cup. The result is magnificent. The GT-C1 is one of Espera's finest creations in Pontarlier.

In brief
1- Official order from Citroën
2- 2 meters wide by 3.50 meters long
3- A sort of Picasso Cup in miniature
  • C2 VTS original four-cylinder engine
  • Displacement 1600 cm3
  • 125 horsepower
  • Transverse front position
  • Front-wheel drive
  • 5-speed manual gearbox
  • Length 3.50 m; width 2 m
  • Weight: 900 kg
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