This crazy Citroën 2CV has two engines and 4WD
According to the rather tired legend, the Citroën 2CV was originally designed to transport a basket eggs across a ploughed field without breaking them; it was all about off-road utilitarianism. But what if you wanted to up the ante and switch the ploughed field for a desert?
To tackle the gruelling Dakar Rally, this 2CV was fitted with an additional engine. Welcome to the 2CV BiBip 2 Dakar. A second air-cooled two-cylinder engine is installed in the rear to drive the back wheels. It gives the car four-wheel-drive and double the power. More than double, in fact, thanks to Citroën Visa cylinder heads.
It was converted to its twin-engined arrangement for the 2007 Dakar Rally. It was then owned by Stéphane Wimez of Club Cassis, a well-established maker of original 2CV parts and Mehari bodies using the original tooling.
After its cross-desert epic, the BiBip went on display in the Club Cassis showroom, and that’s where it stayed until they received a call from the Goodwood Motorsport Content department asking if they’d bring it to the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard.
“We took the car into our workshop to wake it up after 10 years of inactivity,” says Stéphane. It took a number of months to get it ready for FOS, but Stéphane is now loving driving it. “The forest stage is the perfect condition for it,” he says. “It’s easy to drive, it’s a 4x4 and it's very smooth.”
FOS visitors are getting a kick out of seeing it, too. I’m happy because all the spectators are asking many questions about the car. It’s strange to see a 2CV with all those fantastic cars. It’s a curiosity in the paddock.” Now that the BiBip has been woken from its slumber, don’t expect it to lay dormant again for long…
Photography by James Lynch
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