As a car and motorcycle-obsessed kid, it was always a dream of mine to own a race car. The cool factor of driving a race car is something pretty much all kids dream about, all while remaining blissfully unaware of the hours of work it takes to build these things and keep them running.
It didn’t really matter what kind of racing it was, either. From touring cars, rally cars, and even out-of-the-box sports cars, the high-performance world is what sparks the love for all things on wheels in a lot of youngsters.
That said, when I stumbled upon hill climb racing, I was instantly hooked. It was the perfect combination of pretty much everything automotive that I was interested in growing up—my favorite rally cars dressed up in wide body kits with crazy aero and a low-slung stance, all ripping up a high-speed, technical road course up the mountains.
It’s a motorsport that’s been around for quite some time now, and in my opinion, is one of the closest things to the now-defunct Group B rally series. With courses held in winding mountain roads across Europe, it’s the perfect way for spectators and fans to get up close and personal with these fire-breathing machines.
Clearly, hill-climb racing is nothing short of badass and is home to some of the sickest builds known to man. One such build is this seemingly simple Citroen C2. Now, those of you familiar with this car would think that it has no business being a race car. But clearly, this particular C2 isn’t really a C2. In reality, it’s a full-blown race car enclosed in the husk of a C2.
This thing is a masterclass in power-to-weight, as it’s rocking a 1,340cc, in-line four, naturally aspirated engine from none other than a Suzuki Hayabusa. Now, in the car world, a 1.3-liter engine is tiny, but this thing cranks out 220 ponies at a screaming 12,000 rpm—way more than enough to get this car’s svelte 675-kilogram body to move seriously fast.
Inside the cockpit, nothing of the Citroen C2 family hatchback remains, as the engine and driver’s seat have been centrally positioned. The car has also been converted to rear-wheel drive, instead of the production model’s cost-effective front-wheel drive system. Oh, and it’s equipped with an electronic powershift gearbox, too. So yeah, definitely not economy car stuff.
Judging from the montage YouTube channel HillClimb Monsters (whose videos you should totally binge) put together, this thing’s pretty sick. It sounds absolutely menacing rowing through the gears all while carving up the corners.
And for those of you in Europe who are still dreaming of owning a race car, well, things just got a whole lot better for you.
You see, this crazy Citroen C2 hill climb racer is actually for sale. It’s been listed by none other than the racer and owner himself, Luka Fabijancic. The car is located in Croatia and commands a price tag of 28,000 euros (around $30,631 USD at the time of writing) which is pretty steep. But hey, given just how much work has gone into this thing, I’d say it’s well worth it.
Now clearly, this is nothing short of a race-prepped machine. Not street legal, and designed specifically for hill climb racing, so don’t expect to make this thing your daily driver, regardless of how insanely crazy fun that sounds.
