The CD engaged for the 1964 LeMans was a revolutionary racing car. For the first time ever a rear diffusor was applied and the car already had ground effect features, that Colin Champman was to apply much later.
The roadholding of this tiny machine was spectacular, and stability increased with speed.
The engine was a tweaked version of the Panhard flat twin, producing about 70 BHP out of 848 cc. The car was fitted with a Rootes supercharger and a 5 speed box, driving the front wheels. The remarkable aerodynamics of the car allowed a speed of 225 kph. The objective for CD was to win the performance index at LeMans, which has always been of great importance to any French manufacturer. The recalculated capacity of the engine was 1184 cc, applying the i.4 factor used by ACO. Unfortunately both cars entered never made it to the finish, although for the race the engine was detuned to only 64 BHP.
Shown are the 1964 participants, as presented at Retromobile in 2005.
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