DS 27 & SM
Prototypes
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This
particular car above left and above right employs a styling
artifice that would be carried forward to the production SM - the kinked
up waistline at the leading edge of the C pillar.
Under the DS coupé body, the car was pure SM - Maserati V 6, DIRAVI steering, floor mounted gearchange, front suspension mountings ahead of the front wheels, etc.
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A
number of prototypes were built to test the behaviour of powerful front
wheel drive cars - this car dates from 1971 and was shortened by 0,57 m
compared with the production car and weighed 1 169 kg as opposed to 1 490.
In 1973, this car was equipped with a fuel injected, 24 valve, 340 bhp
engine giving a top speed of 285 kph.
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Active suspension in
1973
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Since the mid sixties,
the Bureau d'Etudes had been working on eliminating body roll - the Achilles
Heel of the hydropneumatic
suspension system - and to this end, developed a
number of prototypes to test their ideas.
Many of the testbeds were D series cars but an SM was also employed.
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This
SM prototype, study No 17, was constructed in 1973 from a design
brief prepared in 1971. The car was lowered by 0,07 m and was also fitted
with the fuel injected, 24 valve, 340 bhp engine giving a top speed of
285 kph.
This car was equipped with an hydropneumatic suspension system which allowed the driver to dial in the amount of body roll desired, ranging from lean angles regularly achieved in a 2 CV through to banking like a motorcycle.
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