Citroën Bulletin No. 524 (15 February 1956) — The DS 19 at the Monte Carlo Rally

In this document

This front page of the Citroën Bulletin No. 524, dated 15 February 1956, recounts the participation of the DS 19 in the XXVI Monte Carlo Rally.

The event

The departures from the seven starting cities took place on 26 January; the goal was to cover approximately 3,000 km to reach Paris, before a common route to Monte Carlo p. 1.

The Citroën teams

Six DS 19s were entered in the 1,300-2,000 cm³ category p. 1:

p. 1

The other starting cities for the event were Glasgow, Munich, Rome, Athens and Stockholm p. 1.

Results

All six cars finished the event; five of them were classified for the mountain circuit reserved for the 90 best cars, on a 240 km course including the Castillon, Saint-Jean, Turini, Braus and Saint-Roch passes p. 1.

The Courtès-Court-Payen team (car No. 115) arrived first among the French cars in the general classification and took first place in the 1,300-2,000 cm³ category p. 1. The text highlights that the DS 19, "barely off the assembly line," did not "fear facing the rigours of this international event" p. 1.

Two photographs accompany the article: car No. 115 in front of a colonnaded building, and the same car in action on the hairpin bends of a mountain pass p. 1.

Context

In the 1950s, the Monte Carlo Rally was a major international automotive competition, prized by manufacturers to demonstrate the reliability of their models in difficult winter conditions. The DS 19, presented to the public at the Paris Motor Show on 6 October 1955, had just entered mass production — as recalled by the bulletin's expression "barely off the assembly line." Its hydropneumatic suspension, for which Paul Magès had filed the first plans as early as 17 February 1944 and had been conducting tests since 1946 (Hydropneumatic suspension plans; Notebook of the first 2 CV tests), was one of its most commented-on technical assets at the time, particularly on degraded mountain roads like those of the Rally.

Archivist's perspective

This document illustrates how Citroën communicated, as early as 1956, with its own staff (the bulletin being reserved for employees of the Javel factory) regarding the sporting performance of the still-new DS 19.

It does not explicitly mention Paul Magès or the hydropneumatic suspension, but it testifies, through the emphasis on road holding in the mountains ("The DS 19 is in its element on the hairpin bends of the Col de Braus", p. 1), to the importance given internally to demonstrating the qualities of the chassis — an indirect echo, although not explicit in this text, of the work carried out by Paul Magès and his design office team on the hydropneumatic suspension.

This piece is likely part of a larger set of clippings and bulletins devoted to the sporting performance of the DS, which could be useful to compare with other archives relating to the brand's tests and competitions during this period.