Panhard CD

Panhard
Panhard CD
CD
Sales designation:	CD
Production period:	1963-1965
Class :	Sports car
Body versions :	Coupe
Engines:	Gasoline engines : 0.85 liters (44 kW)
Length:	4000 mm
Width:	1600 mm
Height:	1185 mm
Wheelbase :	2250 mm
Empty weight :	620 kg

The Panhard CD is a two-seater Grand Tourisme sports coupé that Panhard presented on June 13, 1962.

The Panhard CD

The first prototype and four pre-series vehicles were created in collaboration between Panhard & Levassor , the oldest French automobile brand, and the aerodynamics professor and automobile engineer Charles Deutsch - hence the name "CD Panhard". After separating from René Bonnet , with whom he had made French racing history for over 25 years from Champigny-sur-Seine under the signet DB (Deutsch-Bonnet), the plan for a successor to the last DB, the HBR5 , became his first own project in winter 1961/62. An elaborate drawing dates back to October 19, 1960, which very clearly anticipates the features of the DB successor. While René Bonnet was to produce in the future with Renault technology under his own name (only a little later, however, under the name Matra ), Charles Deutsch remained loyal to Panhard's support.

As an experimental racing car for the Le Mans 24-hour race, the new CD was intended to "reflect the spirit of this challenge for a sporty clientele ... as a hidden piece of sports equipment, with small engines and only a little heavier than 400 kg". The air-cooled two-cylinder boxer engines originally came from the PL17 limousine series , but were modified for improved stability in the 700 to 850 cm³ classement: Under the direction of the engineering company "Moteur Moderne", the engine was provided with a displacement of 701 cm³. With enlarged valves, sharper camshafts and two Zenith double carburetors, a prototype accelerated on the Hunaudières straight in mid-September 1962 to 204.800 km / h. But it was also believed to be capable of speeds of up to 210 km / h.

Models

model	Construction period	Engine type	Displacement	Tax horsepower (fr.)	power
Compétition (prototype)	0000 - 1962	2-cylinder boxer 4-stroke	848 cc	5 CV	60 hp (44 kW)
GT	07/1963 - 07/1965	2-cylinder boxer 4-stroke	848 cc	5 CV	60 hp (44 kW)
rally	07/1963 - 07/1965	2-cylinder boxer 4-stroke	848 cc	5 CV	60 hp (44 kW)

The racing version

Main article: CD Dyna

In keeping with the four Le Mans racing cars - the CD Dyna  - which were preceded only by a single sheet steel prototype, the bodies of all Panhard CD were basically made of GRP . The executing company was the Chappe et Gessalin manufactory , later also known under the brand name CG. The aerodynamicist Lucien Romani was responsible for the design of the body. In order to be able to realize a later street version, a tubular space frame was dispensed with , which is structurally more interesting, but too sensitive for road traffic and very difficult to repair. The central tubular frame known from the DB remained , reinterpreted by Jean Claude Haenel, who was also involved in the overall design of the car.

After Paul Panhard had given Charles Deutsch the green light at the end of January 1962, works racing manager Etienne de Valance began to form a team of drivers at the same time. On April 7th and 8th, a squad of eight pilots was formed in Montlhéry, who later also compete in Le Mans in a steel prototype with the chassis number. 101 had to qualify. This pre-production vehicle was completed in just 70 days.

The first two prototypes 101 and 102 make their debut on the occasion of the 1000 kilometers from the Nürburgring on May 27, 1962 . The teams André Guilhaudin / Bernard Boyer (Formula Junior Champion, F 1961) and Jean-Pierre Hanrioud / Alain Bertaut started . Here it should come to the first duel between the two Panhard CD and the René Bonnet vehicles. Hanrioud / Bertaut were in the lead in the GfK prototype (No. 102) after ten laps, but fell victim to a puddle of oil on a wet slope. The 120 kg heavier sheet steel CD (No. 101) still made it to a good 24th place in the overall ranking. They were satisfied and convinced of the driving characteristics, which are said to have been “worlds” better than those of the mid-engine bonnet, which were conceptually difficult to control in the limit area. The fact that the GfK prototype had the best chances in the 1000 cm³ class was also shown by the lap times of the Hanrioud / Bertaut team, the 11'41 ″ against the 11'35 ″ of the René Bonnet team Gérard Laureau / Jean Vinatier on their heels, but could not prevent their class win (20th overall). Guilhaudin / Boyer landed in second place in the prototype class up to 1000 cm³ after driving 35 laps.

On 23/24 June 1962, on the occasion of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the vehicle with the starting number 53 - prototype no. 103 - finally to win the class. André Guilhaudin's co-driver at Le Mans was the motorsport journalist and racing amateur André Bertaut, who was also on friendly terms with Paul Frère . Number 54 (No. 104, Lelong / Hanrioud), number 55 (No. 105, Bernard Boyer / Guy Verrier ) was eliminated, number 70 (No. 102 ?, Neyret / Mougin) did not even start. Jean-Pierre Hanrioud had a spectacular accident in the ninth hour of the race, the Boyer-Verrier team retired in the fourteenth hour with an overheated engine due to poor carburetor settings. The car of the winners Guilhaudin and Bertaut was the only one to hold out and worked “like clockwork” (Francois Jolly) over the entire race distance. He not only achieved overall victory in his class from 701 to 850 cm³, but also won the “Indice de Performance” with 1.265 in front of the 706 cm³ René Bonnet Spider ( Gérard Laureau / Paul Armagnac ). The CD was placed third in the “Indice au rendement énergetique” - the consumption index - with an average of 11.4 l / 100 km with a vehicle weight of 590 kg. The René Bonnet Spider came in seventh with a consumption of 12.3 l / 100 km with a vehicle weight of 520 kg.

The “Indice du rendement énergetique” determines the (kilometer) performance in relation to consumption and weight. The "Indice de Performance" - a kind of capacity index related to displacement - is calculated from the quotient of the distance covered in relation to a distance specified for the classification. The CD got 1.265 times further than its classification indicated. It was Panhard's tenth victory in this index ranking, and rivals René Bonnet, Lotus and Ferrari were outclassed for the first time.

In the overall standings, measured by the race distance covered, the CD by Guilhaudin / Bertaut came in 16th overall, which is surprising for its fragility, ahead of Laureau / Armagnac in the René-Bonnet-Spider (17th) and Consten / Rosinski in the René-Bonnet-Aerodjet (996 cc, 18th). The average speed over the entire race at Guilhaudin / Bertaut was 142.793 km / h, the fastest lap of 5'22 '' 1 minute was 160.403 km / h, well above the speeds of the two René Bonnet vehicles. The winning vehicle covered a total of 3427.026 km.

The public relations department was almost overwhelmed by enthusiasm for the Le Mans success. Just the year before, three Panhard PL 17s had taken the first three places in the Monte Carlo Rally . The tactic of being able to use racing as a test laboratory was once again confirmed and, as the oldest brand in (French) automotive history, could be proud of its products that are still competitive. Even in the event of an imminent inferiority, Panhard bravely took up the Olympic idea in order to continue to be present with the trump cards consumption and performance.

Further developments

Even at the beginning of the 1960s, GRP construction was still very advanced and, above all, economical in small series like this one. An outstandingly low air resistance could be achieved, which has not been undercut by any conventional car to date. A brochure of the Panhard CD from 1963 shows the number cx 0.13, which corresponds to the German symbol C _w for drag coefficient. It was not until the Honda Insight (1999) or the Audi A2 1.2tdi (2000) that two younger vehicle models achieved the extremely low C _w value of 0.25. In connection with the small frontal area of ​​approx. 1.50 m², the Panhard CD has a resistance area C _w x A of well below 0.40 m². (A / cw x A: A2 = 2.16 m² / 0.54 m², Insight = 1.80 m² / 0.45 m²). The relevance of the air resistance results from a direct comparison of the driving resistances. The air resistance opposite to the vehicle increases with the square of the speed and can contribute over 80% to the total resistance at maximum speed. Significantly, the top speeds of the aforementioned vehicles are at a similar level: Audi A2 (61 PS at 880 kg) 168 km / h, Honda Insight (76 PS at 870 kg) 180 km / h (electronically limited) and Panhard CD Rallye (60 PS included 620 kg) also 180 km / h (the weights are averaged in all three cases, Audi and Honda are made in aluminum spaceframe construction). The fact that the Panhard, which is much weaker in terms of displacement and torque, is competitive here, is primarily due to its extremely small frontal area.

The VW XL1 study from 2011 also provides interesting comparative values . A C _w of 0.186 and A 1.5 m² result in an effective drag area of ​​0.279 m². Only the VW 1L study from 2002 with a C _w of 0.159 and the Peraves Monotracer single-track vehicle with C _w x A 0.18 m² are lower .

The monocoque body of the Panhard CD was mounted on an extremely torsionally stable and light (40 kg) central tubular frame. The one-piece front hood releases the front axle and the entire drive when opened. In this construction principle and also in the side view and in the interior, the concept shows some parallels to the Jaguar E-Type . In particular, the cross-sectional shape of the body is closely related to the E-Type for aerodynamic reasons. The teardrop-shaped rear end with the discreet trailing edge shares the CD with the Alfa Romeo Giulietta / Giulia Sprint Speciale (1959–1965) drawn by Bertone, as well as the “ dubble-bubble ” roof with a few Zagato creations. The line rising in the lower area of ​​the rear apron (with the vertical fins in front of and behind the wheel arches on the Le Mans model) was intended to establish the French interpretation of the “ effet de sol ” or “ ground effect ” ( Colin Chapman ) in the further course of racing history . The underbody in the rear of the two racing CDs prepared for Le Mans 1964 with the model designation LM64 was even more profiled in the sense of a diffuser. The front wheel arches were also covered here; the stern adorned two vertical fins.

From 1963 to 1965, 179 copies of this car were made ready for sale: 122 GT and 57 rally versions. Then there are the three (+1) prototypes and three vehicles that were dismantled and packaged at the end of production in the summer of 1965, perhaps for export. So the correct total number is 185 for all GfK models. The chassis numbers began with 101 for the first sheet steel prototype and continued through the racing cars with the starting numbers 70 (102), 53 (103), 54 (104) and 55 (105) in the series 106–284. The displacement of both the GT and the rally engine was left at 848 cc, as in the standard PL 17. The standard output of the GT was 50 DIN hp, the rally made about 10 hp more. The engines were ventilated by one (GT) or two (rally) downdraft carburetors from Zenith , type 38 NDIX. Equipped in this way, the cars reached 165 km / h (GT) and 180 km / h (rally). The gearboxes of the rally versions had a modified bevel-ring gear tooth ratio and therefore had an almost 10% "longer" gear ratio that was adapted to the higher performance. The four-speed transmission, the third stage of which was the direct and the fourth of which functioned as an " overdrive ", passed the drive power on to the front wheels. The front independent suspension consisted of two lower wishbones and an upper transverse leaf spring. The front-wheel drive brought the engine output, which was moderate despite everything, safely and controllably onto the road under all circumstances. The deceleration was taken over by four external light metal brake drums (ETA system - évécuation thermale accéléré), which protruded freely outwards within screwed-on wheel rims and were therefore optimally air-cooled. The principle can also be seen on a smaller scale on the Vespa scooter.

It is not without reason that the rare Panhard CD press brochures should be adorned with an Oscar Wilde quote:

"La beauté ne se discute pas. Elle règne de droit divin. Elle fait prince quiconque la possède." (There is no arguing about beauty. It rules according to divine law. It crowns its owner.)

Web links and sources

Commons : Panhard CD  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Francois Jolly: L'automobiliste, la revue de l'amateur. No. 64 - I - 1985, p. 25 ff, Ed .: Adrien & Isabelle Maeght, Imprimerie Arte, Paris, p. 25 ff.
• Charly Rampal: You Tigre au Lion. Les CD de Charles German.
• Oscar Wilde, quote from The Portrait of Dorian Gray.