Meet the Citroen DS3 Cabrio Racing

Citroen is using the occasion of the Goodwood Festival of Speed to showcase a car with quite a bit of, erm, speed. Meet the DS3 Cabrio Racing concept.

Being a concept, it's a one-off, but it's the sister car to the DS3 Racing we drove a while back, and applies the same formula - WRC heritage diluted and wrapped up in spunky packaging - to the open-topped DS3. It's been screwed together by Citroen Racing, the same virtuosos who helped mastermind Sebastien Loeb's epic run of world rally championship wins.

See more pics of the Citroen DS3 Cabrio Racing

As such, the 1.6-litre turbocharged four-pot engine - as in the Mini - gets boosted to 202bhp and around 200lb ft of torque, which in the DS3 Racing hatchback was good for a 0-62mph time of 6.5 seconds. Owing to the DS3 Cabrio's extra 25kg weight, expect this one to do the benchmark run a couple of tenths of a second slower.

It's still front-wheel-drive, and sits on the same chassis as the DS3 Racing hatch, so you get 15mm lowered suspension, stiffer dampers, bigger brakes and a six-speed manual box to play with.

The concept on display gets a special textured matt grey paintjob, gloss black 19in alloy wheels, black chrome inserts on the handles, boot trim and doors. Inside, there are some bucket seats in leather and alcantara, special stitching, a child seat and even co-ordinated rally helmets. You can be just like Seb (minus the talent, of course).

Citroen has told us it's strictly a one-off, and there's been no word on production just yet. But would you like one?