This story is from Bob Neyret, a Grenoble dentist, a semi-professional runner since the early 1960s. Since his first victory in 1962 with a DS19, the man shines in difficult conditions. The capabilities of the DS conferred by its hydraulic suspension, chassis balance more than compensate for the lack of horsepower of the car whose engine is straight from the traction. He regularly occupies places of honor with a private DS. In 1967, he finished first in every event he entered, but in the "Tourism" class, so he decided to build "his" car, to win.
Thus, in 1968, he introduced his own car, a DS 21 shortened by 53 cm and 500 kg less than the conventional DS. The 115-horsepower car ranks 12th in the Morocco Rally in 1968. But in 1969, with an official DS prototype (our model), Neyret retains his revenge by crushing the competition with a 150-horsepower engine. Only 7 cars of the 97 entered are on arrival and among these 7 cars, 5 are Citroen who sign a hat trick. Neyret will repeat the feat in 1970, assisted by a group DS21 1 co-piloted by a certain ... Jean Todt. Neyret still wins the rally in 1973 with a DS 23 prototype, and in 1975 with an Alpine Berlinette.
Citroën also used it with Michelin's collaboration to test high-power front-end trains before creating the SM. The tests were then continued with the SM Michelin.
As for Bob Neyret, he continued his semi-professional pilot career while developing a brand of toothpaste made in La Mure (Isère). To promote it, he founded a rally team in honor of his product "ASEPTOGYL". Thus, "pink and white" alpine A110s, usually run by women's teams, traveled the roads of France to promote the Neyret brand. We even met your team at the 1978 Monte Carlo Rally, involved with CX Diesel!
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