Brave Pill tries not to be too obvious, at least not too often. True, a majority of the cars that feature here have big engines up front and send their drive to the opposite, interesting end. But a significant minority break the rule, with none smashing it further than this week's offering. Meet a twin-engined Citroen C2 which offers the combined total of 388hp and delivers that traction through all four wheels. Is anyone going to stand up and claim this isn't courageous enough?

Readers with longer memories, or taking inadequate doses of psychotropic drugs, may well be getting a touch of déjà vu about now. While this is the first Citroen C2 to be pill'd, and only the second French car, we have previously travelled to a similar place with the twin-engined Z Cars Mini that rounded off last year. The Twini used a brace of four-cylinder Yamaha R1 motorbike engines, but the Citroen has been given a meatier upgrade in the form of a pair of PSA's 2.9-litre V6es, both apparently donated from Peugeot 406 Coupes. Meaning that, with the combination of 12 cylinders and nearly six litres of displacement this supermini has getting on for a Lamborghini Murcielago's worth of engine distributed between both ends.

If your first question is "why?" the answer is definitely "because". The Franken-Citroen is the sort of fearless automotive mash-up that Britain does better than anywhere else, proof of the make it work spirit that led the Garagista revolution that turned the UK into the global centre of motorsport. Plus, it must be admitted, it also has a fair amount of the sort of cosmetic tweakery that used to be shown on the cars that featured in Max Power's Cruise Patrol.

The basic idea of doubling the fun by doubling the engines dates from far before this conversion. For those with sufficient fabrication (or high-end bodging) skills, adding a second motor is a relatively low cost way to increase performance and traction, thanks to the ability to send power to all four corners. Fittingly given our Pill's Citroen badge, the 2CV Sahara seems to have been the first of these to enjoy even modest commercial success - four-wheel drive enabling it to reach the dusty, slippery places the regular front-driven version couldn't.

Our Pill takes a different approach, with excitement and tyre smoke clearly at the top of the list of priorities that led to its creation. According to this PH build thread from 2011 work on it began when creator Gary Stone's previous single V6 C2 was destroyed in a garage fire. The V12's front engine is located by custom mounts and some fairly radical surgery has been required to squeeze it into the space formally occupied by the Cit's dinky four-pot. But the job of putting the second V6 into the back looks to have been an altogether higher level of hard, with the rear motor sitting in a reversed subframe and held in place by a tubular structure that brings the Forth Bridge to mind.

Cooling requirements have brought side-by-side radiators up front, and presumably some new plumbing under the car. Thermal issues are also likely the reason for the impressive quantity of holes that have been added to both ends, the bumpers seemingly having more space than substance. The engines reportedly keep their original five-speed manual transmissions, resulting in some creative engineering for the doubled-up gear selector and clutch mechanisms.

The advert text is keener to boast of the C2's unarguable awesomeness than to deliver much in the way of forensic detail. But, presuming nothing has changed since the car was built, it uses a custom ECU to allow the engines to operate at speeds up to 500rpm apart, presumably to give a rearward bias to the power delivery. The back gearbox was also given a welded differential when the car was built - great for drifting, but something that would make regular road use problematic. Replacing it with a conventional open diff wouldn't be that hard.

Against expectations, the car is road legal and even boasts an impressive quantity of MOT history for something so mad. Although, like the bodywork, this features lots of gaps. The test in 2011 seems to have been the first after the conversion was carried out, where a laid-back tester found nothing of note beyond a small windscreen ding and a cracked driver's mirror. That changed the following year with the official record including the dry note "at time of MOT vehicle is fitted with 2 engines." Indeed.

The 2012 test recorded 76,191 miles, the exact same figure also marked on the two subsequent clean passes in 2017 and 2020. That suggests either the odometer is broken, or the car is used very little. The last MOT also expired in May this year, although the selling dealer would likely slap on another one if anybody shows sufficient interest.

The £21,950 asking price is where things get more serious. That's only £400 more than the twin-engined Mini was being offered for last year, but any car this extreme is going to have its appeal limited to the most daring - the sort of automotive adventurers who cast their own pistons and weld in their sleep. Whether anybody who meets that narrow criteria is going to be prepared to get close to the valuation is another question, despite the huge amount of work that has obviously gone into building the car.

But let's not get all boring and sensible here - it's nearly Christmas, a great time for ridiculous excess and even seeing double, both qualities this Citroen offers in abundance. Leaving only the question of how on earth to track down an even more extreme Pill for the traditional end of term special next week.

See the original advert