Racing Volvos. Yes They Do Race Them. In Many Guises and Types of Racing. PART ONE.

 September 1, 2021

#439

Gentle reader,

As one of my readers, have you ever wondered why I address you as "Gentle"? 

In days of old, groups of people would have been addressed as, "Ladies and Gentlemen..." Such as at a carnival or other gathering where people had paid to see and/or hear something.

Well, I like the term gentle. Any new parent of newborns (or kittens and puppies) quickly learns that one must be gentle with them. Especially baby humans.

I have been called many things, most of them good, and gentle is certainly one of them. So, I treat you as I liked to be treated. With honor and respect.

That being said, let's get to the heart of this story. Volvo cars and racing of them.

As soon as man (used here as an all encompassing term) invented the wheel, no doubt two of them decided to race whatever they had put the wheels on.

I have been trying to remember the title of a comedy film about advertising, in which the main character has Volvo as a client and creates an ad something like this: Volvos, we make boring (or was it boxy?) cars. But they are good. Volvo loves it, sales take off, and I don't recall the rest of the story. Was it selling weapons? 

Anyway, Volvo are best known for making safe, strong and reliable cars. I love mine. I bought it, a 2005 V50 T5 Sport wagon in 2014. It is very rare because it has a manual transmission. To see another V50 is quite a treat. 

The "T5" stands for Turbocharged Five cylinder engine. The Sport means it is equipped with the M66 transmission, sits one inch lower than regular V50s and S40s, has stiffer suspension and came with a roof spoiler. The original buyer elected to have them leave the spoiler off. It is painted what I call, Anonymous Grey in color, not what I would have chosen. But, were I inclined to street race, one would not expect my car to be quick.

The V50 is smaller and lighter than the V70, what most people probably think of, if they think of one at all, as a Volvo wagon.

Volvo was an early adopter of turbocharging engines, way back when all their cars were rear-wheel-drive and boxy. Next they added an intercooler which cools the pressurized air before it enters the engine and it increases the engine's power. They advertised it by having INTERCOOLER* in chrome lettering across the back of the car.

I am going to show you lots of photos of Volvo race cars, because, maybe not in North America, but certainly in Europe, people have been racing Swedish cars for a very long time. 

Image courtesy of sporcle.com

That group photo of racing Volvos is just a teaser of what is to come.

* I found this photo of a 1990 760 Turbo for sale, note the INTERCOOLER emblem below the model designation.

SIDE NOTE: I may have mentioned in the past that I LOVE Australian racing and cars. The two most famous brands of cars "from the land down under" are Holden which is a GM (General Motors) brand and Ford. 

Ford was the first to import cars from Australia to the United States and we owned one, it was built in May, 1990 and sold to the original owner in June of that year. We bought it twenty years later with only 84,000 miles on it. That's 4,200 miles a YEAR.

We had many a, "What kind of car is that?" questions, our answer, "An Australian Ford."

Designed in Italy, built in Australia with Japanese chassis and drivetrain. 

The same engine as in it's main competitor, the Mazda MX5/Miata. In the case of our car, an XR2, it was turbocharged. It was sold here from 1990 to 1994 as a Mercury Capri.

GM was next, importing the Holden Monaro coupe to here as a 2004 to 2006 reborn Pontiac GTO. I want one! They made other GM cars from Holden Commodores as well.

"But, what does that have to do with racing Volvos?", you may be thinking. 

Let me answer you.

This. 

Ford and Holden, until they closed their plants this decade, continued to make "American" style cars: large, rear-wheel-drive with either straight six cylinder or large V8 engines. Sedans, coupes, estates (wagons) and Utes (think Ford Ranchero and Chevy El Camino of old). And that is what they raced in "Australian V8 Supercars": Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons. Four door sedans. ALL four doors opened, they have working lights and a windshield wiper. To me, they are what NASCAR should be. They race in the rain, on street circuits and purpose built tracks. Races short and long, up to 1000 kilometers. And Aussies are crazy about car racing.

In 2012, they came up with a new chassis for the racing series and invited other car makers to come race. Nissan and Mercedes Benz accepted first, with Volvo following the next year.

While Nissan did not make rear wheel drive sedans with V8 engines, they did (and do) make rear wheel drive V6 sports cars and pickup trucks and SUVs with their DOHC 16 Valve V8 engines driving the rear or all wheels. Mercedes builds only rear or all-wheel-drive cars and trucks. So, building a Supercars racer was easier for them.

Nissan and Volvo (who did sell their S80 sedan and the XC90  SUV) with a Yamaha-built DOHC 16 Valve V8 engines but they were front or all-wheel-drive with the engines sitting transverse, or side-to-side. Unlike Ford, Holden and Mercedes Benz with traditional longitudinal or front-to-back engines driving the rear wheels.

This is a Facebook friend's XC90 engine, the Yamaha-built 4.4 liter DOHC 16 valve V8 engine, mounted transverse.

And here is what POLESTAR*, Volvo's performance division, created for V8 Supercars, to be mounted longitudinally  in a Volvo S60 four-door sedan body mounted on the spec V8 Supercars new chassis, driving the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential transmission. All V8 Supercars uses that kind of fuel injection setup. *You will see more of Polestar cars in the next chapter.

There were two V8 Supercars Volvo race cars and drivers. Scott McLaughlin, an up and coming New Zealander drove #33 and a couple of other fellows, one a Swede, drove #34. They only raced in 2014 and 2015. "Scotty" as he is called did very well and later won the championship three years in a row: 2018, 2019 and 2020 for Penske racing.

Unlike V8 Supercars, one of the most watched form of racing in Europe anyway, is Touring Car Championship racing. They are most relatable to the fans because the race cars are modified STREET cars. NASCAR used to be that way. The cars on track look JUST like the one you drove into the parking lot at the track.

And now, some older Volvo race cars. I am no expert in Volvo models, especially older ones. So bear with me if I get a model number wrong.

Top, a 544, I believe, racing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England recently. 

Above, a P1800 sports coupe converted to racing duties, here in the U.S. 

Above, racing in Touring Cars somewhere in Europe. I do not know anything about the two drivers shown.

Here is a link to a website with videos of their Rally Racing old Volvo: Flying Moose Rally Team | Volvo Group 2 | Flint, Michigan

One of two matching 850 Estates (what we call wagons or station wagons) racing in the British Touring Car Championship. Tom Walkinshaw Racing read the rules carefully and was able to make legal changes to their five cylinder engines to make them more powerful, AND to make racing wagons instead of sedans (which they call saloon cars), because the rules said nothing about not racing estate cars.

Here is a link to a web site about the 850 BTCC race cars: Legendary Volvo Racing 850 BTCC Cars & Engines

I am not sure where this S40, which were the late 1990's to early 2000's Volvo compact cars, the wagons were called V40, was being raced. Touring car racing for sure, though.

I recognize the name Rydell, so I know that this early 2000's S60 sedan was raced in the BTCC. 

I do not know where this S60 or S80 is or was being raced.

American legend Randy Pobst racing his K-PAX S60 here in the United States. 

Here is a link to Randy's latest Volvo race car, a 740: Flying Moose Archives - Garage Heroes (In Training)  And here is a link to a YouTube video of Randy and his team making a humble 740 into a race winning car: Volvo Rebirth.. The Flyin' Moose - YouTube

Based upon the registry number plate, this car is somewhere in Europe.

Another 544, this one being rally raced, fairly recently too.

This Volvo Amazon wearing Gulf Racing Livery (paint schemes are called livery) racing somewhere in Australia, possibly in a rally.

Another Touring Car Championship car, I believe it too was in the BTCC. Here is a link to an article about restoring this important Volvo racer: Volvo 240 Turbo Group A

And here is a link to an article from which some of the photos above were culled, which explains their significance and segues into part two: A look at Volvo's six factory touring cars - TouringCarTimes

For more fabulous photos of Volvo race cars, look here:

Powerful Volvo Race Cars Photos - Volvo Racing Cars Photo Gallery

And that is IT for part one. There is MUCH to come when it comes to what is being raced much more recently and these days in part two.

Thank you so much for reading my humble blog. I greatly appreciate your kind words and comments, either below or on Facebook.

Scott

September 1, 2021

#439