RE: BTCC 850 Estate: Time For Tea?

RE: BTCC 850 Estate: Time For Tea?

Thursday 19th March 2015

BTCC 850 Estate: Time For Tea?

"They all laughed when Volvo said they'd be entering an estate, but they don't think it's funny anymore"



This is what's known as lateral thinking, or something like that. Honda releases a new Civic Type R touring car, replacing the Civic Tourer which inevitably led to thinking about that other BTCC racing wagon, the Volvo 850.

Originally Volvo's own tribute video for the 850 was going to feature here. It's not bad but, well, this is better. Five minutes of highlights from the 1994 BTCC season with the big Volvo as the focus and Murray Walker commentating. There's outbraking, smashes, bashes, strewn bumpers and flared tempers. It's magnificent.

The vid is also a great reminder of when British touring cars really mattered to manufacturers and when budgets allowed a big motorsport programme. See at 0:58 where seven different cars are in the train going up to Dingle Dell at Brands: Volvo, Alfa Romeo, Vauxhall, Renault, BMW, Ford, Nissan. Keep a look out for a Castrol Toyota Carina E too. That livery doesn't look great on every motorsport Toyota it would seem.

Anyway, it's a super vid with fantastic racing throughout. Put the kettle on and enjoy!

Watch it here.

 

Author
Discussion

cerb4.5lee

Original Poster:

30,189 posts

179 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
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That was brilliant to look back on and the Volvo certainly held its own, really exciting racing too.

soad

32,829 posts

175 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
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Volvo left motorsport-activities in 1987 and felt it should race again. Volvo decided the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) should be the perfect podium for its racing activities.

When the Volvo 850 was launched in 1991 Volvo wanted to upgrade their image. The 850 was a very good step into the right direction.


cbgt3

253 posts

120 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
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I worked at TWR when we did these I remember the first time we all heard that we were doing the estate, we all thought it was a wind up, but it obviously turned out to be true.
I worked in the machine shop but remember the team guys and the designers saying at the time that it had a better drag coefficient than the saloon.

J4CKO

41,287 posts

199 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
quotequote all
Still love the look of the 850 T5 estate, we had a silver one in the mid nineties and I loved that car, a silver manual one.

It is hard to convey the impact these had at the time, it was massive, a Volvo, no less an estate Volvo in the BTCC and doing ok, edgy adverts and they were, for a time a pretty cool car to own, still are really, still look good.

My old one is apparently SORNed, the MOT ran out in 2014, hope it isnt dead, turned up on Ebay a few years back as a "Time Warp" car, L471AFE

DanielSan

18,747 posts

166 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
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The one thing that made motorsport seem more exciting, it wasn't that there was anymore overtaking or action, it was Murray.

MrKipling43

5,788 posts

215 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
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So you were involved with the 'standard' head that the later version used then?

It was a great time but, as is always the case, when you have eight manufacturers involved seven have to lose. Then they drop out and leave the sport in ruins. It's only just recovered in the last few years from the Super Touring routing that it took in the early naughties.

Blackpuddin

16,409 posts

204 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
quotequote all
The drivers weren't impressed by the Volvos' handling though, I remember Rykaard saying something about his golf handicap coming down quicker than his lap times.

rohrl

8,712 posts

144 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
quotequote all
cbgt3 said:
I worked in the machine shop but remember the team guys and the designers saying at the time that it had a better drag coefficient than the saloon.
It's not really that surprising when you think about it. The flat back is effectively a large Kamm tail which would naturally be more efficient aerodynamically than the two step tail of the saloon which will produce vortices both from the top of the roof and the boot lip.

Where the estate would probably lose out to the saloon is in structural rigidity and weight, both total weight and the fact that it's CoG would be a bit higher. A decent cage would minimise the difference in rigidity though and presumably the BTCC had a minimum weight limit so that disadvantage wouldn't have been too big.

iloveboost

1,531 posts

161 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
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As one 'Youtube' commenter said 'Now that's racing'. I know that we have similar racing now, but watching nineties BTCC 'Supertouring' and WRC highlights was a highlight of my youth. smile

iloveboost

1,531 posts

161 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
quotequote all
rohrl said:
It's not really that surprising when you think about it. The flat back is effectively a large Kamm tail which would naturally be more efficient aerodynamically than the two step tail of the saloon which will produce vortices both from the top of the roof and the boot lip.

Where the estate would probably lose out to the saloon is in structural rigidity and weight, both total weight and the fact that it's CoG would be a bit higher. A decent cage would minimise the difference in rigidity though and presumably the BTCC had a minimum weight limit so that disadvantage wouldn't have been too big.
I hadn't thought about that. What about the weight distribution being slightly further back with the estate vs the saloon?

shake n bake

2,221 posts

206 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
quotequote all
Really was great racing back then, it's s shame that the quality of the series has dropped so far now.

rohrl

8,712 posts

144 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
quotequote all
iloveboost said:
rohrl said:
It's not really that surprising when you think about it. The flat back is effectively a large Kamm tail which would naturally be more efficient aerodynamically than the two step tail of the saloon which will produce vortices both from the top of the roof and the boot lip.

Where the estate would probably lose out to the saloon is in structural rigidity and weight, both total weight and the fact that it's CoG would be a bit higher. A decent cage would minimise the difference in rigidity though and presumably the BTCC had a minimum weight limit so that disadvantage wouldn't have been too big.
I hadn't thought about that. What about the weight distribution being slightly further back with the estate vs the saloon?
I doubt it would make much of a difference. The extra weight isn't in a very useful place, being high and right at the back of the car when you normally want to centralise mass in a racing car.

The cars would probably be built to less than the minimum weight limit and ballasted up to comply.

mightymouse

1,438 posts

227 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
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cloud9
That is all I can say

LouD86

3,278 posts

152 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
quotequote all
When BTCC was decent! Proper racing! I miss the days of seeing these fly around, the 850, and Laguna really used to make my days. Still have my signed Tim Harvey 406 poster under my bed from when he was an Esso Driver, and we were VIP's at Brands! Good ol days!

soad

32,829 posts

175 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
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BTCC 1994 - Donington - Round 21
https://youtube.com/watch?v=dLq9Oi3_MNg#

Benzo26

208 posts

146 months

Thursday 19th March 2015
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Bonkers racing, flat out for the entire race every weekend! It was exhausting just watching it and this video brought back so many fond memories, as well as making me feel a little sad that we will never see that complete package ever again.

notax

2,091 posts

238 months

Friday 20th March 2015
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I didn't want that to end! Absolutely brilliant combo of Murray and 90s touring cars. It was watching Volvo touring cars back then which got me to buy a couple of T5 estates years later - did over 200k in one and loved it. What a shame the rules of touring cars evolved to diminish the spectacle and dramatically reduce both its appeal and the number of factory teams frown Thanks for reminding us how great it once was though biggrin

-crookedtail-

1,558 posts

189 months

Friday 20th March 2015
quotequote all
notax said:
I didn't want that to end! Absolutely brilliant combo of Murray and 90s touring cars. It was watching Volvo touring cars back then which got me to buy a couple of T5 estates years later - did over 200k in one and loved it. What a shame the rules of touring cars evolved to diminish the spectacle and dramatically reduce both its appeal and the number of factory teams frownThanks for reminding us how great it once was though biggrin
I loved the 1994 BTCC, as a 10yr old the red Alfa Romeo 155 was the best thing ever, even if I didn't convince my dad to buy one, which on reflection was probably for the best. hehe

However it was the Alfa's rule bending aero pack that started the slide towards spiralling costs, with the rules changing and everyone else following suit in 1995. A shame as it was a great era smile

pSyCoSiS

3,581 posts

204 months

Friday 20th March 2015
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Proper cars with proper drivers.

Pumajay

1,051 posts

203 months

Friday 20th March 2015
quotequote all
The BTCC might be enjoying some great times at the moment but it will never match the super touring era.

Great video!