Monday 17th June 2013

Volvo confirms 2014 V8 Supercars entry

Volvo is back in touring cars ... Australian V8 ones, not BTCC

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Volvo will join the Australian V8 Supercars touring car series in 2014, bolstering the number of manufacturers to five with Holden, Ford, Mercedes-AMG and Nissan. It also makes us intensely jealous of our Aussie counterparts.

Aussies are getting a toned down Polestar S60

As well as a V8 touring car, petrolheads Down Under are the only ones to receive a genuine Volvo S60 Polestar. It's not the 508hp monster from last year, instead a tweaked S60 T6. Still, it boasts 350hp, 368lb ft, Ohlins dampers, a Borg Warner turbo and some Polestar suspension fettling; we'd rather like to try one. Especially as it's meant to do 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds.

But that's a campaign for another day. The S60 programme for next season is being mounted by Volvo Polestar Racing, comprising the two Swedish companies plus input from Garry Rogers Motorsport, a team that has experience with Holden. Polestar will produce the V8 engine, which will then be developed by Garry Rogers. The latter will also run the two racers throughout the season.

Volvo actually has a history in Australian saloon racing dating back to the 1960s. A 240T took the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship and it won the 1998 Bathurst 1000 with Rickard Rydell at the wheel of an S40. Murray Walker soundtracked vid clip here, if you want a flavour of that.

Swedish Touring Car Champ S60 by Polestar

Volvo Australia's Managing Director is Matt Braid. Of the announcement, he said: "Volvo has a rich motorsport heritage in this country...we're determined to add to this heritage, while strengthening the presence of the S60 model line and the Volvo brand here in Australia".

Polestar owner Christian Dahl added: "We are very proud and excited to take on the V8 Supercars... a championship that has grown to become one of the most prestigious and competitive racing championships in the world".

Overall it serves to make our BTCC, with just two manufacturer teams, look rather naff by comparison. But then if the choice is being made between running a FWD, turbocharged touring car in Britain and a V8, RWD one in Australia, there probably wasn't much deliberation at Volvo.

 

 

[matt3001]

You can see which economy in the world is booming...

[Bear Phils]

Does. Not. Compute.

[chuntington101]

Bear Phils said:

Does. Not. Compute.

Sound brilliant to me! esp as the Aussie V8 are now running IRS rather than solid rear axels.

Chris.

[Janesy B]

matt3001 said:

You can see which economy in the world is booming...

Perhaps Volvo using Ford's departure from Australia to gain a foothold in the market?

[-crookedtail-]

Great news that more manufacturers are joining the series, although in a way I'll miss the pure Holden Vs Ford battle although with Nissan already there its gone anyway.

Will these cars (all V8 supercars) share some parts in common to keep the costs down?

[moskvich427]

Amazing news!!! The V8 Supercars is easily the most exciting current form of motorsport atm - including F1. Fingers crossed for some decent UK TV coverage....

[Stu R]

I just wish they had the balls to let Polestar make a proper performance variant of their road cars and actually release it. That V8 SC looks wonderful.

[MJK 24]

Entering V8 Supercars with a straight six turbo?

[DanielSan]

Jim Richards/Rickard Rydell vs Steve Richards/Matt Neal in the Primera going for the win. Despite the unpopularity of the supertourers there it's still one of my favourite race battles ever.

[Bear Phils]

chuntington101 said:

Sound brilliant to me! esp as the Aussie V8 are now running IRS rather than solid rear axels.

Chris.

Brilliant! Just not expected

[Ten Four]

MJK 24 said:

Entering V8 Supercars with a straight six turbo?

Sadly...

"All cars must be front-engined and rear-wheel drive. All cars use a 5.0-litre, naturally aspirated V8-engine with electronic fuel injection, capable of producing between 460 and 485 kW (620–650 bhp).Manufacturers are free to choose between using an engine based on one from their own line up or a generic engine provided by V8 Supercars. Both Ford and Holden use US-based racing engines with pushrod actuated valves and two valves per cylinder. Mercedes and Nissan, meanwhile, use modified versions of their own engines, with hydraulic-lift valves and four valves per cylinder. All engines are electronically limited to 7500 rpm and have a compression ratio of 10:1."

Pretty limiting :\

[RichardParker90]

-crookedtail- said:

Great news that more manufacturers are joining the series, although in a way I'll miss the pure Holden Vs Ford battle although with Nissan already there its gone anyway.

Will these cars (all V8 supercars) share some parts in common to keep the costs down?

It's a spec series, so they share the base chassis, aero, tires, and safety equipment. the teams provide suspension/aero setup, v8 production based engine, and tc/sc systems

[Spyder5]

Volvo applied years ago, but were unable to comply with the rule which at the time required the cars to run push rod engines.

I guess there has been a change in the entry requirements at some point?

[braddo]

What a great surprise this story is! Even if there is much shared among the different makes of cars (as suggested above), how good is it to see some variety back in Aussie touring cars.

[Quhet]

That car looks sensational

[supertouring]

Do I get commission for use of my Bathurst video

[E30Addict]

Quhet said:

That car looks sensational

+1

[Petrolhead_Rich]

Spyder5 said:

Volvo applied years ago, but were unable to comply with the rule which at the time required the cars to run push rod engines.

I guess there has been a change in the entry requirements at some point?

Thats a brilliant rule that presumeably stops all the screaming super-bhp engines and keeps the raw sound that you can only get from an unrefined V8

[Kong]

Ten Four said:

MJK 24 said:

Entering V8 Supercars with a straight six turbo?

Sadly...

"All cars must be front-engined and rear-wheel drive. All cars use a 5.0-litre, naturally aspirated V8-engine with electronic fuel injection, capable of producing between 460 and 485 kW (620–650 bhp).Manufacturers are free to choose between using an engine based on one from their own line up or a generic engine provided by V8 Supercars. Both Ford and Holden use US-based racing engines with pushrod actuated valves and two valves per cylinder. Mercedes and Nissan, meanwhile, use modified versions of their own engines, with hydraulic-lift valves and four valves per cylinder. All engines are electronically limited to 7500 rpm and have a compression ratio of 10:1."

Pretty limiting :\

So are they using the Volvo V8 or a US crate engine? I know the article says Polestar build it but I hightly doubt it will be their design from scratch.

[Dee Tee]

Bathurst and Gold Coast 2014 Road Trip coming up !!!!