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NEWS
MOTORSPORT: Volvo plans Bathurst 1000 soiree
Volvo previews V8 Supercar debut with 1998 Bathurst race winner Jim Richards to run laps of honour in Super Touring S40Jim Richards will return to the wheel of a Volvo for October's Bathurst 1000. But it won’t be a V8 Supercar and he won't be competing in it.
Richards will instead drive a S40 Super Tourer – the very same one he and Rickard Rydell shared to win at Bathurst in 1998.
The Kiwi-born racer will pilot the car around the Mount Panorama circuit, reviving memories of that difficult period when V8-engined Falcons and Commodores were effectively excluded from racing in the premier touring car event in the country, for reasons of a dispute between rival TV broadcast networks.
Timed to take place during the prelude to Volvo's debut in V8 Supercars, this year's Bathurst 1000 opens up an opportunity for Volvo to capitalise on its motor sport heritage – as a promotional vehicle.
"Bathurst is obviously a major factor in the calendar; timing is the key," said Volvo Australia MD Matt Braid, speaking with motoring.com.au at yesterday's launch of the new V40 Cross Country.
"We're looking at obviously utilising Bathurst to communicate something about the race program, but what that is, is still to be determined."
So while Richard's participation in promoting the brand at Bathurst is known to be set in place, Volvo is not ready to confirm that yet. Braid hints that the importer is also considering other promotional activities.
"We are talking with V8 Supercars about having some activities at Bathurst; nothing is confirmed at this stage."
Likely to play a part in those activities will be the public debut of at least one of the Volvo S60 race cars currently under development by Garry Rogers Motorsport (GRM) – perhaps even in full race livery. Braid says that one of the two cars being built at present is nearing completion, with Volvo body panels being grafted onto the Car of the Future (CoTF) chassis.
It all signals Volvo's commitment to the sport. But some of those signals are confusing.
Richards' S40, for instance, owes nothing to V8 Supercars, which replaced Group A as the country's main touring car category. In fact, Super Touring was in direct conflict with the V8 racers at the time Richards drove the S40 to victory at Bathurst.
More recently, Volvo's Vice President of Powertrain Engineering, Derek Crabb, was quoted as saying that the company's new VEA family of engines – no more than four cylinders – would "turn V8s into dinosaurs."
There remains a disconnect between Crabb's disdainful relegation of V8 engines to a bygone era, and Volvo Australia's determination to mix it with the other teams in V8 Supercars. The issue is further complicated by Volvo's previous engagement with Super Touring.
Braid believes the company can connect all the dots.
"First and foremost, Super Touring was the class of car that obviously our models were able to compete in back then... So we didn't actually choose Super Touring... the model we had at the time suited that category. Super Touring was never initially our pure choice of motorsport," he said.
"We were obviously in Group A before that – and obviously we've seen how Group A has morphed into V8 Supercars."
So it's Volvo's earlier participation in Group A – with Robbie Francevic in a 240T – that redeems its V8SC campaign next year.
As for "the distinct question about motor sport lining up with technical aspects of the road cars," to use Braid's words, Volvo had to find a V8 for its "ticket of entry to V8 Supercars," irrespective of the views of either the corporation or its senior executives.
"It's purely a race motor," Braid explained about the V8 to be slotted under the bonnet of S60s running in V8SC rounds next year.
"It's going to be built off a production motor but it's purely a race engine for that category. Otherwise, if you don't have a V8 engine in that category you can't race."
The engine will be a larger-displacement version of the "compact 60-degree V8" developed jointly by Volvo and Yamaha for the S80 and XC90. Volvo concluded production of the V8 about 18 months ago, Braid said, but in modified form it will be revived for the local racing category next year.
As for Crabb, and regardless of his inflammatory remark, he has backed Volvo Australia's entry into the sport.
"[Crabb] is actually in charge of motor sport, and he's one of the people who had to sign off on our request for this program," said Braid.
In 2013 the evergreen Falcon and Commodore race cars – but in silhouette form – have seen off the Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG and Nissan's Altima, but results for Nissan at Winton last weekend suggest that fortunes are turning around for the 'new' cars. Nonetheless, the early challenges facing teams not running the tried and true Commodore/Falcon formula must concern Volvo and its stakeholders in V8SC.
Braid says he is actually relaxed about the steep learning curve ahead of Volvo and partners Polestar Racing and Garry Rogers Motorsport.
"It doesn't concern us, because we're well aware that's going to be the case. We're not going into this expecting immediate success.
“We know that there's going to be quite a few pitfalls for us before we get going.
"I think both Nissan and Erebus – and the way they've gone about things – gives us a bit of a road map, as we know what they've tried...
"We will make mistakes... but also we can see what they've done... having that template already there from Nissan and Erebus does actually help us with some of the decisions we make.
"We're not concerned about a slow development necessarily, because we're half expecting that's going to be the case. We're not [harbouring] great expectations of standing on the podium from the first race."
GRM is well down the track building two Volvo S60 race cars based on V8SC CoTF regs, Braid remarked.
"Chassis one is getting panels on it as we speak. That's definitely under way. Chassis two is on the jig... almost finished. So the chassis is the least of our concerns, to be honest, because the template is already there from the Car of the Future [regulations]. It's more a case of just aligning the body on the chassis and building it. That's the process at the moment."
There has been little difficulty encountered grafting the S60 body on the CoTF chassis, the local Volvo boss claimed. As the Kelly brothers found with the Nissan Altima, tailoring a shell to fit the CoTF chassis is probably not one of the more demanding tasks the team has had to tackle.
"To the credit of V8 Supercars, that's the beauty of the new regulations – our car will be the smallest in the field, and it still fits okay on the Car of the Future chassis," said Braid.
"Obviously you can go from our car to a Commodore and all those cars are going to be capable of running on that same chassis – which I think is pretty impressive, actually.
"I think we're close to the width of the Falcon and we're going to be about 18-20 millimetres shorter than the Altima," Braid stated.
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Written byKen Gratton
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