Hold onto your hats Swedish motoring fans, because Volvo is set to enter the Australian V8 Supercar racing series for 2014.
If you’re not familiar with V8 Supercar, it’s an Australian racing series that historically pits V8-powered Holden (Australian General Motors brand) and Ford racecars against one another in rear-wheel drive warfare on a road course.
In the last few years, V8 Supercar gained world notoriety for the both the power of its cars and the skill of its drivers, which made for some exciting racing indeed.
Last week we reported that rumors pegged the safety-obsessed automaker as the newest entrant in the infamous racing series, although Volvo itself denied such claims. Now, however, Volvo is ready to make it official and released the video you see above.
This isn’t Volvo’s first foray into Australian racing. It has run several in the past. In fact, Volvo won the Bathurst in 1998 after having won the entire Australian Touring Car Championship in 1986.
What will be under the hood? We had speculated a version of the Yamaha-sourced Volvo V8 could power the S60 around the track. It appears that’s exactly what’s going to happen. The 4.4-liter V8 will be sized up to meet the 5.0-liter racing requirements and will then push power to only the rear wheels. Volvo hasn’t had a rear-wheel drive car since the S90 of the early 2000s so the S60 V8 Supercar will be like no other Volvo on the road today.
Joining Volvo will be Mercedes and Nissan, now that the Australians have opened up the series to more than just Holden and Ford. To meet the engine requirements, Nissan upped its GT-R 3.8-liter V6 to a 5.0 V8, adding two cylinders, and Mercedes downsized its 5.5-liter V8.
Volvo won’t be flying solo, however, as the Swedish-based Volvo tuner company Polestar will be riding shotgun. Volvo has also reportedly teamed up with Garry Rogers Motorsport, “a Bathurst-winning outfit that’s been served by the likes of current V8 Supercars champion Jamie Whincup, who’s dominated the sport for the last five-odd seasons,” according to Car.
We’re big fans of both V8 Supercar and Volvo so the 2014 series should prove incredibly exciting. As more information is known about the Volvo racecar, we’ll be sure to bring it to you.
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