Volvo C30 Polestar Performance Concept

Three hundred kilowatts plus… Five hundred and ten Newton metres of torque… Haldex all-wheel drive… Yeah, I want one too!

Whichever way you look at Volvo’s slightly oddball C30 those numbers are massive. The power comes courtesy of Polestar Performance who are the outfit behind Volvo’s Swedish Touring Car Team. The theory behind the car is to see what happens when a bunch race engineers shift their focus from the track to the road.

Further to those highlight figures at the start, the C30 Polestar Performance Concept also includes a larger turbo, uprated pistons and conrods, as well as a revised camshaft. Keeping the Haldex naysays partially at bay is the news that mechanical diffs from Quaife can be found at the front and rear. Ohlins suspension and a revised steering rack help liven up handling. Bright blue paint and some 19″ BBS wheels help set the car off very nicely. Even the body kit looks the business (from this photo at least). Braking is helped along with a performance Brembo package featuring six-pot calipers and 380mm rotors up front, with a four-pot 330mm combo at the rear.

The C30 Polestar Performance Concept is currently on show at the Gothenburg Motor Show. Volvo’s press release after the break.

[Extra pics: automotorsport.se & The Car Lounge]

VOLVO C30 POLESTAR PERFORMANCE CONCEPT PROTOTYPE PREMIERES AT THE GOTHENBURG MOTOR SHOW

• Polestar Performance, the team behind Volvo’s championship-winning Swedish Touring Car Team, announce further technical details on the 400 PS AWD Volvo C30 Performance Concept Prototype
• The Polestar C30 PCP premieres at the Gothenburg Motor Show on 22-25 April 2010

This weekend Volvo Cars and Polestar enter their fifteenth consecutive motorsport season in the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) and as reining champions. But prior to the new racing season, Polestar engineers have turned their attention to the road car version of their Volvo C30 racer.

Developing 400 PS and transferring the power to the road via an all-wheel-drive system, the C30 Performance Concept Prototype was designed to evaluate what happens when a Championship-winning team of race engineers and designers get free-rein to design and engineer a car rather than developing it to fit very specific race regulations. With the Volvo C30 Concept, Polestar aimed to build further on the strong driving characteristics of the standard C30 and at the same time illustrate the link between the racing cars and the Polestar Performance products.

The car is based on Polestar’s unique experience from developing the Volvo C30 into a winning race car. The interior and exterior design reflects Polestar’s know-how on the C30’s aerodynamic and driving properties derived through several years of development and testing – from computer simulations, to wind tunnel and race track testing.

Polestar C30 Performance Concept Prototype Technical Specification

Engine:

• Volvo T5: 2.5L Turbo with larger intercooler and KKK 26 turbo
• Modified pistons, conrods and inlet camshaft
• Power Output: 405 hp. Torque: 510 Nm

Drivetrain:

• Quaife mechanical differential brake front and rear
• Haldex AWD

Chassis:

• Öhlins shock absorbers and springs
• More responsive steering rack with 2,25 ratio

Brakes:

• Front: Brembo 380mm discs with six piston calipers
• Rear: Brembo 330mm discs with four piston calipers

Rims and Tyres:

• BBS FI 19×8,75″
• Pirelli P Zero 235/35 ZR 19

Interior:

• Racing seats with Ternsjö leather and four point harness

Exterior:

• Aerodynamics derived from the STCC race car

For more information, please log on to www.polestar.se.