Young Kiwi Scott McLaughlin has been making waves in V8 Supercars and his dice with Jamie Whincup in Race 2 of the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide yesterday has helped put his new car, the Volvo S60 Polestar on the map.
The final lap of Race 2 saw a balls to the wall fight between McLaughlin and Whincup. And just when you thought it was all over a rookie mistake handed the sport a massive boost going into a new season.
Make sure you tune in for McLaughlin’s post-race interview.
Volvo has released a handful of pics and information for the coolest car in its lineup, the V60 “engineered by Polestar”. Let’s call it the V60 Polestar for convenience sake. As you know, Polestar is the burgeoning performance arm of Volvo and the company’s history with fast estates is well established.
The V60 Polestar is powered by a turbocharged straight six cylinder engine which produces 257kW at 5700rpm and 500Nm at 2800–4750rpm. Coupled to a 6-speed auto and a specifically calibrated Haldex all-wheel drive system the V60 Polestar can knock off 100km/h in 4.9 seconds. Pretty cool, huh.
Set-off by model-specific bodywork and bespoke 20″ alloy rims the V60 Polestar means business. Beneath the skin the chassis has been beefed up and is supported by Ohlins suspension. A 2.5″ stainless exhaust system is sure to provide a an aggressive note as well.
The V60 Polestar is due to go on sale with its S60 sedan counterpart in the UK by June next year. At this stage Australian delivery is yet to be confirmed, but we suspect that will be a formality. We’ll let you know more about local delivery as soon as we hear.
Volvo surprised nobody when they officially announced their entry into V8 Supercars today. Volvo Polestar Racing will join Australia’s premier motorsport category in 2014.
The newly created team is being described as a factory-backed outfit, but will draw on the experience of Garry Rogers Motorsport to provide the foundations. Volvo will race two S60 badged creations, conforming to the Car of the Future regulations.
In a prepared statement Christian Dahl, Polestar owner, said: “We are very proud and excited to take on the V8 Supercars together with Volvo Car Australia and Garry Rogers Motorsport, a championship that has grown to become one of the most prestigious and competitive racing championships in the world.â€
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Volvo, who won the Bathurst 1000 in 1998 during the 2.0 litre Super Tourer era with Jim Richards and Rikard Rydell. Longtime, or perhaps that should be, ageing Aussie motorsport fans will also recall Robbie Francevic’s 240T, aka ‘The Flying Brick’, which took him to the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship.
We’ve been critical of the Con of the Future regulations aimed at breaking the Ford–Holden duopoly. With Nissan and Mercedes-Benz already taking the bait, we may need to start eating our words.
Volvo is expected to be the next manufacturer to join the new era of V8 Supercars. Motoring.com.au reports Garry Rogers Motorsport will announce a deal to race with Volvo on 17 June.
That date also happens to be the day Volvo will launch the S60 Polestar in Australia. When the S60 Polestar concept was revealed last year it had a mighty 508hp on tap from its turbocharged six cylinder engine, but the production model has to make do with only 350hp.
Of course, we don’t need to let the fact the S60 is a six-pot worry anyone in the latest iteration of V8 Supercars by numbers that is the Con of the Future era.
For their part Volvo is officially denying the deal, but we expect there’s enough meat to this rumour that 17 June will be the day.
GRM has been a long-time campaigner in V8 Supercars and won the Bathurst 1000 in 2000, with Jason Bargwanna and Garth Tander at the wheel.
[Source: motoring.com.au | Thanks to Stu for the tip]
This video review of the Volvo C3 Polestar Performance Concept is a welcome complement to the text based feedback we got last month. Seeing the car move around the track and hearing its exhaust note bring a new dimension to the madness that is this car. Mike Duff from Autocar was the lucky one who got to throw the C30 around Volvo’s Gothenburg proving ground. It wasn’t long until he started throwing around words like “Evo” and “GT-R”. Meanwhile, here at AUSmotive HQ, we’ve started throwing around words like “build it Volvo” and “now”.
Oh, at idle that 400bhp five pot sounds a bit ordinary. But once the C30 is moving and the engine is snarling it sounds superb.
You know how those fantasy football league things work. You try and cram Rooney, Drogba and Torres up front, with Terry, Vidic and Vermaelen down back. In the midfield you somehow have to find the cash for Lampard, Fabregas and Gerrard. It’s a tough ask, to be sure, but Volvo have had a crack at doing the same thing with their C30 Polestar Concept.
You’ll remember the car first showed its bright blue face at the Gothenburg Motor Show last month. In case you missed it, up front the fireworks are provided by a 400bhp 2.5 litre turbo in line five cylinder. Yes, that’s right—four hundred horespower! Defence is bolstered by Brembo brakes and race-inspired Ohlins suspension. Mid-field distribution is handled by a specially tuned Haldex all-wheel drive system.
Sounds stark raving mad, doesn’t it. So how does it drive? Well, I’m glad you asked, because the Euro motoring press have just been handed the keys, pointed to a closed track and told to give that Swedish smurf a jolly good seeing to.
Autocar reckon: “On Volvo’s tight, cresty test track in Gothenburg it delivered an impressively lashed-down driving experience, with massive adhesion, telepathic steering and a neutral chassis balance that makes it easy to find the sweet spot between understeer and (mild) oversteer.”
Top Gear says: “It is fast. Worryingly fast. One of the very quickest small things we’ve ever driven. Polestar says the C30 recorded a 0-62mph time of 4.6 seconds… and that was going easy on the transmission. They reckon a full-bore test would see it go close to four seconds flat. It’ll lap Volvo’s test track quicker than an Evo X… and within a few seconds of Volvo’s C30 touring car.”
Impressive. It’s not all fun and games though with reports suggesting the car is a little off production standard. Which is possibly why we may never see this Concept make it into Volvo showrooms. As a vehicle to announce the Polestar brand as Volvo’s in-house tuning specialist, though, the C30 Polsetar Concept is kicking goals from all over the park.
There’s a new video after the break, too, which is pretty much the same as the one already posted here, but with English sub-titles for the Swedish interviewees.
Following today’s earlier post about the Volvo C30 Polestar Performance Concept comes this brief YouTube clip (see below). Sadly there is no driving footage showcasing just how effective this car and its 300kW+ could be.
So that means its interviews and polite press stuff, and unfortunately most of the interviews are in Swedish. However, there is one sound bite in English available that reveals we could be seeing more of the Polestar brand from Volvo in the future. Based on what we’ve seen today this could be a very good thing indeed.
[Thanks to Jason for the tip]
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]