Learn about Volvo Cars Racing History

Automotive History - Learn about Volvo Cars Racing History.

Male Speaker: Most people are aware that Volvo manufactures safe cars but what is less well known is that Volvo cars are also successful on the race track and in rallying. Most recently it's the Volvo C30 that is successfully winning competitions in the Swedish Touring Car Championship, the STCC. Male Speaker: The concentration in Volvo has been tremendous. We've had cars on the tracks first race we've 1 and 2. Then first and second in the race, the fantastic start. We won the city race in Göteborg which was really important for us and best of all behind the scenes, the publicity we're getting for the PR reports, already in the first two races with better than the whole of last year. So the result of publicizing this way has worked for us. Male Speaker: Leading up to this year's season, Volvo engineers have taken advantage of the new Drive-E technology from standard cars, in order to reduce wind resistance and thereby increase speed. Male Speaker: A normal customer, what he wants is a very fuel effective car, he wants a very safe car and what we're doing with the Drive-E technology is reduce the air dynamic drag which made the car more efficient as it goes forward. And those technologies are important for fuel economy. But they're also important to make a racing car go fast and therefore the technology to work on this car at the same time customer race car. Male Speaker: But a great deal has happened on the racing side since Volvo made their debut with their first competition car. The year was 1928 just one year after the foundation of the company. We can definitely say that motor sport has been important for the development of the motor industry. Male Speaker: Volvo meant a lot, rest is easy. We've been with the series all the way through, we were the first with the E-85 with the fuel and therefore lifted the whole series image around the world. We developed in the C30, a new Swedish Developed car for the series and therefore we were a strong supporter. But also we've helped to promote STCC around the world. We've been to Thailand, we've been to England showing this car and the series it comes from. So we've meant a lot. Male Speaker: And over the years it can be seen that Volvo has been relatively successful on race tracks around the world. In total, they have won 3 European and 2 World Rally Titles. There's also been a European Title on the race track as well as a European Title in Rally Cross. Amongst the many rallies that Volvo cars have won over the years, the RAC rally in England, the Acropolis Rally in Greece and the Safari Rally in Kenya are amongst the most notable. It's last event having been won by the Singh Brothers in 1965. The most successful drivers include Sylvia Österberg, Evy Rosquist, Gunnar Andersson, Carl-Magnus Skogh, and Tom Trana. Male Speaker: Motor sport is going to go to smaller engines, same amount of power but with much better fuel economy. And if we can present those small engines in a good way for the public, they're going to be equally excited about those engines as they're all about V8 today. Male Speaker: The Volvo 343 wrote the next chapter in Volvo's motor sport history. In 1977, Per-Inge Walfridsson surprisingly drove home the Swedish Championship in Rally Cross driving the 343. In 1979 too, Walfridsson was again crowned Swedish Champion. The Volvo 240 Turbo also had major successes. Something that in 1985 resulted in the European Championship Title for the Brancatelli and Thomas Lindstrom partnership. The same year Pierre Dieudonné also won the first open DTM Title. The British Touring Car Championship, the BTCC saw Volvo on the starting grid in 1994. It started in fact with the Volvo 850 Estate which was the first car with a catalytic converter for cleaning exhauster machines in a racing context. Something that caused the great deal of attention at that time. Later, on the Saloon version was introduced followed by the S40, Rickard Rydell was the driver who made most starts for Volvo in the BTCC and in 1998, Rickard was eventually crowned Champion. When we talk about motor sport in 2009 it's principally a question of the Swedish STCC and the Volvo C30, that is now run on environmental fuel. E-85 Ethanol, and that in the racing version develops more than 290 brake horsepower. Last year the C30 won 2 races, and was the third best make of car overall. This year naturally the goal is to achieve even better results. Male Speaker: We've got two basic goals this season, one is to win-win-win, as you know, the secondly to make sure the publicity come out from the car to the general public in Sweden but also around the world. This is an exciting car, it's fuel efficient and Drive-E is a technology of the world.