The Garry Rogers Motorsport team has been testing the all-new Volvo S60 V8 supercar in recent weeks but now the historic racer has been revealed in its war paint.
And it was a spectacular debut – driving across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and into the CBD.
Rogers says the 5.0-litre, 60-degree V8 engine, based on the Volvo B8444S, will be good for more than 650-horsepower.
Of course Volvos in Australia’s premier racing category aren’t new – exuberant Kiwi Robbie Francevic (now a successful property developer north of Auckland) took-out the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship in a Volvo 240T and Jim Richards teamed with Swede Rickard Rydell to win the 1998 Bathurst 1000 in a Volvo S40.
The latest Volvo racer (developed by Rogers’ team and the works Volvo competition division Polestar) certainly looks the business and joins forces with the Nissan Altimas and Erebus Mercedes racers to provide much-needed variety in the V8 Supercar ranks.
And to think when Nissan was winning the Australian Touring Car Championship in its ‘Godzilla’ GT-Rs, race officials banned them, saying: “No, this championship will only work if its Holden versus Ford”.
The 2014 V8 Supercar field is scheduled for a shakedown test session at Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek) this Saturday.
