Group A Volvo 240 - Info and pics thread

[VolvoGroupA]

Hello Folks!

I had in mind to start a Volvo 240 Group A history thread here.

A thread to gather info and share pics about the good old sweet time of the Volvo 240 Group A.

Some info to read:
A car from the Group-A of ETC must be a four-seated car who atleast have been manufactured in minimum of 500 identical ex. The cars must be able to be used on a public road by ordinary people. Before these 500 evolution cars there must have been 5000 produced standard cars, with mean 5000 Volvo 240 Turbos.Volvo drove with a cylindervolume over 2100cc in the Group-A series which ment that Volvo could be driv�*ng up against cars with non-turbo and they could have up to a cylindervolume up to 3000cc, all according to the Group-A regulations. Some of these cars who drove in Group-A series was following: BMW 528i who later was replaced with BMW 635CSi, Jaguar XJ-S 12, Rover Vitesse V8, Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV V6, BMW e30 323i, Ford Sierra XR4 TI, Mercedes 190 2.3, Toyota Corolla GT, Alfa Romeo 75 V6, Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo, BMW e30 325i, Mazda 929 and Holden VK Commodore. Later in 1980´s came other cars like Nissan Skyline, Toyota Supra and BMW e30 M3. The BMW e30 M3 and Ford Sierra Cosworth came to rule in the series of Group-A.

European Touring Championship (ETC) according to the Group-A regulation, a BMW 635CSi and a Jaguar XJ-S or a Rover 3500 dragged the shortest straw. I know it sounds simple but in the end its the truth. As earlie as in the debut-race in 1984 season a Volvo 240 Turbo drove 100 of 150 laps in the lead.

1982 Volvo 242 made the debute in the ETC series wich started in 1963. It was Greger Pettersson, Anders Olofsson and Peggen Andersson, they took a modified Turbo Cup-car to England. During the practice the injectionengine broke and when no one was looking the carburetorengine was put into the car instead and we keept the fronthood closed. The team had to call it in anyway due to a broken exhaust pipe. In 1983 Thomas Lindström with Stanley Dickens and Per Stureson with Ingemar Persson droved on the seasonpreimere on Monza. Both this teams droved a selection of the competitions in the European Championships. But in the Tourist Trophy the same year, they started somewhat bigger. At that time it was premiere for the Evolution model of the Volvo 242 Turbo. A larger turbo, intercooler and a rearwing was the big changes. On spot four Volvo teams were present. Besides the already mentioned names like Greger Pettersson, Anders Olofsson and Peggen Andersson a Sportpromotion 242. And in a common car called the InfraPaint droved Robert Kvist and Börje Thor. None of the cars finished the race. However the InfraPaint Volvo qualified to a 9th place in a row of 20 cars totally in the strong division 3. For the Sportpromotion team the race ended already in the warmup before the qualifieing when the engine blew.

1984 Volvo started for real in the ETC-series. The next coming year 1985 Volvo won the Championships totally. Even in the 1986 season of ETC Volvo had good chance of winning the ETC if Tom Walkinshaw and his Rover didnt start to make problems for Volvo. According to him Volvo didnt drive according to the regulations. Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) disqualified´Volvo, because Volvo drove on unleaded 99 octane standardfuel on Anderstorp and on Zeltweg Volvo drove with an elegal fueltank and dashboard so two victories was taken from Volvo. But later it came to knowledge that the other teams drove with way to big engine. But FISA had an special interest in 1985 for Volvo. 240 Turbo was homologated 1983 for the american market. Fivehundred evolution cars was delivered, but the american authoritys never registrated the 240 Turbo cars. The FISA regulations was the reason why Volvo
pulled out of the 1986 championship two weeks after the last race on Estoril.



Im always in the pursuit of new info about the former Group A Volvos for my homepage, www.volvogrupp-a.se, the site is both avaible in Swedish and English. Anyone got something to contribute to the tread?

Best Regards
Björn, www.volvogrupp-a.se

[chunterer]

Nice thread 'Volvo Group A' and a natural extension of the other threads we have started for the main Group A models such as the Vitesse, 635, Skyline and Starion and M3.

I'm sure the thred will flourish!

Here's an interesting point i'd like to add. Much discussion will take place about the European and Australian entries but does anyone remember that in 1985/86 there were rumours that someone was thinking of entering one in the Trimoco British series?

[VolvoGroupA]

Yeah I thaugt it was about time someone took in the Volvo 240T in all the other Group-A threads.

If or not I cant say that I´ve ever heard that someone whould enter the Trimoco British series? I must invesigate this I think.

Isnt that anyone of the 110 visitors that have anything to ad to the thread? Sure I can fill this thread myself but I was hoping for some discussions here about this subject, Volvo 240T in Group-A

Originally Posted by chunterer

Nice thread 'Volvo Group A' and a natural extension of the other threads we have started for the main Group A models such as the Vitesse, 635, Skyline and Starion and M3.

I'm sure the thred will flourish!

Here's an interesting point i'd like to add. Much discussion will take place about the European and Australian entries but does anyone remember that in 1985/86 there were rumours that someone was thinking of entering one in the Trimoco British series?

[chunterer]

Don't worry, it'll come i'm sure. There's plenty of Group A fans on 10-10ths!!

Well regarding the prospective British entry I seem to recall it being reported that one car was rumoured to be entering in either 1985 or 1986. I can't remember the exact detail of the stories but either John Maguire or Julian May might have been the names connected with possibly Patrick Watts or someone like that as a driver. The car wouldn't have been new but I believe sourced from Sweden, not Eggenberger.

However I suspect that the names of the entrants and drivers are not accurate!!

It may just have been speculation at the time as it never materialised - I was gutted as at that time the series struggled for quality and quantity so any additional competitive entries would have been brilliant!!

[GBRM]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Well regarding the prospective British entry I seem to recall it being reported that one car was rumoured to be entering in either 1985 or 1986. I can't remember the exact detail of the stories but either John Maguire or Julian May might have been the names connected with possibly Patrick Watts or someone like that as a driver. The car wouldn't have been new but I believe sourced from Sweden, not Eggenberger.

Well in 1986 Patrick Watts raced a Fiat Uno Turbo in the Class B of the Production Saloons with my Dad and the view was to move up to Touring Cars for 1987 in the Uno (it was even officially announced in Motoring News) but it didn't happen.

I'll have a look through my 1985 MNs and see if there is anything about the Volvo in there.

[chunterer]

Yeah I remeber that well. I figured a Grp A Uno Turbo would have been outright title winning material, although the Class C (1601-2000) was a bit undersubscribed. Shame we never got to find out.

Gregor it may well have been MN that the Volvo story originated from actually. Possibly towards the end of 1985.

[KA]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Don't worry, it'll come i'm sure. There's plenty of Group A fans on 10-10ths!!

Well regarding the prospective British entry I seem to recall it being reported that one car was rumoured to be entering in either 1985 or 1986. I can't remember the exact detail of the stories but either John Maguire or Julian May might have been the names connected with possibly Patrick Watts or someone like that as a driver. The car wouldn't have been new but I believe sourced from Sweden, not Eggenberger.

However I suspect that the names of the entrants and drivers are not accurate!!

It may just have been speculation at the time as it never materialised - I was gutted as at that time the series struggled for quality and quantity so any additional competitive entries would have been brilliant!!

The Volvos I suspect were always a bit of a mystery to British fans- we never saw them over here other than at the ETCC rounds, and so I guess they were maybe regarded something slightly exotic compared to the Rovers etc we saw in the BTCC- after all, we even managed a Maserati Biturbo in the BTCC, but never a Volvo....

Certainly I knew comparitively little about them until discovering Bjorn's website, which I've dipped into a couple of times, but really need to work through. I saw the ETCC rounds at either, or occasionally both, Silverstone and Donington from 1985-8, so remember seeing the Eggenberger cars in 85 and the RAS Sport ones in 86, but not that many more. Looking at DTM and Anderstorp ETCC results from the period, there seemed to be loads of them in Sweden and Germany, and even one or two in Portugal but we never seemed to hear much about those over here

Apart from the works cars, I only really remember the 'Luna' car (Anders Olofsson/Ulf Granberg as I recall in 85?) and a couple of privateer entries at Donington in 1985- a white Magnum Racing example, with Slim Borgudd on board amongst others

http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc...-05-05-029.jpg

and the car leased by Charlie O'Brien etc, entered under the 'Erle McRae Racing' banner.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc...-05-05-017.jpg


That 'Erle McRae' entry particularly intrigues me- why the Australians turned up for a one-off BTCC outing (I seem to recall reading somewhere that it may have been connected with the deal to buy a Sytner BMW or two?), and how they came to appear in a Volvo?

If they were going to Donington to put together a deal on a 635 from Sytner, why did they lease a Volvo for the race?- Sweden seems a long way to go for a pair of Australians to lease a car for a one-off race at Donington- Was it a car already entered and they took the opportunity to rent a ride in the Volvo, or, more interestingly, was something more ambitious involved- ie, apart from talking to Sytner, had they also been talking to the Swedish outfit (which one?) about buying a Volvo for Bathurst?

[VolvoGroupA]

The Volvo that Erle McRae Racing leased, this Volvo caught fire and burned up on Donington -85. The car was leased from Greger
Petersson-Sportpromotion, Sweden. However I find this very strange why like you say KA a team from Australia leases a Volvo from
Sweden to race in England at Donington. And the other Volvo was no where to be found after this race, it was a Volvo Magum Racing
was involved with. It was a more privateer team. However the Volvo 240 was never in the BTCC-series, only time Volvo droved
in England was in the ETC-series.

However there were other Volvo teams who raced in with great succes in Finland, Germany and ofcourse here in Sweden where the Group-A
-series was one of the most popular series at that time. The Glory for Volvo in the Group-A-series here in Sweden was between -87,-88 and-89.

And the best team Volvo ever enterd with who was really succesfull was the Swiss team Eggenberger Motorsport in -85. The R.A.S. Sport team
in -86 was however not the same succes as the Eggenberger Team due to the cheating that Volvo got caught for with the R.A.S. Sport team.

Erle McRae Racing on Donington -85 when the car caught fire.

Originally Posted by KA

The Volvos I suspect were always a bit of a mystery to British fans- we never saw them over here other than at the ETCC rounds, and so I guess they were maybe regarded something slightly exotic compared to the Rovers etc we saw in the BTCC- after all, we even managed a Maserati Biturbo in the BTCC, but never a Volvo....

Certainly I knew comparitively little about them until discovering Bjorn's website, which I've dipped into a couple of times, but really need to work through. I saw the ETCC rounds at either, or occasionally both, Silverstone and Donington from 1985-8, so remember seeing the Eggenberger cars in 85 and the RAS Sport ones in 86, but not that many more. Looking at DTM and Anderstorp ETCC results from the period, there seemed to be loads of them in Sweden and Germany, and even one or two in Portugal but we never seemed to hear much about those over here

Apart from the works cars, I only really remember the 'Luna' car (Anders Olofsson/Ulf Granberg as I recall in 85?) and a couple of privateer entries at Donington in 1985- a white Magnum Racing example, with Slim Borgudd on board amongst others

http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc...-05-05-029.jpg

and the car leased by Charlie O'Brien etc, entered under the 'Erle McRae Racing' banner.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc...-05-05-017.jpg


That 'Erle McRae' entry particularly intrigues me- why the Australians turned up for a one-off BTCC outing (I seem to recall reading somewhere that it may have been connected with the deal to buy a Sytner BMW or two?), and how they came to appear in a Volvo?

If they were going to Donington to put together a deal on a 635 from Sytner, why did they lease a Volvo for the race?- Sweden seems a long way to go for a pair of Australians to lease a car for a one-off race at Donington- Was it a car already entered and they took the opportunity to rent a ride in the Volvo, or, more interestingly, was something more ambitious involved- ie, apart from talking to Sytner, had they also been talking to the Swedish outfit (which one?) about buying a Volvo for Bathurst?

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Don't worry, it'll come i'm sure. There's plenty of Group A fans on 10-10ths!!

Well regarding the prospective British entry I seem to recall it being reported that one car was rumoured to be entering in either 1985 or 1986. I can't remember the exact detail of the stories but either John Maguire or Julian May might have been the names connected with possibly Patrick Watts or someone like that as a driver. The car wouldn't have been new but I believe sourced from Sweden, not Eggenberger.

However I suspect that the names of the entrants and drivers are not accurate!!

It may just have been speculation at the time as it never materialised - I was gutted as at that time the series struggled for quality and quantity so any additional competitive entries would have been brilliant!!

I think you're wide of the mark here. I have a hunch that I know who it was, but would like to know EXACTLY what the magazines said at the time before I spill the beans here... Come on chaps, get the quotes from Autosport!

[VolvoGroupA]

Do anyone have any idea which number of the Autosport this may appear? I do have a folder with all articles about Volvo 240T in GrA. So I can scan and put in here in the thread.

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I think you're wide of the mark here. I have a hunch that I know who it was, but would like to know EXACTLY what the magazines said at the time before I spill the beans here... Come on chaps, get the quotes from Autosport!

[GBRM]

I keep forgetting to check Motoring News, promise to look over the weekend!! I have a few Autosport and Motor Sport mags so will have a quick look in them too.

[Jesper OH]

Volvos in Denmark

Here’s an account of Volvo 240 Turbo group As in Denmark.

Although group A was introduced here as early as 1982 it took a few years for the Turbo to be used. Jan Lundberg was entered for the 1984 Gran Prix of Denmark at Jyllands-Ringen, but I don’t know if he actually raced this rent car or he stuck with his usual group 1+ Ford Capri 3.0?

Peter Elgaard, for the past decade the organiser of the highly succesfull Danish Touring Carchampionship (DTC), was the first to buy his own mount. Winner of the the 1984 Danish and Nordic title with an ex-Juma BMW 635CSi, he settled for the Deutsche Produktionswagen Meisterschaft, the future DTM, with a 240 Turbo. Discovering that the car had to be laden with 350 kgs of ballast, he decided to stick with his bimmer and likely never raced the 240 Turbo. What happened to this car I don’t know.

It was 1986 when Jørgen Poulsen finally build himself a 240 from a former Anders Lindberg Turbo Cup car of 1984 vintage (all of this according to VolvoGroupA). Poulsen was the class of the field through the next four seasons, winning the title in ’86 and ’87. A change in points distribution meant that the few big cars had little chance of winning the championship against the more well subscribed smaller divisions in the years 1988 and the final group A season in Denmark of 1989. The car remained in group A condition to at least 1992 with Poulsen racing the Grand Prix of Denmark at Jyllands-Ringen, while Erik Madsen raced the car for the final four rounds of the Nordic Cup finals at Ring Knutstorp, Sweden, a few weeks later. During the 1990’s the Poulsen Volvo was modified to Special Saloon Car racing, winning a couple of 2.4 hour Mini Le Mans annually held as part of the final race weekend at Jyllands-Ringen during most of the 1990’s. This is how the car looked like in 2002: http://www.motorsporten.dk/news.asp?aID=5188. It was nastily t-boned in a start crash during the subsequent race and later sold on to Norway.

Peter Werner Hansen (usually only known as Peter Werner) was next to acquire a 240 Turbo. This happened over the summer of ’86 when he bought chassis VR-0000003 according to a contemporary race programme. As I have pointed out to VolvoGroupA this car has superficial resemblance of the Erle McRae car of Donington ’85. Werner drove this car during the rest of 1986, 1987 and finally 1988, but was never a match for Jørgen Poulsen. Both drivers had plans to race selected ETCC and WTCC races during 1987 together, but likely never did. Since the Werner car was equipped with air jacks and quick fill tanks, it’s likely that this would have been their car.

Gert Rasmussen arrived with a 240 Turbo for the 1987 season. Rated at 230 bhp in an end of year sales add suggest that this was a former Swedish Turbo Cup car. Rasmussen was new to the game, but by the end of ’88 he was a real threat to Peter Werner. Rasmussen was the main Volvo driver of 1989, finally finishing third in the championship and winner of the over 2 litre brigade. At the 1989 Grand Prix of Denmark Rasmussen had a “Taxi” sign mounted on the roof! This car was converted to Special Saloon Car for 1990.

In April 1989 Copenhagen based motoring club ASK held a 6 hour endurance race at Swedish Ring Knutstorp. Jørgen Poulsen was among the driving crew of a Söderqvist Volvo that was badly crashed by Swede Hasse Svensson. This car is likely the same: http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc...-07-23-010.jpg

Jens Nykjær appeared in a white Söderqvist Racing Services rent car for the 1989 Grand Prix of Denmark. By 1990 he was driving an all white 240 Turbo at the Swedish championship round at Falkenberg in July and in August at the non championship round at Jyllands-Ringen in Denmark. His 1989 and his 1990 car seemed to be two different cars. The 240 Turbo was a strange choice of car, from a man that since the mid-1970’s had build and raced ever more outrageous Volkswagen Beetles and a Kremer K3 replica of a Porsche 935, culminating in his own Nykjær-BMW group C2 of 1985.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Volvos in Denmark

Here’s an account of Volvo 240 Turbo group As in Denmark.

Although group A was introduced here as early as 1982 it took a few years for the Turbo to be used. Jan Lundberg was entered for the 1984 Gran Prix of Denmark at Jyllands-Ringen, but I don’t know if he actually raced this rent car or he stuck with his usual group 1+ Ford Capri 3.0?

Slightly ot Jesper, (excellent post as this one is) could you provide any further info about this Capri and any others you know of that ran in Denmark etc into the CC Grp 1 Capri thread that is desperate for more info, particularly about CC built cars?

[VolvoGroupA]

This Jens Nykjær you mentions who drived a Söderqvistracing Racing Service GrA Volvo is actually Peggen Anderssons former GrA Volvo.

Short after Jens Nykjær the car was sold to Norway where the car changed owner 3 times before the car finally ended up back here in Sweden with a good friend of mine.

Summary of the ex. Peggen Andersson Volvo 240T Gpa:
o1984 Raced in DTM and a few races in The Swedish Championsships - Driver: Peggen
Andersson, Sweden.
o1985 Raced in DTM and some in ETC and Mats Lindén rented the car to enter The
Swedish Championsships. Driver: Peggen Andersson, Sweden.
o1986 Raced in DTM and some ETC races plus in New Zeeland (Wellington) Driver:
Peggen Andersson, Sweden.
o1987 Raced in New Zeeland plus Thailand - Volvo Thailand with Peggen Andersson
as driver.
o1988 Raced in Thailand (Victory that year) - Volvo Thailand with Peggen Andersson
as driver.
o1989 (Autum) Söderqvist Racing Service (SRS) brought the car home to a Danish
named Jens Nykär - Jens Nykär, Denmark.
o1990 A Norweign by name Birger Schanke buys the car. Birger Schanke, Norway.
o1992 Another Norweign by name Kristoffersson buys the car. --- Kristoffersson,
Norway.
o1999 The car is bought again by an Norweign by name Roy Olsen. Roy Olsen,
Norway.
o2000 (September) The car is buyed back to Sweden by Rolf Öhberg. Rolf Öhberg,
Sweden.

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

Volvos in Denmark

Here’s an account of Volvo 240 Turbo group As in Denmark.

Although group A was introduced here as early as 1982 it took a few years for the Turbo to be used. Jan Lundberg was entered for the 1984 Gran Prix of Denmark at Jyllands-Ringen, but I don’t know if he actually raced this rent car or he stuck with his usual group 1+ Ford Capri 3.0?

Peter Elgaard, for the past decade the organiser of the highly succesfull Danish Touring Carchampionship (DTC), was the first to buy his own mount. Winner of the the 1984 Danish and Nordic title with an ex-Juma BMW 635CSi, he settled for the Deutsche Produktionswagen Meisterschaft, the future DTM, with a 240 Turbo. Discovering that the car had to be laden with 350 kgs of ballast, he decided to stick with his bimmer and likely never raced the 240 Turbo. What happened to this car I don’t know.

It was 1986 when Jørgen Poulsen finally build himself a 240 from a former Anders Lindberg Turbo Cup car of 1984 vintage (all of this according to VolvoGroupA). Poulsen was the class of the field through the next four seasons, winning the title in ’86 and ’87. A change in points distribution meant that the few big cars had little chance of winning the championship against the more well subscribed smaller divisions in the years 1988 and the final group A season in Denmark of 1989. The car remained in group A condition to at least 1992 with Poulsen racing the Grand Prix of Denmark at Jyllands-Ringen, while Erik Madsen raced the car for the final four rounds of the Nordic Cup finals at Ring Knutstorp, Sweden, a few weeks later. During the 1990’s the Poulsen Volvo was modified to Special Saloon Car racing, winning a couple of 2.4 hour Mini Le Mans annually held as part of the final race weekend at Jyllands-Ringen during most of the 1990’s. This is how the car looked like in 2002: http://www.motorsporten.dk/news.asp?aID=5188. It was nastily t-boned in a start crash during the subsequent race and later sold on to Norway.

Peter Werner Hansen (usually only known as Peter Werner) was next to acquire a 240 Turbo. This happened over the summer of ’86 when he bought chassis VR-0000003 according to a contemporary race programme. As I have pointed out to VolvoGroupA this car has superficial resemblance of the Erle McRae car of Donington ’85. Werner drove this car during the rest of 1986, 1987 and finally 1988, but was never a match for Jørgen Poulsen. Both drivers had plans to race selected ETCC and WTCC races during 1987 together, but likely never did. Since the Werner car was equipped with air jacks and quick fill tanks, it’s likely that this would have been their car.

Gert Rasmussen arrived with a 240 Turbo for the 1987 season. Rated at 230 bhp in an end of year sales add suggest that this was a former Swedish Turbo Cup car. Rasmussen was new to the game, but by the end of ’88 he was a real threat to Peter Werner. Rasmussen was the main Volvo driver of 1989, finally finishing third in the championship and winner of the over 2 litre brigade. At the 1989 Grand Prix of Denmark Rasmussen had a “Taxi” sign mounted on the roof! This car was converted to Special Saloon Car for 1990.

In April 1989 Copenhagen based motoring club ASK held a 6 hour endurance race at Swedish Ring Knutstorp. Jørgen Poulsen was among the driving crew of a Söderqvist Volvo that was badly crashed by Swede Hasse Svensson. This car is likely the same: http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc...-07-23-010.jpg

Jens Nykjær appeared in a white Söderqvist Racing Services rent car for the 1989 Grand Prix of Denmark. By 1990 he was driving an all white 240 Turbo at the Swedish championship round at Falkenberg in July and in August at the non championship round at Jyllands-Ringen in Denmark. His 1989 and his 1990 car seemed to be two different cars. The 240 Turbo was a strange choice of car, from a man that since the mid-1970’s had build and raced ever more outrageous Volkswagen Beetles and a Kremer K3 replica of a Porsche 935, culminating in his own Nykjær-BMW group C2 of 1985.

[VolvoGroupA]

I also have been doing some background check regarding to the VR-0000003 and your story is very correct Jesper.

The car is now in back here in Sweden and are in very good condition.

You whouldnt happen to have any pics of this Volvo?

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by VolvoGroupA

I also have been doing some background check regarding to the VR-0000003 and your story is very correct Jesper.

The car is now in back here in Sweden and are in very good condition.

You whouldnt happen to have any pics of this Volvo?

I think I mailed you a magazine scan of this car some time ago, but I'll dig it back out.

You mentioned Birger Schanke, who, at one point was rallycrossing a 240 Turbo, while he was among several Norwegians to race Sports 2000 by the mid-1980's.

Chunterer, I will post what I know of Danish Ford Capri, but beware, what I know is the Danish history of these cars.

Jesper

[VolvoGroupA]

Yes you did Jesper but I thaught that you might have a better photo of the VR-0000003 car. Or do you know anyone that perheps might have?
I have by the way updated my homepage with pics and some history about the VR-0000003 car.

I had what you whould call a conversation with Birger Schanke a while ago, he was looking for his old GpA Volvo. The one that my good friend Rolf Öhberg is proud owner of.

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

I think I mailed you a magazine scan of this car some time ago, but I'll dig it back out.

You mentioned Birger Schanke, who, at one point was rallycrossing a 240 Turbo, while he was among several Norwegians to race Sports 2000 by the mid-1980's.

Jesper

[GBRM]

Apologies for the delay:-

Motorsport News 10th October 1984 - VOLVOS FOR BRITAIN?
A passing sparrow recently informed us that a leading British Saloon Car Championship preparation expert is currently nurturing a couple of Volvo 240 turbos, with a view to honing them into GpA trim for next year.
Although our enquiries have been unable to track the cars down to an exact location, our source suggested that they were being considered for British GpA, to avoid clashing interests in other saloon car areas.

Motorsport News 7th November 1984 - ROUSE; NO VOLVO!
"No, that is completely misinformed," commented Andy Rouse last week, about rumours that he was preparing a Volvo for use in British GpA next year.
Rouse conceded that he had spoken to Volvo GB, "but it isn't really interested, so I think you can safely say that's a non-starter."
As yet, Rouse isn't in a position to announce what he will be doing in 1985, but expects to make a decision within the next few weeks.

Autosport 21st November 1985 - SEASONAL REVIEW;
...Rouse's driving was as smooth and disciplined as always, although the Sierra was quite a handful for the driver. After the early laps Andy usually had an appreciable gap to the rest and didn't have to force the car along, although when under pressure from Dave Brodie, Andy was as firm as a rock. A remarkable achievement and the Sierra is clearly the car to have next year, unless some bright spark turns up with a Volvo 240T, aEuropean-spec Rover Vitesse or perhaps a Colt Starion on European Pirelli tyres....

[chunterer]

Cheers Gregor well found! That's not what I thought I remembered, but must be the rumours from the time as it's in print.

I thought there was something else at a later date, off season before 1986 or something?

OT: I like the closing comment in the 85 review about people ought to be running a Volvo, ex ETC Rover or Pirelli shod Starion against the Sierra! They would have been good competitors as well if anyone had the proper foresight and managed to get the money and right bits together. TWR only appeared to let privateers have their cars after 1986 when they stopped the works programme......

[opelman]

Nice thread and very lot of info in your pages on volvo 242 group a car. I have seen somewhere of test drive this car made in 84 or 85 trying to find it and put link in here.

[chunder]

Am trying to think of all teh guys that ran Volvo's in European rallycross!!

Most of them would ahve been running similar of not higher engine specs than WTCC.

I know Kenny Hansen ran one for a year, Peo Davidsson, Hakan Ivarsson, Eivind Opland ran an ex Nystrom car that heold the lap record at Lydden for years!!

There were loads of them around in Sweden/Norway I remember, aswell as pretty potent Saabs from Norstedt, Kallio, etc

And guys, quick note.

I ahve Birger Schanke in a 240 finishing in teh points in a few rounds in 1988 in European rallycross

And also Tom Einar Aaserud ran one for a while, Tomm Vestli (Fina car)

You can tel I ahve my Laumanns books out!!

[KA]

Originally Posted by chunder

Am trying to think of all teh guys that ran Volvo's in European rallycross!!

Most of them would ahve been running similar of not higher engine specs than WTCC.

I know Kenny Hansen ran one for a year, Peo Davidsson, Hakan Ivarsson, Eivind Opland ran an ex Nystrom car that heold the lap record at Lydden for years!!

There were loads of them around in Sweden/Norway I remember, aswell as pretty potent Saabs from Norstedt, Kallio, etc

And guys, quick note.

I ahve Birger Schanke in a 240 finishing in teh points in a few rounds in 1988 in European rallycross

And also Tom Einar Aaserud ran one for a while, Tomm Vestli (Fina car)

You can tel I ahve my Laumanns books out!!

There were certainly plenty of Group A Volvos in Division 1. From memory though, they fell off the pace to a large degree once the RS500s started to appear in force in 1988

I also remember sometime BTCC-racer Tommy Rustad hurling a 240 around Brands in a pretty extrovert manner at a Rallycross GP meeting- think that was a long way from a Div 1 GpA car though- something like 2.7 litre normally aspirated?

[chunder]

Yes thats right, if you look at rallycross online the sort of modified classes in Sweden and Norway are still hugely populated by the 240 and 850 shape Volvo.

Rustand actually qualified for the C or B Final at Lyngas against all teh supercars!!
The Supernational cars use a 3 litre only 2 valve per cylinder engine that kicks out over 300hp!! Amazing tech

Most of the 240's ahve now been reshelled into S40's, but there are all sorts of different sorts of car from BMW, Lexus, Escort, Mercedes!! Its a brilliant class.

You are right about 240T, it was utterly outclassed from 88 onwards, but as result was a cheap way to get into Euro rallycross and maybe get into a final.

There were 20 or so guys using 240T at one tiem!!

[Tonka Tonka 242]

Is this perhaps a good point to shout .... HELP !!!!

I am importing a 1982 Volvo 242 (2-door) Turbo from Reno, Nevada U.S.A., into Scotland. Why? , cos it has lived it's life in the desert and has NO rust , AND, I want to turn it into a Classic Special Stage Rally car .

What do you mean ? .... MAD ??? ...... perhaps. . but I do need some help.

I need information on who today still supplies competition parts for these cars, also any technical information that I can find out about the build specs for those used for rallying, and finally contact details of anyone who is perhaps selling goodies for this model.. I am not concerned about the location of parts, well ... having imported the car from the U.S.of A. why would I.

ANY help you can give me will be GREATLY appreciated .

Thank you

[Euromontagna]

here are some results of european hillclimb championship and Volvo 240 gr. A... http://www.euromontagna.com/makes.ph...pe=240%20Turbo