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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

You probably need to be a Volvo fan to enthuse about these


Chris Wilson

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http://www.racecarsdirect.com/listing/27718/Volvo_850_TWR_Supertourer_BTCC.html

 

The S.A.M built prototype will be a bit of a beast, the pukka BTCC one cost a fortune. Unless you have heard the noise the Inline 5 made in full Group A spec you can't understand how cool these things sounded. You'd swear an F1 was testing when they were running them in development at Silverstone, in period. The red S.A.M estate has to be the ultimate track day Q car :)

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The Supertourer 850 is definitely NOT usable on the road. The red estate with the SAM turbo engine should have a load of torque, but the dog box, ride height and race suspension would make it fit only for the bravest! :) They are both cheap cars for what they are, if I hadn't bought this F3000 I'd be tempted to go and see the 850.

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No, the very very last RWD Volvo was the S90 saloon, and the V90 estate, which is what I run as a daily driver :( You can put the twin turbo straight six in an S90 or V90, or the 5 cylinder one form the 800 series and others. The Scandinavians do all sorts of wild conversions. My old 240 was so good no on would sit in the passenger seat, it frightened me, as well, to be honest :) It was built on a shoestring budget, had a blow through carbs turbo set up, with a boost curve like the Rockies, a gearbox that sacrificed itself most any time the tyres got a grip of the road, and brakes that were plain inadequate. Basically it was a death trap, but it went like hell :)

 

I have posted this link before, ages ago, but if you like Volvos it's a must see, it's the engine in the car below on the dyno, making some serious grunt. See http://www.gatesgarth.com/volvo_dyno/dyno_pull.mpg

 

image

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I used to watch the BTCC just for the old Volvo estates. Awesome.

 

Looked at an 850 T5 recently and was a bit gutted that it was FWD. For some reason I had it in my head that they were RWD.

 

My best mate had an 850 R manual which is the best of them and I was utterly disappointed with it. Its exceedingly slow in comparison to a supra for instance despite there being not a lot in the power. The V70R was AWD which with appropriate boost upgrades stuck it in the non messed with stock supra territory.

 

 

 

Chris that is a thing of beauty. Volvo despite their old man image have been making over engineered engines alot longer than toyota have.

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I had a soft spot for the old BTTC 850's, and fast volvo's in general. I had a couple of mates who had modified 760 Turbo's that surprised many a cosworth driver, those engines could take some punishment.

 

Shame they don't do RWD models any more, but I'm still tempted by a V70R.

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Nice Find Chris!

I'd have the ex BTCC 850 touring car (if I won the lotto/ robbed a bank lol!). I`m a big fan of the Volvos. More the 200 & 800 models.

(I own an 96' 850R estate as daily driver :-), just wish it was a RWD sometimes.)

 

I've got plans, V8/S6/turbo sleeper or like post #9, for my Mums 84' 240 Estate.(when she gets too old to drive it lol!)

 

(But like most things, they're still and probably will be just "PLANS",lol.)

 

The Touring Cars ( if they are and can still be called that?) of today dont have the same atmosphere of the early ones of the 90's "Auto Trader" series and before that.

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I used to like the Lagunas the most, purely because they were the fastest in the original BTCC playstation game - which - I feature in the opening credits for! I was marshalling at Silverstone when a couple of cars took each other out on the way out of a complex and crashed into teh armco in front of me - that bit of footage got into the game! It's really blurry but I know I'm there as I used to have the original TV footage on VHS! :D

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Nice Find Chris!

I'd have the ex BTCC 850 touring car (if I won the lotto/ robbed a bank lol!). I`m a big fan of the Volvos. More the 200 & 800 models.

(I own an 96' 850R estate as daily driver :-), just wish it was a RWD sometimes.)

 

I've got plans, V8/S6/turbo sleeper or like post #9, for my Mums 84' 240 Estate.(when she gets too old to drive it lol!)

 

(But like most things, they're still and probably will be just "PLANS",lol.)

 

The Touring Cars ( if they are and can still be called that?) of today dont have the same atmosphere of the early ones of the 90's "Auto Trader" series and before that.

 

I would have a decent race 242 Turbo if I could afford one, they were such race saloon good cars to come from such a strange base. Sadly they are now fetching daft money for a car with any history.

 

I also liked the RS500 Sierras, there's a couple of excellent threads on these cars going at the moment, one being here:

 

http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103035

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