This is true, because I remember a Volvo S60 going through a store, cmiiw, and the only damage the car has is that its license plate fell off. The store? It has a giant hole in front of it.
@@GRiiZZ Unfortunately you're quite right, but this is because they used old style concrete. Since then a new type was developed known as "volvo resistant concrete" in short volvrete.
Absolute genius from TWR and Volvo’s marketing team at the time - 30 years on and the most iconic car from the 1994 season was the car that spent most of the season wallowing around in the middle of the pack.
My brother still has his that he bought when he was 18 in the early 2000s. Hes raced it in Stockholm underground races and today it has a carbon wing and side mirror cups. Its awesome.
My bank robbing neighbour bought one back in the early 2000s. He loved to throw it sideways onto the Main Street and drift into traffic. He was a menace
@@LUZ-zv6pq Damn, we don’t get them in Australia, but they look so good. Here in Sydney people in my area were robbing so many banks and stealing so many ATMs in WRXs, Evos, and other sports cars, that the police had to get their own WRXs to catch them. The paddy wagons were too slow, and the V8 highway patrol weren’t nimble enough. If you listened to the police radio you’d hear a police chase across Sydney, and then you’d hear the WRX patrol getting called, and it would be on! Was an exciting time to own a police radio until they went digital and encrypted them.
Father owned the yellow estate one back when I was a kid. Uncle had the black t5-r estate, they would race the winding mountain side and have an absolute blast. I've been searching for one since I got my driving license.
The amount of dad's I knew in the 90s who literally bought Volvo estates purely because of this car was absolutely crazy. 850s where seen as a better car to own over any BMW or Mercedes here in Northern Ireland.
Indeed. We had a '96 850TDI estate. Just because of Volvo being in the BTCC with the 850 estate. John Cleland raced for Vauxhall but he was a Volvo dealer and he sold a lot of those 850's
@@pbart9821 I believe OPs original statement (which I was replying to) was "all of the other teams". Might wanna work on those comprehension skills there champ.
The publicity must have been successful, I remember well seeing them on televised BTCC racing, but never realised that they were not competitive. They definitely were spectacular and the estate body made them stand out from the crowd.
There was one interview with John Cleland where he talked about people pointing at the car at the Volvo dealership he worked at (some irony there that John himself even pointed out, considering he pretty much only drove Vauxhalls in the BTCC) and being like, 'wait, isn't that the estate that raced last weekend?'
The comics in the competition said Volvo misunderstood the rules and thought it was the British Towing Car championship. Like others, I thought it was more successful in the race than it was, but it certainly got a LOT more airtime. No normal advertising campaign would have been anywhere near as successful - folk that didn’t follow racing or care about cars in general were talking about the Volvo race cars. The race team was probably a fraction of their international advertising budget, but on a Kroner for Kroner return, I bet the race team was more profitable.
@@Andrew4181975 Well those in the DTM was on another level, Germans saloon cars and alfa romeo were run on F1 level, scary fast and complete front end swap for new engine and gearbox in 20 minuts between the races.
I was 14 when i watched the 850 in touring cars. Regardless of the lack of success in racing, it was a fan favourite and great for marketing. It even made estate cars in general cool for a while. None of my teenage friends were talking about the alfa romeos that dominated the track, the only car we had eyes for was the volvo. Even now in my 40's the respect for volvo is just as strong
I heard that the T5 Police Package was entered for the US Police Car Olympics and won every category except pure top speed - but US Police weren't allowed to use it because of 1970's era laws requiring them to "Buy American". Not sure how true it is, but I'd believe it.
Saw then racing at Knockhill in Scotland. I don't think anyone left not wanting to go and buy a Volvo estate. A brilliant marketing tool if nothing else
We got about half an hour of motorsport every other week on Swedish state TV in the 90’s. The BTCC Volvos were obviously a huge deal in Sweden and no one cared that they didn’t win.
My Dad had bought one of these back in '94. It was in green. That car was such a beast, I really miss it. We also had a red 240 GL back in the 80's. Great times.
My mum bought an 850 T5 estate for two reasons. The touring car, and the review Jeremy Clarkson did of it on old Top Gear. She loved that car. A proper Cossie catcher, even with her Labrador in the back.
I did the same thing. Wife wanted an estate because we had twins on the way. I wanted something fun to drive and look at. I was trying to decide between several models when THAT episode of Top Gear came on. And my wife's favourite colour was yellow. So we got the pale yellow T-5 Estate. Had it for 11 years before it got smashed (while parked) by a runaway lorry. Loved that car to bits. Made a road trip from London to Sicily in it.
Saw these racing at Brands Hatch & they were a hoot to watch. The crowd were certainly behind the Volvo cheering them on. To this day one of my favourite BTCC cars 😂
TWR got a reputed 340BHP out of the 2.0 litre 850 engine which is amazing, Also you forgot to mention that they changed the front windscreen rake to improve aero!
@@able_archer01 Pretty mad considering there are 5 litre V8s and some turbo cars that don't make that much power. And here I thought 250hp from the 2L Cosworth BDG engines was impressive. Years ago I had a Holden Gemini with a built 1.6 Isuzu SOHC that we got 180hp from and I thought that was good. I didn't have TWRs budget though.....
It was not very successful due to the fact that the weight distribution was placed to far back, in order to get more weight over the back wheels, but sadly they went abit to far, and the result was a car that had big problems with tourque steer and according to the driver Rickard Rydell, the torque steer was insane, yes that was his words. One of the reasons for this was that TWR had not made a fwd racing car before, and both drivers were new to touring cars, so it was a learning curve for everyone involved. The best results were 2 fifth places. And no, the 850 racing engine was not based on the 2.3 liter turbo engine, it was actually based on the 2 liter naturally aspirated 20 valve road car version sold in Italy, due to Italian tax laws at the time, which punished cars with engines bigger than 2 liters. This information comes straight from the people who raced these cars in the Swedish Touring Car Championship, STCC who run under the same rules as the BTCC in the 1990:s A big reason why it was hard to get the power, was that all Super touring cars were limited to a revlimit of 8500 rpm. Italian spec Volvo 850s were sold with a 2 liter naturally aspirated 20 valve 5 cylinder engine, with 140 hp, in rest of Europe we had a 2 liter 10 valve 129 hp version of the same engine, and a 144 hp 10 valve 2.5 liter 5 pot, the same engine could also be had with a 20 valve head and 170 hp, this was the most common engine in Sweden, where reasonable power and economy was always the norm. Here is some valuable information about the car specs : www.cyanracing.com/concept-cars/volvo-850-super-touring
I was wondering all the way through the video why he kept mentioning it being too heavy at the rear as if he was suggesting it was because it was an estate. The estate version only added a few kilos to the back but now it all makes sense!
An additional reason it never managed to get very successful, was perhaps also that the next season (iirc) allowed for rear spoilers up to the roof line, meaning the little downforce edge the estate shape provided naturally was effectively reversed by not being able to mount a spoiler. So the team basically only had the one season where they had any chance of theoretically competing with an estate, where they might otherwise have improved and gotten more competitive in a second season.
As my dad noted at the time - a station wagon has an inherent aerodynamic edge, thanks to the long roof, and the world's biggest kamm-tail. So it remains innovative for at least giving the idea a try - and actually being more competitive than could have been imagined. Loved seeing the racing Alfa Romeo 155's again. I'm driving a 156 these days, and they went racing too.
There wasn’t much difference so the estate was selected for marketing purposes. It was only dropped when alfas dodgy aero changed the rules for the following year and a rear wing couldn’t be fitted within the regs to the estate bodyshell
I started with a V70 then got a T4 V40 followed by S40's 🤣 I remember driving the V70 home thinking ok it's an old man's car, but old men ain't stupid haha
@@LUZ-zv6pq Excellent cars all of them, and good fun. Cars may be quicker and more refined now, but they don't seem so much fun as they were back then!
@@mariemccann5895 the series 1 T4 I had weighed 1070kg and would change lanes shifting into third 👌😆 a vxr or something these days only has an extra 80hp but maybe 800kg extra weight too... give me an older car any day
the 850R estate and saloon have always been my favorite volvos. the nearly-off-putting looks, but still fun performance, made for an interesting car that still did all the car things a little bit better than everyone else.
Even if it was just a marketing ploy, the estate body is still legendary in its own right regardless. Racing a car body against the norm in your motorsport will always turn heads, whether it be an estate car, a minivan, or even a four door sedan.
Awesome video :) Would love more BTCC/JTCC stories as some of these cars are truly mental, the reversed heads on the Accords and Primera and the Mondeo with its driveshafts running thru the V would all be awesome to cover, or just something from Smokeys antics. Keep up the good work man.
I remember watching these race and thinking they were fantastic. A friend of mine's mother had a 240 Estate, and it was dismal. It was a medium blue and about as exciting as a 3 hour lecture on the history of history teachers. Then I saw these on two wheels and secretly wanted one. In high school, an estate car was the social equivalent of leprosy. But these were cool. Seriously cool. To me, the 935/78 is the pinnacle of rules interpretation. Norbert Singer was a genius, and the car was so good, Porsche limited the number of races they entered it in so as to not piss off their customers. One thing you overlooked in the segment you did on it in the video covering the Group 5 cars, was the front fenders, and how Singer had them extend to roughly one third the length of the doors. Porsche created a fearsome beast worthy of its nickname, Moby Dick.
watching these race on Tv as a kid is one of the reasons i drive a V50 T5 now, an unassuming estate car that goes unnecessarily fast is something i'll always want to have over an SUV or anything else.
The marketing success of the estate increased the demand for the 850 T5, and also gave them a reason to make a special version of it; the 850 T-5R :) Then the even more souped up 850R, and essentially started a performance line in several later models, V70R and S60R. Couldn't imagine Volvo without the R-line. Too bad they stopped after 2007 and only made "R-design" since then.. bleh
I drive a bog standard V70, and my mind was completely blown by the amount of power in a friend's V70R. Beautiful looking thing, too, in metallic bronze. NURSE!!!
I bought one of the olive green T5-R models. I was stuck in a traffic jam in Twickenham next to the Volvo garage and there it was next to me. At the time I had two small boys so it was ideal for my family. It started off my 'Volvo era', I then got the AWD version and finally the C70. The last two were in 'orange' paint much to the amusement of my friends.
Was at BTCC Donington 1995. For ten pounds you could pay for three laps with a works driver in a road car. So me and the girlfriend are flying down Cramer Curves with James Kaye in the Honda as Rickard Rydell came flying past, downhill right-left-right and cos it was an estate there was five people in it! Even James Kaye said 'man that's a fast car!' and I couldn't disagree!
Great video, this was a few years after I left working for Volvo Canada in Fleet Sales, where i live in Central Canada, there's a young man, in his 30's that has the a V70R he has built, upgraded turbo and internals with Cams bearings, connecting rods and all new Haltech engine management and whole new fuel system, from what i heard from a friend of mine who still works as a Volvo Tech for about 30 yrs says , it dynoed at 370 BHP and about 410 torque , that is insane, and apparently launches like a madman, I know that is nothing compared to todays cares, for a car that is around 20 yrs old, that is just crazy, just goes to show a box can have some performance to, I am happy with my 240 👍
I'll never forget this car, stuck out like a sore thumb in every pic of BTCC I ever saw growing up. I was always genuinely curious. It might not of been a top contender, but it smashed the competition at being noticed.
I saw these cars on many occasionsand knew them well, but how many people realised that they had a cardboard cut out of a labrador in the back when they were racing! I have three Volvos including a 1995 T5 estate with manual transmission. Great fun.
As I remember, there was a rule change to allow much larger rear wings, which had to fit within the cars' body profile. 'Three-box' sedans could put a wing on the car's boot, instantly gaining downforce, but the Volvo wagon couldn't legally put a wing on the roof, and they had no other option. A cheeky attempt for I respect them for.
I remember seeing the Volvo commercials from the mid-'90s which showed a Volvo wagon passing a BMW on the track, then they would rewind it and show it again. I thought these cars were so neat I bought a Tamia model kit of the wagon racer when I was Okinawa. Unfortunately, I never finished the model, it's about 90% complete, sitting in its box down in the basement.
Making it an Estate meant that even over here in Australia they were pretty legendary cars (we love our tourers here). They may not have won but I bet they kicked arse with their marketing goals there.
I still miss the sound....had an late -96 estate . In Italy, they had a NA 2.0 20v rating 148 hp. Volvo also raced the 850 sedan, before using the lighter S40
Yes, that was the base engine for the BTCC car, and in 1995 the wagon was replaced by the saloon version, and it was in 1995 that the 850 had it`s best season in the BTCC, whit several wins, and Rydell did lead the championship in the early parts of the season, eventually finishing 3rd after strong performance from the Vauxhall Cavalier ( Opel Vectra A ) of John Cleland, and Renault driver : Alain Menu. 1996 was dominated by the Audi team, and their 4wd A4 Quattro, Bmw and Renault were also very strong this year, whit Bmw having probably the strongest engine, but it`s slightly wayward rwd handling made them handle less good than it`s fwd and awd counterparts. So in 1997 Volvo swapped the bigger 850 for the smaller S40 but kept the same 5 cylinder engine, 197 was a dissapointing year with Volvo struggling to keep with the insanely fast Renaults, but in 1998 Volvo and Rydell were champions :) After 1999 Volvo left the BTCC due to the very high costs of building and running Super Touring cars, they were followed by Renault and Nissan 2. Audi and Peugeot had already dropped out after 1998.
@@fontheking5 surprised , that they raced a 5 cyl S40 , as they did not sell any , hence the model name. Maybe the S60 was 5 cyl. Remember when Renault swtched from 21 to Laguna . BMW , had a 320 SI , think it was 4 cyl 16 valve.
Renault did race the 19 in the BTCC in 1993 before switching to the new Laguna in 1994. The S40 gen 1 did not have a 5 cylinder engine in road car form, but the rules said that you could use any 2 liter n/a engine from your parent company, so Volvo kept the 5 cylinder 2.0 n/a engine from the 850 racing car. The S60 was not used in the BTCC, but it was used in the Super 2000 European Touring Car Championship in 2002 and 2003, it almost won a race in 2002 at Anderstorp Sweden, but Rickard Rydell was overtaken by German Bmw driver Jörg Muller at the last lap, the fwd Volvos and Alfas in that championship, at least at that wore it`s tires alot more than the rwd Bmws. The Super 2000 cars were simpler than the Super touring cars, less expensive to build and maintain, less advanced. Still 2 liter naturally aspirated though with around 260-270 hp, and yes the Volvo S60 was only sold with 5 cylinder engines, biggest drawback of the S60 Super 2000 car in the ETCC was engine power, they never really came close to the very fast Alfas.
4:28 the man in the red jacket walking with Tom Walkinshaw is the legendary Australian tv commentator Mike Raymond RIP. This video is from an interview of TW showcasing the TWR setup after it was announced that TWR would be bringing three Jaguar XJS's to the Group A 1000km race at Bathurst NSW Australia in 1985, it was aired during the live telecast of the race
I still remember seeing a commercial on TV when I was about 10. There was clip of the 850 battling it out around a corner. The clip freezes and backs up and then replays while a commentator says "Yeah... thats a Volvo wagon." I thought that was the absolute coolest thing!
Angle milling heads is an old, old trick, used almost as long as overhead valve engines were used in racing. Very common on small block Chevys and Fords, to the point that Moroso sold offset dowel pins to move the heads back to the center of the engine, in the 1960s. I strongly suspect that TWR also did this on their Rover V8s. VWAG angle milled their touring car heads (which are horribly shaped, the exhausts are almost vertical) so much that they were lattices of aluminum that would last maybe one race before they started fountaining coolant internally. The real coup for TWR besides the bolt on cam boxes was the rule that defined the port height as being relative to the deck. So by machining a whole lot of material away from the intake manifold face, they legally HAD to raise the ports a lot in order to keep the same "height".
It was the best era of BTCC. Back when it had all the car manufacturers and fans could relate to it. They even had the manufacturer engines, unlike today.
My mom had a black 1996 850R wagon and it was amazing for a front wheel driven car and a sleeper of sorts. We de-badged it so most thought it was a regular 850 wagon with R wheels. It was a fun car to stun people with on the freeway.
iv sat in lammers very 850r at a volvo cars and coffee, a lovely couple now own it along with the volvo s40 race car, absolute honour to be allowed to sit in and indulge a pure 90s race car
For a reference point on the heads. NASCAR cylinder heads of the same time frame were $20,000 in 1992 dollars per pair in the EARLY 1990's . Ported polished, titanium valves etc.
If you’re thinking of making a follow-up to this, I’d highly recommend a video on the most recent, and most successful estate to race in the BTCC - the Subaru Levorg. Unlike the 850, not only was it a race winner, but it won the championship!
@@ChrisBeevor0511 Well, Ash and the BMR engineers, who were also the guys that turned the old Infiniti Q50 chassis into the most dominant car on the grid in 2020/21, and have now done the same with the Mk4 Focus
The BTCC 850. It was shocking in the 90’s. But a true icon in the 2000’s. Touring Cars is the most exciting motorsport out there. MotoGP and BSB comes close on occasion, but with Touring Cars, every lap is jaw dropping action.
I watched these races live on TV as a teenager. There must be more footage than just the same handful of clips over and over again? I remember these estates as amazingly entertaining. Didn't really care who won as long as I saw these jump up and down the curbs, sliding with smoking slids towards the end of races.
Back in my younger racing days the first thing we did every year was study the rule book to look for gray areas, don't look to see what you can do but what it doesn't say you can't do. One class we ran required a factory intake manifold that would pass a magnet test. In tech inspection they would simply stick a magnet to the intake verify it was not aluminum. The engine we wanted to run that year never came with a manifold that a magnet would stick to, cast iron. With a little aluminum sheet, some Bondo and swarf from resurfacing brake drums we had an open plenum high rise aluminum intake that looked like a factory cast iron unit and would pass the magnet test and did for the three years we ran the class.
Very interesting video, I was a No1 Mechanic on the Nissan Super Tourers up to 1999 and Boy I could tell you stories on how the rules were ,lets say taken as far as they could be . Those were the days ,,,, Money no object just win....
These cars are amazing im on my third mark 2, super reliable, easy to tune, really comfortable, really stable and never gets stuck in snow. And best part is that since body is zinc treated; they simply dont rust. First one was 2001 t5 with automatic and awd, midnight blue. Got 430 thousand km, no problems just regular maintenance, even with bigger turbo. Second one was 2003 v70, automatic fwd over 500 thousand with regular maintenance. Now I have swedish imported one owner 2001 with just 200 thousand v70 with pretty rare manual since volvo was so confident in their automatic gearbox that they offered it for free (automatic transmission was kinda rare in europe since eg german gearboxes had tons of problems) bigger turbo, sportier suspension, 2,5” exhaust upgraded to 3” any many small upgrades. Kept it sleeperish, sounds absolutely gorgeus tho. Before these i had 200 and 700 series. Just love these things. One bad thing is mpg is really not the greatest when compared to other european cars, but thats the price of that sweet 5 cylinder rumble.
I had the rare opportunity to both see and sit and ride along the real Rydell's 850 Sedan (albeit in a small parking area behind the storage which the car was stored) many years ago as a 11 or 12 year old, it was really a dream come true =)
Incredible is the word i describe on how ingenious volvo were creating marketing by using 850 wagon for btcc and twr in engineering wizardry with pulling off a litter head scratcher that even the officials could not find anything illegal it shows how competitive this era btcc was back in the 90s has me completely blown away 🤯🤯 anything thanks tms for today's video and have a nice weekend bye now.
@themotorsportstory 😃😃 you too buddy and one more thing to ask are you interested in looking at 90s gt1 cars for future video anyway? see you later bye now.
Pal of mine was head of the team that did the gearbox software on this in Gothenburg. Told me all sorts of wonderful things about how it learned driver styles. Filtered down into road cars eventually and is commonplace in automatic gearboxes now
I recall a police officer catching me (eventually) after about 5 miles early on a Saturday morning when I had a Jag S type saloon in 2001. The police had a Volvo estate car! Lovely driving roads in Wales.
I remember watching those cars race in the BTCC way back in the day and they were SO damn cool ! That bit about the stuffed dog was so hilarious. I heard they actually ran races with the dog in the back,but maybe that isn't true. It would be funny if they did and the drivers behind them could see the dog in the car, Haha!
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I had one that I bought as a ex police car had 10 of us in it to a rave
Gameloft is a horrid effing company. #boycottgameloft
Volvo got mixed up, they thought it was the *Towing* car championship!
Dude, I play asphalt 9 too!
You would be surprised how good it is even in this term. Somewhere around 0.27... Yep, like E39 bimmers.
Remember, the A in Volvo stands for aerodynamics.
😆🤣
Funny, I plan on taking off both "O"s and putting a "U" and "A". Getting passed by a Vulva
....when you grow old and mature enough to drive,@@HLGJammer?
@@HLGJammerRed one. The flying vulva 😂
@@HLGJammera big red one?
The first time volvo did a 40%-40% crash test with concrete wall, the wall received just one star safety rating.
🤣
This is true, because I remember a Volvo S60 going through a store, cmiiw, and the only damage the car has is that its license plate fell off. The store? It has a giant hole in front of it.
@@GRiiZZ Unfortunately you're quite right, but this is because they used old style concrete. Since then a new type was developed known as "volvo resistant concrete" in short volvrete.
all very funny, this could apply to the life threatening cybertruck however
@@miljororforsprakpartiet290 huh?
The fact TWR knew the 850 wouldn’t be competitive in its first year so made it an estate for the publicity was genius.
Absolute genius from TWR and Volvo’s marketing team at the time - 30 years on and the most iconic car from the 1994 season was the car that spent most of the season wallowing around in the middle of the pack.
The estate also had better aero
Can’t wait to see the next chapter of TWR
Saw these cars at Oulton Park. One of them came past us on back of wagon after a huge smash
Driver had concussion if memory serves
@@NoctisIgnemand the stock 850 estate is only 35kg heavier than the saloon.
The 850 T5-R in bright yellow is still one of the coolest estate cars ever made!
My brother still has his that he bought when he was 18 in the early 2000s. Hes raced it in Stockholm underground races and today it has a carbon wing and side mirror cups. Its awesome.
My bank robbing neighbour bought one back in the early 2000s. He loved to throw it sideways onto the Main Street and drift into traffic. He was a menace
@@MarioGoatsewe had cosworth robbing neighbours 😂 they had the best escort vans I ever seen
@@LUZ-zv6pq Damn, we don’t get them in Australia, but they look so good. Here in Sydney people in my area were robbing so many banks and stealing so many ATMs in WRXs, Evos, and other sports cars, that the police had to get their own WRXs to catch them. The paddy wagons were too slow, and the V8 highway patrol weren’t nimble enough. If you listened to the police radio you’d hear a police chase across Sydney, and then you’d hear the WRX patrol getting called, and it would be on! Was an exciting time to own a police radio until they went digital and encrypted them.
Father owned the yellow estate one back when I was a kid. Uncle had the black t5-r estate, they would race the winding mountain side and have an absolute blast. I've been searching for one since I got my driving license.
The amount of dad's I knew in the 90s who literally bought Volvo estates purely because of this car was absolutely crazy. 850s where seen as a better car to own over any BMW or Mercedes here in Northern Ireland.
Yes there were 3 on my street.
They were not wrong!
Indeed. We had a '96 850TDI estate. Just because of Volvo being in the BTCC with the 850 estate. John Cleland raced for Vauxhall but he was a Volvo dealer and he sold a lot of those 850's
Heck yeah. Canada too. We loved these here.
I was 9 when this was racing. I still want one now
It didn't even win, but all of the other teams were moaning about it. What a bunch of muppets. Sad to see it didn't even make it to the podium.
´mühtäppe blähnett v v
That's the Poms for ya. If whingeing was a sport England would be world champions.
@@woopimagpieerm, it was the Alfa Romeo team, Italians
You having a little whinge about whinging there lol @@woopimagpie
@@pbart9821 I believe OPs original statement (which I was replying to) was "all of the other teams".
Might wanna work on those comprehension skills there champ.
The publicity must have been successful, I remember well seeing them on televised BTCC racing, but never realised that they were not competitive. They definitely were spectacular and the estate body made them stand out from the crowd.
There was one interview with John Cleland where he talked about people pointing at the car at the Volvo dealership he worked at (some irony there that John himself even pointed out, considering he pretty much only drove Vauxhalls in the BTCC) and being like, 'wait, isn't that the estate that raced last weekend?'
Exactly this. I didn't realise it never win either. But it had such presence, that the other cars didn't get a second glance
The comics in the competition said Volvo misunderstood the rules and thought it was the British Towing Car championship. Like others, I thought it was more successful in the race than it was, but it certainly got a LOT more airtime.
No normal advertising campaign would have been anywhere near as successful - folk that didn’t follow racing or care about cars in general were talking about the Volvo race cars.
The race team was probably a fraction of their international advertising budget, but on a Kroner for Kroner return, I bet the race team was more profitable.
And the 850 estate is still the coolest bttc car from the 90's
The BMW M3s and Merc 190Es were pretty damn cool too.
@@Andrew4181975 Well those in the DTM was on another level, Germans saloon cars and alfa romeo were run on F1 level, scary fast and complete front end swap for new engine and gearbox in 20 minuts between the races.
318is
The 190 was a DTM car, not a BTCC Super touring car
I was 14 when i watched the 850 in touring cars. Regardless of the lack of success in racing, it was a fan favourite and great for marketing. It even made estate cars in general cool for a while. None of my teenage friends were talking about the alfa romeos that dominated the track, the only car we had eyes for was the volvo. Even now in my 40's the respect for volvo is just as strong
Despite the fact that Volvo trucks is owned by a Chinese company?
@@fastinradfordable ngl, that sounds a bit racist. You're likely using a Chinese made phone or computer to write these comments.
@@_M_O_E_racist? Pointing out who makes something is racist? Quit being so sensitive
Cool for a while? Wagons are still cool.
The hype for these cars was amazing at the time. Even the British police used these cars as pursuit cars. The BTCC defo put these cars on the map.
I heard that the T5 Police Package was entered for the US Police Car Olympics and won every category except pure top speed - but US Police weren't allowed to use it because of 1970's era laws requiring them to "Buy American". Not sure how true it is, but I'd believe it.
Saw then racing at Knockhill in Scotland. I don't think anyone left not wanting to go and buy a Volvo estate. A brilliant marketing tool if nothing else
Seeing these things on two wheels over the kerbs at knockhill is always a spectacle.
We got about half an hour of motorsport every other week on Swedish state TV in the 90’s.
The BTCC Volvos were obviously a huge deal in Sweden and no one cared that they didn’t win.
Probably one of the coolest cars to never win in my opinion!
It cemented a legacy that Subaru later came to complete with the Levorg - an estate being a BTCC championship winner
And with the reverse result: nobody bought a Levorg (Well, I did... - I'll surely sell it on as a BTCC-championship-winner-derived rare car :D)
My Dad had bought one of these back in '94. It was in green. That car was such a beast, I really miss it.
We also had a red 240 GL back in the 80's. Great times.
The Volvo Museum in Gothenburg has one of the race cars in its collection. Made me gasp when I saw it as I remember it very fondly as a child.
My mum bought an 850 T5 estate for two reasons. The touring car, and the review Jeremy Clarkson did of it on old Top Gear. She loved that car. A proper Cossie catcher, even with her Labrador in the back.
I did the same thing. Wife wanted an estate because we had twins on the way. I wanted something fun to drive and look at. I was trying to decide between several models when THAT episode of Top Gear came on. And my wife's favourite colour was yellow. So we got the pale yellow T-5 Estate. Had it for 11 years before it got smashed (while parked) by a runaway lorry. Loved that car to bits. Made a road trip from London to Sicily in it.
If it was yellow. it would have been a T-5R@@soupfork2105
@@soupfork2105damn you had a gul yellow T5R ? Must have had some cash back in the day haha ! They are worth a lot of money now
The car jeremy tested was a t5r , that episode it was tested against the audi
@@dunzjost the popular review Jeremy did on it was in a red 850R
I was a sales rep at the time, and BTCC featured all the top rep-mobiles. Believe me, we all wanted T5 wagons instead of our Mundanos and Cavaliers.
I was going to say I wonder how many police forces bought T5 off the back of these shenanigans?
Saw these racing at Brands Hatch & they were a hoot to watch. The crowd were certainly behind the Volvo cheering them on. To this day one of my favourite BTCC cars 😂
Brilliantly written and very entertaining, loved every second of this video.
Thanks so much! Comments like this make all of the time spent editing worth it :)
TWR got a reputed 340BHP out of the 2.0 litre 850 engine which is amazing, Also you forgot to mention that they changed the front windscreen rake to improve aero!
Did not know the windscreen part, interesting!
Awesome 😎
That’s superbike level power at 170hp/liter from a mostly stock engine
Getting over 300 HP from a 2.0 L naturally-aspirated engine is damn impressive.
@@able_archer01 Pretty mad considering there are 5 litre V8s and some turbo cars that don't make that much power. And here I thought 250hp from the 2L Cosworth BDG engines was impressive. Years ago I had a Holden Gemini with a built 1.6 Isuzu SOHC that we got 180hp from and I thought that was good. I didn't have TWRs budget though.....
Never knew the technical details of this car before - genius engine modifications! Fantastic video sir.
Thank you!
I had an 850 wagon back in the day and it was a rocket.. LOVED that car.
I was introduced to BTCC the same year they started running this car. I still tell people about how freaking cool it was.
It was not very successful due to the fact that the weight distribution was placed to far back, in order to get more weight over the back wheels, but sadly they went abit to far, and the result was a car that had big problems with tourque steer and according to the driver Rickard Rydell, the torque steer was insane, yes that was his words.
One of the reasons for this was that TWR had not made a fwd racing car before, and both drivers were new to touring cars, so it was a learning curve for everyone involved.
The best results were 2 fifth places.
And no, the 850 racing engine was not based on the 2.3 liter turbo engine, it was actually based on the 2 liter naturally aspirated 20 valve road car version sold in Italy, due to Italian tax laws at the time, which punished cars with engines bigger than 2 liters.
This information comes straight from the people who raced these cars in the Swedish Touring Car Championship, STCC who run under the same rules as the BTCC in the 1990:s
A big reason why it was hard to get the power, was that all Super touring cars were limited to a revlimit of 8500 rpm.
Italian spec Volvo 850s were sold with a 2 liter naturally aspirated 20 valve 5 cylinder engine, with 140 hp, in rest of Europe we had a 2 liter 10 valve 129 hp version of the same engine, and a 144 hp 10 valve 2.5 liter 5 pot, the same engine could also be had with a 20 valve head and 170 hp, this was the most common engine in Sweden, where reasonable power and economy was always the norm.
Here is some valuable information about the car specs :
www.cyanracing.com/concept-cars/volvo-850-super-touring
The 2l 20v was also sold in Britain - I had a 1993 854. Still miss it, although the S70 2.5T and later V70 that followed it were (are) great cars too.
Good info! 👍🙂
I was wondering all the way through the video why he kept mentioning it being too heavy at the rear as if he was suggesting it was because it was an estate. The estate version only added a few kilos to the back but now it all makes sense!
An additional reason it never managed to get very successful, was perhaps also that the next season (iirc) allowed for rear spoilers up to the roof line, meaning the little downforce edge the estate shape provided naturally was effectively reversed by not being able to mount a spoiler. So the team basically only had the one season where they had any chance of theoretically competing with an estate, where they might otherwise have improved and gotten more competitive in a second season.
I remember it vividly, the BTCC back then was something else
As my dad noted at the time - a station wagon has an inherent aerodynamic edge, thanks to the long roof, and the world's biggest kamm-tail. So it remains innovative for at least giving the idea a try - and actually being more competitive than could have been imagined. Loved seeing the racing Alfa Romeo 155's again. I'm driving a 156 these days, and they went racing too.
There wasn’t much difference so the estate was selected for marketing purposes. It was only dropped when alfas dodgy aero changed the rules for the following year and a rear wing couldn’t be fitted within the regs to the estate bodyshell
As a V70-1 driver and in love with my Brick, i thank you for your work!
Snap! Still lovin' it after 14 years together. Best car I ever owned.
I miss my V70.
Awesome. I have owned several 850s, V70s and an S70 including T5s - those were the days!
I started with a V70 then got a T4 V40 followed by S40's 🤣 I remember driving the V70 home thinking ok it's an old man's car, but old men ain't stupid haha
@@LUZ-zv6pq Excellent cars all of them, and good fun. Cars may be quicker and more refined now, but they don't seem so much fun as they were back then!
@@mariemccann5895 the series 1 T4 I had weighed 1070kg and would change lanes shifting into third 👌😆 a vxr or something these days only has an extra 80hp but maybe 800kg extra weight too... give me an older car any day
the 850R estate and saloon have always been my favorite volvos. the nearly-off-putting looks, but still fun performance, made for an interesting car that still did all the car things a little bit better than everyone else.
It was amazing watching the 850 estate and the Saloon race in the BTCC, I want one!!!
And all the TWR brilliance went into the C70 T5. I have one. Very underrated car. Even in standard trim, it still eats many more modern cars.
Had a 850 sedan ,ex police interceptor,Loved it..5-cyclinder
turbo adrenaline rush 146+mph😁
I remember how popular the 850 was in the 90's. I used to see all the soccer mom's in them, before SUV's took over. Thanks.
Even if it was just a marketing ploy, the estate body is still legendary in its own right regardless. Racing a car body against the norm in your motorsport will always turn heads, whether it be an estate car, a minivan, or even a four door sedan.
Awesome video :) Would love more BTCC/JTCC stories as some of these cars are truly mental, the reversed heads on the Accords and Primera and the Mondeo with its driveshafts running thru the V would all be awesome to cover, or just something from Smokeys antics. Keep up the good work man.
Thank you! All great ideas!
Yep, there's tons of cool engineering on these cars.
The road T5 was never my cup of tea, but imo that estate touring car was the coolest car there's ever been in British touring car championship
I remember watching these race and thinking they were fantastic. A friend of mine's mother had a 240 Estate, and it was dismal. It was a medium blue and about as exciting as a 3 hour lecture on the history of history teachers. Then I saw these on two wheels and secretly wanted one. In high school, an estate car was the social equivalent of leprosy. But these were cool. Seriously cool.
To me, the 935/78 is the pinnacle of rules interpretation. Norbert Singer was a genius, and the car was so good, Porsche limited the number of races they entered it in so as to not piss off their customers. One thing you overlooked in the segment you did on it in the video covering the Group 5 cars, was the front fenders, and how Singer had them extend to roughly one third the length of the doors. Porsche created a fearsome beast worthy of its nickname, Moby Dick.
watching these race on Tv as a kid is one of the reasons i drive a V50 T5 now, an unassuming estate car that goes unnecessarily fast is something i'll always want to have over an SUV or anything else.
The marketing success of the estate increased the demand for the 850 T5, and also gave them a reason to make a special version of it; the 850 T-5R :) Then the even more souped up 850R, and essentially started a performance line in several later models, V70R and S60R. Couldn't imagine Volvo without the R-line. Too bad they stopped after 2007 and only made "R-design" since then.. bleh
I drive a bog standard V70, and my mind was completely blown by the amount of power in a friend's V70R. Beautiful looking thing, too, in metallic bronze.
NURSE!!!
I bought one of the olive green T5-R models. I was stuck in a traffic jam in Twickenham next to the Volvo garage and there it was next to me. At the time I had two small boys so it was ideal for my family. It started off my 'Volvo era', I then got the AWD version and finally the C70. The last two were in 'orange' paint much to the amusement of my friends.
Was at BTCC Donington 1995. For ten pounds you could pay for three laps with a works driver in a road car. So me and the girlfriend are flying down Cramer Curves with James Kaye in the Honda as Rickard Rydell came flying past, downhill right-left-right and cos it was an estate there was five people in it! Even James Kaye said 'man that's a fast car!' and I couldn't disagree!
Incredible! Worth the asking price and then some!
Great video, this was a few years after I left working for Volvo Canada in Fleet Sales, where i live in Central Canada, there's a young man, in his 30's that has the a V70R he has built, upgraded turbo and internals with Cams bearings, connecting rods and all new Haltech engine management and whole new fuel system, from what i heard from a friend of mine who still works as a Volvo Tech for about 30 yrs says , it dynoed at 370 BHP and about 410 torque , that is insane, and apparently launches like a madman, I know that is nothing compared to todays cares, for a car that is around 20 yrs old, that is just crazy, just goes to show a box can have some performance to, I am happy with my 240 👍
Loved it when a couple of estates pulled up on the track and they were great to watch
Trust me, that first sentence is 100% true. I had an 850 as my first car and got T-boned by someone going 65+, 0 injuries to me or passengers.
Used to have an 850 T5. What a sleeper. 260 bhp through the front wheels, though… went through a set of tyres in 5000km.
I remember sliding across the rear seats of a saloon that a friend had fitted some Saab injectors and a turbo to, serious machine
I'll never forget this car, stuck out like a sore thumb in every pic of BTCC I ever saw growing up. I was always genuinely curious.
It might not of been a top contender, but it smashed the competition at being noticed.
To say that this is a high quality video, would be an understatement
Thank you!
I saw these cars on many occasionsand knew them well, but how many people realised that they had a cardboard cut out of a labrador in the back when they were racing! I have three Volvos including a 1995 T5 estate with manual transmission. Great fun.
As I remember, there was a rule change to allow much larger rear wings, which had to fit within the cars' body profile.
'Three-box' sedans could put a wing on the car's boot, instantly gaining downforce, but the Volvo wagon couldn't legally put a wing on the roof, and they had no other option.
A cheeky attempt for I respect them for.
I remember watching this car race and thought it was cool as hell. Great job TWR
I remember seeing the Volvo commercials from the mid-'90s which showed a Volvo wagon passing a BMW on the track, then they would rewind it and show it again. I thought these cars were so neat I bought a Tamia model kit of the wagon racer when I was Okinawa. Unfortunately, I never finished the model, it's about 90% complete, sitting in its box down in the basement.
The golden days of the BTCC. Nice video!
Making it an Estate meant that even over here in Australia they were pretty legendary cars (we love our tourers here). They may not have won but I bet they kicked arse with their marketing goals there.
one of the best sounding race cars engines ever!
They sounded great.
The fact we're still watching videos about it more than justifies the marketing reasons for running the estate car version.
Very interesting! I remember the competion were very surprised by a estate!
My uncle had 2 850s. They were absolutely incredible
I still miss the sound....had an late -96 estate . In Italy, they had a NA 2.0 20v rating 148 hp. Volvo also raced the 850 sedan, before using the lighter S40
Yes, that was the base engine for the BTCC car, and in 1995 the wagon was replaced by the saloon version, and it was in 1995 that the 850 had it`s best season in the BTCC, whit several wins, and Rydell did lead the championship in the early parts of the season, eventually finishing 3rd after strong performance from the Vauxhall Cavalier ( Opel Vectra A ) of John Cleland, and Renault driver : Alain Menu.
1996 was dominated by the Audi team, and their 4wd A4 Quattro, Bmw and Renault were also very strong this year, whit Bmw having probably the strongest engine, but it`s slightly wayward rwd handling made them handle less good than it`s fwd and awd counterparts.
So in 1997 Volvo swapped the bigger 850 for the smaller S40 but kept the same 5 cylinder engine, 197 was a dissapointing year with Volvo struggling to keep with the insanely fast Renaults, but in 1998 Volvo and Rydell were champions :)
After 1999 Volvo left the BTCC due to the very high costs of building and running Super Touring cars, they were followed by Renault and Nissan 2.
Audi and Peugeot had already dropped out after 1998.
@@fontheking5 surprised , that they raced a 5 cyl S40 , as they did not sell any , hence the model name. Maybe the S60 was 5 cyl. Remember when Renault swtched from 21 to Laguna . BMW , had a 320 SI , think it was 4 cyl 16 valve.
Renault did race the 19 in the BTCC in 1993 before switching to the new Laguna in 1994.
The S40 gen 1 did not have a 5 cylinder engine in road car form, but the rules said that you could use any 2 liter n/a engine from your parent company, so Volvo kept the 5 cylinder 2.0 n/a engine from the 850 racing car.
The S60 was not used in the BTCC, but it was used in the Super 2000 European Touring Car Championship in 2002 and 2003, it almost won a race in 2002 at Anderstorp Sweden, but Rickard Rydell was overtaken by German Bmw driver Jörg Muller at the last lap, the fwd Volvos and Alfas in that championship, at least at that wore it`s tires alot more than the rwd Bmws.
The Super 2000 cars were simpler than the Super touring cars, less expensive to build and maintain, less advanced.
Still 2 liter naturally aspirated though with around 260-270 hp, and yes the Volvo S60 was only sold with 5 cylinder engines, biggest drawback of the S60 Super 2000 car in the ETCC was engine power, they never really came close to the very fast Alfas.
@@fontheking5Audi left because they banned AWD and it made them uncompetitive
I loved the fact that the only other times I saw estate cars race was in bangar racing. Such an anachronistic idea ❤❤❤
4:28 the man in the red jacket walking with Tom Walkinshaw is the legendary Australian tv commentator Mike Raymond RIP. This video is from an interview of TW showcasing the TWR setup after it was announced that TWR would be bringing three Jaguar XJS's to the Group A 1000km race at Bathurst NSW Australia in 1985, it was aired during the live telecast of the race
Smokey said “It’s not what the rulebook says you can’t do - it’s what it doesn’t say that you *can* do. Legend. Just subscribed!
Welcome!
I still remember seeing a commercial on TV when I was about 10. There was clip of the 850 battling it out around a corner. The clip freezes and backs up and then replays while a commentator says "Yeah... thats a Volvo wagon." I thought that was the absolute coolest thing!
Angle milling heads is an old, old trick, used almost as long as overhead valve engines were used in racing. Very common on small block Chevys and Fords, to the point that Moroso sold offset dowel pins to move the heads back to the center of the engine, in the 1960s. I strongly suspect that TWR also did this on their Rover V8s. VWAG angle milled their touring car heads (which are horribly shaped, the exhausts are almost vertical) so much that they were lattices of aluminum that would last maybe one race before they started fountaining coolant internally. The real coup for TWR besides the bolt on cam boxes was the rule that defined the port height as being relative to the deck. So by machining a whole lot of material away from the intake manifold face, they legally HAD to raise the ports a lot in order to keep the same "height".
Absolutely loved this era I can't think of another estate car being in the btcc an amazing achievement
I'm sure Honda ran a Civic Estate around the 2014 season.
@@youwould69 ahh good shout
Also the subaru estate Jason Plato drove around 2016 ish
@@clutchnorris3892 The Lavorg, where Sutton first started making a name for himself. Forgot all about that.
It was the best era of BTCC. Back when it had all the car manufacturers and fans could relate to it. They even had the manufacturer engines, unlike today.
My mom had a black 1996 850R wagon and it was amazing for a front wheel driven car and a sleeper of sorts. We de-badged it so most thought it was a regular 850 wagon with R wheels. It was a fun car to stun people with on the freeway.
iv sat in lammers very 850r at a volvo cars and coffee, a lovely couple now own it along with the volvo s40 race car, absolute honour to be allowed to sit in and indulge a pure 90s race car
For a reference point on the heads.
NASCAR cylinder heads of the same time frame were $20,000 in 1992 dollars per pair in the EARLY 1990's . Ported polished, titanium valves etc.
US only a few wagons still available. I’ve had a few Passat and Audi Variants. I’ve got a 2010 E550 sport but they only sold the wagon here as E350.
This is one of the greatest stories in automotive history. Thanks for showing us how uber cool Volvo and TWR are
I have a 96 850R that I just dropped a built engine in. I'm keeping the original engine to rebuild it. Great video.
If you’re thinking of making a follow-up to this, I’d highly recommend a video on the most recent, and most successful estate to race in the BTCC - the Subaru Levorg. Unlike the 850, not only was it a race winner, but it won the championship!
As time has told, the Subarus success was more about the balls on Ash Sutton than anything else
@@ChrisBeevor0511 Well, Ash and the BMR engineers, who were also the guys that turned the old Infiniti Q50 chassis into the most dominant car on the grid in 2020/21, and have now done the same with the Mk4 Focus
The BTCC 850.
It was shocking in the 90’s.
But a true icon in the 2000’s.
Touring Cars is the most exciting motorsport out there.
MotoGP and BSB comes close on occasion, but with Touring Cars, every lap is jaw dropping action.
I watched these races live on TV as a teenager. There must be more footage than just the same handful of clips over and over again? I remember these estates as amazingly entertaining. Didn't really care who won as long as I saw these jump up and down the curbs, sliding with smoking slids towards the end of races.
Great video. Love hearing the technical details from this era
A road legal version of the 2.0l TWR would have been perfect for Belgium . Fast, 280 HP and no luxury tax.
Back in my younger racing days the first thing we did every year was study the rule book to look for gray areas, don't look to see what you can do but what it doesn't say you can't do. One class we ran required a factory intake manifold that would pass a magnet test. In tech inspection they would simply stick a magnet to the intake verify it was not aluminum. The engine we wanted to run that year never came with a manifold that a magnet would stick to, cast iron. With a little aluminum sheet, some Bondo and swarf from resurfacing brake drums we had an open plenum high rise aluminum intake that looked like a factory cast iron unit and would pass the magnet test and did for the three years we ran the class.
👏😉
Volvo turbo wagon, even automatic,
that was such a cool car. Love those things. 240 up to 850. What awesome machine.
One of my track cars is a heavily modified 850 turbo wagon. They love it at the local track days!
Had 98 Volvo s70 T5 2.3l up until last month. Got rear-ended and sent airborne by a uninsured driver. Loved that vehicle and it was fast
Very interesting video, I was a No1 Mechanic on the Nissan Super Tourers up to 1999 and Boy I could tell you stories on how the rules were ,lets say taken as far as they could be . Those were the days ,,,, Money no object just win....
That's awesome! Must be some great memories to look back on!
These cars are amazing im on my third mark 2, super reliable, easy to tune, really comfortable, really stable and never gets stuck in snow. And best part is that since body is zinc treated; they simply dont rust. First one was 2001 t5 with automatic and awd, midnight blue. Got 430 thousand km, no problems just regular maintenance, even with bigger turbo. Second one was 2003 v70, automatic fwd over 500 thousand with regular maintenance. Now I have swedish imported one owner 2001 with just 200 thousand v70 with pretty rare manual since volvo was so confident in their automatic gearbox that they offered it for free (automatic transmission was kinda rare in europe since eg german gearboxes had tons of problems) bigger turbo, sportier suspension, 2,5” exhaust upgraded to 3” any many small upgrades. Kept it sleeperish, sounds absolutely gorgeus tho. Before these i had 200 and 700 series. Just love these things. One bad thing is mpg is really not the greatest when compared to other european cars, but thats the price of that sweet 5 cylinder rumble.
I had the rare opportunity to both see and sit and ride along the real Rydell's 850 Sedan (albeit in a small parking area behind the storage which the car was stored) many years ago as a 11 or 12 year old, it was really a dream come true =)
Awesome!
@@themotorsportstory Your amazingly put together video brought back a lot of childhood memories i thought that i forgot lol.
Incredible is the word i describe on how ingenious volvo were creating marketing by using 850 wagon for btcc and twr in engineering wizardry with pulling off a litter head scratcher that even the officials could not find anything illegal it shows how competitive this era btcc was back in the 90s has me completely blown away 🤯🤯 anything thanks tms for today's video and have a nice weekend bye now.
For sure, 90s BTCC was something special! Glad you enjoyed!
@themotorsportstory 😃😃 you too buddy and one more thing to ask are you interested in looking at 90s gt1 cars for future video anyway? see you later bye now.
@@milfordh.mercado2787 I can certainly look for some interesting stories about them🙂
@@themotorsportstory 😊😊.
My Dad has a 2.5 850. Still going strong. Will have had it thirty years by next year!
Pal of mine was head of the team that did the gearbox software on this in Gothenburg. Told me all sorts of wonderful things about how it learned driver styles. Filtered down into road cars eventually and is commonplace in automatic gearboxes now
Fascinating stuff!
Those Alfa Romeos are stunning
Since I was a kid I always thought these estate/station wagons looked awesome, and I still want one to this day
This is definitely my favorite touring car. There is nothing better than racing a wagon, which is why I race mine.
I remember watching Rydell, a fantastic competitor.
I love that!
"Never cut corners, unless they gain you horsepower." Brilliant
Always liked the 850 t5r. With the gunmetal wheels.
I recall a police officer catching me (eventually) after about 5 miles early on a Saturday morning when I had a Jag S type saloon in 2001. The police had a Volvo estate car! Lovely driving roads in Wales.
I remember watching those cars race in the BTCC way back in the day and they were SO damn cool ! That bit about the stuffed dog was so hilarious. I heard they actually ran races with the dog in the back,but maybe that isn't true. It would be funny if they did and the drivers behind them could see the dog in the car, Haha!
It is sort of true they were in the back on the formation lap, we had loads of stuffed Collie dogs all over Volvo UK and TWR
Some of the best looking race cars ever imo..
There's a baby blue one of those across the road from me. He knows what he has and I'll move over any time for him. Damn fine marketing.
How many Car Racing Teams bend the rules = all of them, it's just that some are better than others. Thanks for sharing 👍👍👍
Especially back then. Group A racing in Australia was rife with "creative ideas" on how to go faster.
@@woopimagpieSo long as it's not cheating nobody should whine & bitch
I remember watching these a boy. They were just so much cooler than all the saloons - because they were unique.