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The pages linked from this page have some information on the earlier BTCC with the 850 and the S40 and are kept for historic reference, and details of previous and current club motorsport events.

Current club motorsport reports and information are now incorporated in our club magazine, Volvo Driver, and are available in PDF format and will be made available here soon.

BTCC S40 Update - March 1997

LESS than one week after making its public debut at the Autosport International show at the beginning of January, Volvo's stunning new British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) challenger, the S40, headed off to Vallelunga in Italy to test for the first time against the 1997 Touring Car competition. Swedish driver Rickard Rydell took the all-new contender through its paces at the sundrenched Italian circuit near Rome, spending four days of intensive tyre assessment alongside seven other Michelin rubberclad teams. The good news is that Rydell's time of 1:15.2 on slicks was the fastest time recorded during the eight-car test, which included Nissan, Peugeot, Alfa Romeo, Opel, Renault, Honda and BMW.

The new Volvo race car, which replaces the 850 in the Super Touring series, is widely tipped to be a front runner in this year's championship. After the company's debut with its 850 Estate in 1994 and Rickard Rydell's record 13 pole positions and four race wins on his way to third place in the driver's championship a year later, it is hoped that the S40 will result in even better success. Tuve Johannesson, the president of Volvo Car Corporation, comments: "Volvo's image both in the UK and across the globe has been transformed by the 850 and its involvement at the sharp end of top class motorsport. S40 Racing marks the start of another new era. It is an exciting road car and we hope and expect the race car to carry Volvo to new heights of achievement in the 1997 Championship." Roger Silman, director of racing at TWR, Volvo's partners in the BTCC venture, adds: "The S40 represents an exciting new era for the team.

With Kelvin back to full fitness after last year's accident at Oulton Park, which virtually shattered his 1996 season, and one of the world's acknowledged leading touring car drivers, Rickard Rydell now entering his fourth year with the team, as well as a strong pre-season test programme, I am sure we will be competing at the front and taking the fight to the competition." The new S40, liveried in classic Swedish white, blue and yellow as exclusively revealed in the last issue of Professional, features sponsorship from Ericsson Mobile Phones, Kuwait Petroleum, SKF and Swedish clothing company Oscar Jacobson. Italian tests At the end of January Kelvin Burt got his first chance to try out the car, at Silverstone. This month the team heads for Italy again for closed testing, ahead of the start of the Championship itself on March 31 at Donington.