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!

[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!!

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!

I tripped over the news item about this while looking through some old Autosports and MNs at the weekend- and didn't think to take a note of the date....
Next time I get a chance to look back through them, I'll take a note of the source and exactly what was said- it definitely mentioned Patrick Watts as the potential driver, and IIRC suggested support would come from one or more UK Volvo dealers- I think it also said the car was likely to be one of the ex-Belgian Dealer Team cars from 1984

[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

[Gaz170]

Mark Petch, who posts in the Australia/NZ forums occasionally, owned and entered the 240T that won the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship.

Perhaps a PM to him might turn up some info.

[Herbert]

I did talk to Heinz-Friedrich Peil recently who raced the Kissling-Volvo in the DTM in 1985 and 1986. He told me they build the car themselves, Kissling did the car and Peil did a lot of the engine work. It was more or less a private effort as opposed to IPS-Volvo of Per Stureson who got a support of Volvo Germany and their Motorsports coordinator Rainer Kühl. The Kissling-Volvo is – if I’m not mistaken – the only 4 door 240. All the works cars had just two doors.

[KA]

Originally Posted by Herbert

I did talk to Heinz-Friedrich Peil recently who raced the Kissling-Volvo in the DTM in 1985 and 1986. He told me they build the car themselves, Kissling did the car and Peil did a lot of the engine work. It was more or less a private effort as opposed to IPS-Volvo of Per Stureson who got a support of Volvo Germany and their Motorsports coordinator Rainer Kühl. The Kissling-Volvo is – if I’m not mistaken – the only 4 door 240. All the works cars had just two doors.

Thanks Herbert- that's interesting...

I hadn't realised there was a 4-door version raced- as you said, it's probably the only one. I wonder why they went the 4-door route? If it was an in-house Kissling project with no support from Volvo, maybe they had difficulty obtaining a 2-door shell for some reason?

[Herbert]

Originally Posted by KA

Thanks Herbert- that's interesting...

I hadn't realised there was a 4-door version raced- as you said, it's probably the only one. I wonder why they went the 4-door route? If it was an in-house Kissling project with no support from Volvo, maybe they had difficulty obtaining a 2-door shell for some reason?

Yes, that's exactly what Peil told me. They used the 4-door version because it was too difficult to get the 2-door shell. Oh by the way I just looked up my notes and I mixed some things up: Peil built up the car and Kissling did the engine tuning...

[Herbert]

I also talked to Rainer Kühl and how the Volvos came to Germany in the first place. The organiser of the DTM race at Mainz-Finthen wanted the works cars from the ETCC for his race in 1984 as guest starters. He was a Volvo enthusiast. He talked to Volvo Germany and Kühl who then contacted Bo Wikås in Sweden. But the Volvo race director told them it's not possible that the works cars could race at Mainz-Finthen, but he suggested to contact the private IPS team of Per Stureson and Ingmar Persson. Stureson then took part in the race and totally crushed the German regulars. He beat them by more than 30 sec.
After his success Stureson took part in some more races in 1984. At the Noriring he qualified in pole, but retired after just two laps becuse of gearbox problems. He struggeled at little bit at Hockenheim, but at the last race of the season at the Nürburgring Stureson was again on pole, but only finished the race in seventh place. After this promising beginning he commited for the whole season in 1985 and won the title.

[chunterer]

Herbert, thanks for the info, and it looks like you've already posted info that will answer my question in the Merc thread!

Following on then, how did the IPS deal to run 190's instead of the 240 Volvo's come about?

[KA]

Originally Posted by Herbert

I also talked to Rainer Kühl and how the Volvos came to Germany in the first place. The organiser of the DTM race at Mainz-Finthen wanted the works cars from the ETCC for his race in 1984 as guest starters. He was a Volvo enthusiast. He talked to Volvo Germany and Kühl who then contacted Bo Wikås in Sweden. But the Volvo race director told them it's not possible that the works cars could race at Mainz-Finthen, but he suggested to contact the private IPS team of Per Stureson and Ingmar Persson. Stureson then took part in the race and totally crushed the German regulars. He beat them by more than 30 sec.
After his success Stureson took part in some more races in 1984. At the Noriring he qualified in pole, but retired after just two laps becuse of gearbox problems. He struggeled at little bit at Hockenheim, but at the last race of the season at the Nürburgring Stureson was again on pole, but only finished the race in seventh place. After this promising beginning he commited for the whole season in 1985 and won the title.

Brilliant stuff Herbert- I'd wondered about the number of Volvos that appeared in Germany, particularly the contrast between that and the total absence of them in the BTCC, as discussed earlier in the thread

[Chris Wilson]

I have a few detailed photos I took of the RAS 242 Turbo at the Silverstone ETCC race circa 1986 I think. I recall being shouted at when I was found by the team virtually under the car taking photos of the suspension! Would anyone be interested in seeing them? I can't post them for a while though, as I need to buy a new scanner.

I was heavily into Volvo 4 cylinder turbo engines and 240's for some years.

[KA]

Originally Posted by Chris Wilson

I have a few detailed photos I took of the RAS 242 Turbo at the Silverstone ETCC race circa 1986 I think. I recall being shouted at when I was found by the team virtually under the car taking photos of the suspension! Would anyone be interested in seeing them? I can't post them for a while though, as I need to buy a new scanner.

I was heavily into Volvo 4 cylinder turbo engines and 240's for some years.

Hi Chris, Yes please, I'm sure we'd be interested whenever you get a chance to scan them.... As I think I've said before in the thread, the Volvos were always the Group A cars I knew least about at the time- they always seemed that bit more exotic because we only ever saw them when the European teams came over for the ETCC rounds.

I'm not surprised the RAS guys weren't too happy about someone with a camera taking such a close interest in the cars- didn't they lose a couple of results that year because of something dodgy on the car?(illegal fuel I think, rather than the actual car itself being bent) They probably thought you were working for Tom Walkinshaw....