Group A Volvo 240 - Info and pics thread

[KA]

Originally Posted by Graham Clayton

Is this car either the Rodrigues or Mendes car?

Rodrigues I think. AFAIK the Mendes car was usually white or yellow and white

http://frm.no.sapo.pt/Artur%20Mendes...40%20turbo.jpg

[chunterer]

The Granberg Luna car has been restored to 1984 livery! It has been testing at Snetterton and is expected to be out in the Peter Auto series at Paul Ricard shortly.

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by E.B

One thing I forgot to say was Mark Petch (who posts here) might be the best source of factual info, as he started the Volvo Ball rolling down under, albeit a couple of years before.

AFAIK he sold his cars to Volvo Aus and they (3?) went back to Sweden when Volvo gave it away after the 86 season.... where they were all redistributed to other Volvo Teams around Scandanavia (one to Finland where I think it won the TC Championship and another to Sweden (Steffansson Automotive).

What other perhaps locally built cars there were I have no idea, or what car / the story is behind the U-bix backed one Tulloch and Croft drove at the October 87 Pukekohe Benson & Hedges 500. Perhaps something to do with Soderqvist Racesport who Tulloch drove as I mentioned in Enduros for (ie Wellington 500 with Per-Gunnar Andersson also in October 87.

Many years late I know, but until last year, I had little interest in my relatively short Volvo era, which sadly ended with a great deal of acrimony between myself and John Sheppard, and perhaps understandably poisoned my memories of that short, but rather colourful 18 months period of my 55 year old motorsport career.

However, in reflection, and with much prompting by Bjorn Ohlson, who has amassed a tremendous history of the 240T GPA era, I started to think long and hard about the reason I bought the car in the first place, one thing led to another, and as I poured through old records, I realised that it was in fact my Volvo that brought about the change from me driving my own race cars, to becoming a team owner.
It seem rather odd now but I had almost completely forgotten that Robbie Francevic and I won the 1985/86 Benson and Hedges New Zealand Endurance Series Championship in that car, winning 2 out of the 3 races and finishing an exhausting 2nd at the Baypark round in sweltering heat.

Having never driven a race car since my last NZ National Championship win in 1989 when I won the under 2.5 litre Touring car class in my ex JPS BMW 325 car, I decided that if I could buy back my own original ex GTM Volvo 240T that I would like to get back behind the wheel once again nearly 26 years later.

I contacted the daughter of the late Peter Kroeber who had restored my car to a better than new condition and arranged to visit her and view the car, even though she told me that it was definitely not for sale. Although I was unable to buy the car, I was very glad that I made the decision to go to Germany, view the car and talk to Saskia, as I was inspired to then look for another genuine ex works Volvo 240T racecar that I might be able to buy as a substitute.

Bjorn had also invited me to the 30 year celebration of the historic 1985 ETCC win by my good friend Gianfranco Brancatelli and Thomas Linstrom, so the decision was made that we would go to Germany first and then on up to Sweden etc. Little did I realise that I would come across another Volvo 240T GpA car that I was directly responsible for, and that car was the ex AVDT right hand drive GpA car assembled in Australia, using my own spare body shell that I had sold along with everything else when Bob Atkins, the then President of the Australian Volvo Dealer's Association, and I hatched up the plan to form an Australian Volvo Dealer team.

There has been many mistruths spoken about what happened and what did not happen, but the employment of John Sheppard happened after Bob and I were successful in getting the AVDT signed off by both Volvo Sweden and Volvo Australia. It also has be remembered that unlike most Team managers and or owners that motor racing was a hobby for me not a career, I had a very successful business in mechanical seal's with 3 branches in Australia and 3 in New Zealand as well as our own office and staff in Indonesia. So it was agreed by Bob and I that we would need to hire a suitable person to run the AVDT on a day to day basis, and John Sheppard's name was thrown into the hat. I vaguely new John because he worked for my close friends the Geoghegan brothers. I rand Pete and Leo and they both said that John was a top bloke etc, so we hired John, and that was more or less the beginning of the end really.

John soon realised that he could by pass me and go straight to Bob on the pretext that he could not get hold of me etc and Bob would give him the nod to do pretty much what ever he wanted. Sheppard and I bothy went to Monza to the winter test of the new RAS team with their ex Eggenburger race cars and the T car ex Thomas Lindstrom car that was used extensively by Eggenburger for testing early 1985. The T car had been converted to right hand drive because the now famous Belgium engineer Claude Rouelle who was working for RAS theorised that as the most of the circuits in Europe were clockwise that there was an advantage to be had by having the drivers weight on the inside of the majority of corners, which is why the team had chosen to hire Monza for 2 solid days, of testing.

After none of the test drivers could improve their lap times in the RHD car, we were offered the car, and jumped at the opportunity to airfreight it down to Australia in time for the 5th round of the ATCC at Adelaide.

We also arranged to purchase a complete GpA car kit of the very latest VMS, Volvo Motor Sport, including all the new lightweight parts etc, so that we could build up a "sister car" to the ex RAS RHD car, back in Australia, using my spare body shell, that was absorbed into the AVDT. Shortly after the arrival of all the parts in early July 1985, I had heated words with John and asked Bob to consider sacking him and appoint Les Small to take over the team. A hurried meeting took place in Sydney at Volvo Australia on the 10th July and an offer was made to pay me out of the contract, and under the circumstances I made a decision to take the money and run.

I don't regret that decision because history proved that my fears were right, and that John Sheppard views and mine were incompatible at the best of times, i shall say no more on that subject.

The irony of all that, is that I met and saw the Norwegian Thor Rustad who had spent 6 years and 2,476 rebuilding the very same AVDT car that was assembled in Australia for the exclusive use of John Bowe for Sandown and Bathurst in late 1986 with Alfie Costanzo, and to be JB's car for the 1987 season, which of course never happened.

The car led the Sandown 500 before rear suspension failure, and ran as high as 2nd at Bathurst before again failing with rear suspension failure. However, back in Sweden in the hands of Peggen Anderson the near new car dominated the 1987 Swedish Championship and went on to win many more races before be lost for some 16 years before being found and purchased by Thor Rustad.

Cutting to the quick I have now purchased this car and its due in New Zealand in the next few day's, and I have to say I am very excited about getting back behind the wheel of a Volvo 240T car after some 30 years, since Robbie and I took out the Benson and Hedges Endurance Championship.

Mark Petch.

[chunterer]

Mark great story thanks for posting.

I assume you plan to do the Historic GrpC/GrpA series this year?

Peggen has has a similar car now doesn't he? Sure he was talking about racing it in a suitable European series.

Trouble is the only one at the moment is the Peter Auto Historic series which features Ulf Granberg's Luna car.

Or he could do the MRL Historic Touring Car Trophy in the UK as I believe it was a 1985 build.

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Mark great story thanks for posting.

I assume you plan to do the Historic GrpC/GrpA series this year?

Peggen has has a similar car now doesn't he? Sure he was talking about racing it in a suitable European series.

Trouble is the only one at the moment is the Peter Auto Historic series which features Ulf Granberg's Luna car.

Or he could do the MRL Historic Touring Car Trophy in the UK as I believe it was a 1985 build.

Yes 'Chunterer' I am planning on racing the car both here and in Australia in Historic racing events that have GpA categories. My first event is on the 5/6 February next, at the biggest of these NZ event's, The SKOPE meeting at Christchurch's Ruapuna Park raceway. The Historic circus will then travel to Invercargill's famous Teretonga Circuit 2 weeks later, which is a favourite of mine, so really looking forward to these two weekend's.

The plan is then to do the Muscle Car Masters at the end of October at Sydney's Eastern Creek raceway, with John Bowe and Alfi Costanzo as the principle drivers.

I would also like to take the car back to Sweden in 2017 and do something in Europe with Ulf and Peggen, and maybe Gianfranco Brancatelli, who will also drive my car at the two NZ events as a guest drive.

Peggen and Ulf are both keen on building up new-old GpA 240T car's for the European and British Historic races, and I believe that there is a extensive rebuild of one of the genuine historic cars happening in Britain right now, with racing in mind also.

I can see were Peggen and Ulf are coming from because the genuine historic cars with great history are very expensive and almost to risky to race, but here in NZ and in Australia, replica racing is not popular and has little credibility because most if not all of these cars are modified beyond their "period" and as such have no residual value.

I will post some pictures on here after my first race meeting, but will need some help as I have never ben able to work out how one does that with any ease, its not like Facebook, which is all very logical, but never the less I will try.

[andy97]

Wonder whether this car sold at auction, and where it is now

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22718/lot/56/

Interesting that it raced and rallied.

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by andy97

Wonder whether this car sold at auction, and where it is now

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22718/lot/56/

Interesting that it raced and rallied.

Hi Andy, yes this car was later sold by Bonhams by negotiaton after the car failed to meet the reserve price at auction. The car was in excellent condition however, the market for Rally cars is not as strong as it is for circuit racing car's.

I understand the car was sold for GBP,70,000 somewhat below the owners expectations.

Mark.

[andy97]

Originally Posted by Mark Petch

Hi Andy, yes this car was later sold by Bonhams by negotiaton after the car failed to meet the reserve price at auction. The car was in excellent condition however, the market for Rally cars is not as strong as it is for circuit racing car's.

I understand the car was sold for GBP,70,000 somewhat below the owners expectations.

Mark.

Interesting, Mark. I'd have thought that it would have been worth putting it back in race trim?

You are right, the market for historic rally cars does not seem as strong as for racers, unless it's a Group B car or a Pre 81 Car. Historic rallying has largely seemed to stall at 1981 but the UK MSA has just introduced new classes in its HIstoric Tarmac series for Pre 86 and Pre 1990 cars (as long as not a type that was later banned on safety grounds) and this may give a boost. Cars of this era are also welcome in Belgium historic rallies I think.

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by andy97

Interesting, Mark. I'd have thought that it would have been worth putting it back in race trim?

You are right, the market for historic rally cars does not seem as strong as for racers, unless it's a Group B car or a Pre 81 Car. Historic rallying has largely seemed to stall at 1981 but the UK MSA has just introduced new classes in its HIstoric Tarmac series for Pre 86 and Pre 1990 cars (as long as not a type that was later banned on safety grounds) and this may give a boost. Cars of this era are also welcome in Belgium historic rallies I think.

Hi Andy

Quite costly to do this Andy and the car never had any real circuit racing history/pedigree to speak of. I actually considered this when the car first came up for sale but for the reason's I have mentioned, it just did not add up.

I think they got a pretty good price for the car considering its limited market, certainly I would not have paid that price, so the seller should be pleased with the outcome anyway.

Cheers,

Mark.

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by Mark Petch

Yes 'Chunterer' I am planning on racing the car both here and in Australia in Historic racing events that have GpA categories. My first event is on the 5/6 February next, at the biggest of these NZ event's, The SKOPE meeting at Christchurch's Ruapuna Park raceway. The Historic circus will then travel to Invercargill's famous Teretonga Circuit 2 weeks later, which is a favourite of mine, so really looking forward to these two weekend's.

The plan is then to do the Muscle Car Masters at the end of October at Sydney's Eastern Creek raceway, with John Bowe and Alfi Costanzo as the principle drivers.

I would also like to take the car back to Sweden in 2017 and do something in Europe with Ulf and Peggen, and maybe Gianfranco Brancatelli, who will also drive my car at the two NZ events as a guest drive.

Peggen and Ulf are both keen on building up new-old GpA 240T car's for the European and British Historic races, and I believe that there is a extensive rebuild of one of the genuine historic cars happening in Britain right now, with racing in mind also.

I can see were Peggen and Ulf are coming from because the genuine historic cars with great history are very expensive and almost to risky to race, but here in NZ and in Australia, replica racing is not popular and has little credibility because most if not all of these cars are modified beyond their "period" and as such have no residual value.

I will post some pictures on here after my first race meeting, but will need some help as I have never ben able to work out how one does that with any ease, its not like Facebook, which is all very logical, but never the less I will try.

My ex John Bowe ADTC arrived in New Zealand over last weekend and we managed to get it cleared today and loaded on to the trailer and get it safely tucked away for the night in our race shop before it goes over to Randle Edgell [our original Volvo engine builder and team member in 1985/86] for tuning and race prep, for the SKOPE Historic meeting in Christchurch on the 4/5/6 of February.

[zakspeed65]

Looking good Mark! Will be good to have you running with us at Scope, can't wait to see this thing in the flesh. Roll on next weekend!!
Cheers,
Gary.

[Finbin]

Hi found this photo today in my loft. Taken at Silverstone 1982, Sportpromotion AB. drivers Greger Pettersson, Anders Olofsson, and Per-Gunnar "Peggen" Andersson.

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by zakspeed65

Looking good Mark! Will be good to have you running with us at Scope, can't wait to see this thing in the flesh. Roll on next weekend!!
Cheers,
Gary.

Hi Gary,

Yes rolling on faster than thunder! Got some serious work to do today and tomorrow before we lash it on the trailer and head South, but really looking forward to the weekend.

[Graham Clayton]

https://youtu.be/czxpA-et4WE

[Graham Clayton]

"Volvo in the European Touring Car Championship 1986" documentary:

https://youtu.be/czxpA-et4WE

[Mark Petch]

During my editing of the appalling google translating of Swedish to English, for the soon to be published Swedish language edition of "History of the Volvo 240 Turbo" the truth about the 500 FIA Homologated Evolution 240T cars emerged.

The FIA homologation process of the 500 Evolution cars that formed the basis of the famous GpA Volvo 240T race cars [in order to make the car competitive with the Jaguar’s XKS and BMW’s 635’s coupe’s, in Group A touring car racing] was controversial, because VMS [Volvo Motor Sport] elected to convert 500 designated car similatanously [270 on the West coast and 230 on the East coast] in America, instead of down the assembly lines in Europe, and then once inspected by the FIA in the USA, the assembled 500 Evolution car's would be stripped of the Evolution Kit parts, save only for the new intercooler, which was left in place on all 500 cars, and sold across America.

For the sake of clarity all 500 of these cars had sunroofs, and none were ever shipped back to VMS to be built up into GpA race cars, as only the Swedish built 240 DL body shell's were used because they did not have a sunroof option, and were built locally in Gothenburg

VMS simply took advantage of a loop hole in the FIA regulations at that time, which did not require that so called "Evolution" cars had to be sold to the public, but merely built and inspected, prior to being granted Homologation status. Hence the controversy that followed the success of the factory car’s when they won the European Touring Car Championship in 1985 and would have won again in 1986, but for a fuel irregularity at one race meeting, that ultimately cost Volvo the Championship. This incident also resulted in the Board of Directors withdrawing from factory supported GpA racing programs, much to the disappointment of all the Flying Brick fans around the world.

Due to time constraints there was insufficient time to install the Evolution components in the 500 designated 240T cars as they went down the assembly lines in Belgium [save only for the fitting of the European market only Flat-Nose bonnet and matching plain silver grill] and so a decision was made to stow each cars Evolution component kit into the trunks of each of the designated car’s before they were shipped to the USA, and then retro-fit the component in the USA. 270 of these cars were sent to the Volvo facility, at Long Island, LA and the remaining 230 cars were sent to Volvo East Coast facility at Chesapeake Bay, during a period of only 3 weeks all 500 cars were retro-fitted simultaneously on both the West and East coast with the Evolution Kits. However, immediately following the FIA's random inspection of all the 500 "Evolution" cars, the installation teams, removed all of the Evolution components, with the exception of the uprated Intercooler, which was left in all 500 cars, and sold to the public as the first of the new uprated 240 Turbo Inetrcooled car’s.

All but one of these car’s [which was sent back to VMS] were then sold across the USA as the first of 240 Turbo Intercooler cars with the uprated intercoolers. So whilst there were no full Evolution car’s sold to the public, the remaining 499 Flat-nosed car’s that were sold to the American public were unique, in as much as they were the only Flat -Nosed [Flat Hood] 240 Turbo Intercooler cars ever imported into the USA, and all carried the designation SO2476 on the chassis plate. All subsequent 1983 240 Turbo intercooler car had the projecting, so called Coffin-Nose and grill, and fitted as standard with the uprated 760T's intercooler, which developed more power soley due to the increased efficiency of that intercooler.

Despite the rumour that 30 of these car's were sent back to Sweden to become GpA race cars, not one of the so called 500 Evolution cars was ever used by the factory, and or the factory supported GpA 240T race teams, despite claims to the contrary. All of the VMS so called Factory cars were built up from the 1983 DL body shell's because they had no sunroof's and were built in Sweden so they were readily available and relatively cheap. The myths will perpetuate I am sure, but at least a few of us now know the truth.

We need to thank Goran Sallstrom who was the project engineer in charge of the Evolution cars project, and his co-author Björn Ohlson 240T GpA Historian, who have spent so many thousand of hours putting this definitive book together, for providing the missing link, in the 240T's history after 30 plus years. Hopefully we will see it published in English late next year.

[Mike Bell]

I’ve moved this from Historic Racing Today, as surely more appropriate in ‘History’. Maybe there is already a 240T thread that the above post should be merged with?

[Tel 911S]

Reading up the Homologation details of the Evolution cars , it seems that there were 505 of them built with the big turbo , Intercooler & water injection .
253 in May 83 , 200 in June 83 & 52 in July .
But as you say , there was a lot of fiddling with numbers & details for FIA paperwork at that time.

[KA]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

I’ve moved this from Historic Racing Today, as surely more appropriate in ‘History’. Maybe there is already a 240T thread that the above post should be merged with?

Mike, yes, there's a Volvo thread if you were looking for a home for this info

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...50#post2164150

[chunterer]

Fascinating summary of the Volvo effort there. Thanks Mark!

[terryobeirne]

experts..... im working on a project for a possible new race class here in Australia that will hopefully cover touring cars up to dec 1983. it seems from all this thread, plus other sources, that the 240 turbo was built, but not raced in any form , until sometime in 1984 . can anyone confirm or refute this and point me to period documents to support the comment . many thanks


also, can anyone point me to a reliable source for production numbers. Volvo data seems to lump all 240 models together for a single year. A UK link i found which supposedly had a breakdown, no longer works

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by terryobeirne

experts..... im working on a project for a possible new race class here in Australia that will hopefully cover touring cars up to dec 1983. it seems from all this thread, plus other sources, that the 240 turbo was built, but not raced in any form , until sometime in 1984 . can anyone confirm or refute this and point me to period documents to support the comment . many thanks


also, can anyone point me to a reliable source for production numbers. Volvo data seems to lump all 240 models together for a single year. A UK link i found which supposedly had a breakdown, no longer works

Hi Terry, the 240T was definitely racing in the ETCC in 1983, although it was uncompetitive at that point. If you look at the site Frank De Jong set up (think it's touringcarracimg.net?) it's definitely at the Silverstone TT. I am also fairly sure cars were out in Sweden and Germany before '84.

I'll have a look and see if I can post some limks.

[chunterer]

http://touringcarracing.net/Races/19...lverstone.html

Apologies, as has been posted already, a Sportpromotion entered car was actually racing as early as 1982!

Then if you check the results for the opening round of the 1983 season at Monza. 2 cars were entered: the Sportpromotion car and Thomas Limdstroms car.