It seems that everyone wants in on the Ethanol craze these days. Ferrari has brought an F-430 out that uses Ethanol, Lotus has an Ethanol Exige and the C6.R Corvette in ALMS is fed only Ethanol to survive. That' just off the top of my head. I'm sure if I did more research I could find a whole host of new sports cars and race cars that come in Ethanol form. I won't get started on what I think about it, though.
Now, Volvo wants in on the game. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the pretty sweet little three-door hatch that they brought out in late 2007 called the C30. Volvo is taking the sales success of the C30 and trying to turn it into some racing success, as well. Why not? It's a nice FWD platform that is quick, fun to drive and right in line with what Seat, BMW, Honda and Chevrolet are racing.
Volvo has already been racing in Swedish Touring Car Championship, and took two titles in 1996 and 1997. Volvo hopes the C30 can help do that again.
The Volvo C30 Ethanol racer will see action at the World Touring Car Challenge race in Brands Hatch, UK the 26-27 of this month. It is simply a test race and won't count for any points for the Volvo Olsbergs Green Racing Team.
Robert Dahlgren will pilot the one and only Volvo C30 around the track. It will be quite interesting to see how Volvo can keep up with the Diesels and Gas powered cars already running around so well.
Here is the official Press Release:
Volvo enters the World Touring Car Championship race at legendary Brands Hatch
Robert Dahlgren returns to his old training ground, driving Volvos new C30 Green Racer
Volvo Car Corporation has decided to enter its new ethanolpowered Volvo C30 racer in the WTCC (World Touring Car Championship) atBrands Hatch on the 26 - 27:th of July.
The car, which is in its first year on track, races in theSwedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) as the only ethanol E85 poweredcar in that series. In STCC, the car has so far secured three out ofseven pole positions and has lead close to half of all laps driven.
Now Volvo wants to evaluate the car against the strongest ofcompetition on the circuit at legendary Brands Hatch, Kent, England.
"We are naturally excited to come to Brands Hatch. This race wason the "to-do-list" in our plan for the C30 from start. We wanted thisas a check point to see how far we have come against the best," saysDerek Crabb, Motorsport Director at Volvo Car Corporation. We areclimbing up the development curve of this car and we strongly believethe Volvo C30 may become a very competitive car in any FIA Super 2000championship. However, it important to stay pragmatic and do things inthe right order.
Equally thrilled is the driver, Robert Dahlgren:
"It will be fantastic to race at Brands Hatch again. I spentmost of my youth in Britain and have driven all the tracks in differentformula series. I also won the Formula Ford Championship there in 2001and was the first privateer to do so in 18 years. It will be exiting tocome back, but this time as a works driver for Volvo and in the exitingnew C30."
The car will be operated by Volvo official motorsport partnerPolestar Racing AB, who is also both developing and running the samecar in STCC. Volvo will race with Ethanol E85 in the tank and will notbe eligible to race for points.
Josh from RawAutos.com
[Source: Autoblog via Volvo]
