We are partial to racecars here at Double Apex. We love motorsport and we enjoy racing whenever we get the chance to. Similarly, we are also fans of Touring Car racing, particularly that of the 1990s. DTM and Super Touring left a lasting impression on us. And that is why we simply had to feature this Volvo 850 Estate Touring Car replica that we recently saw racing at our local track.

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A bit of history: Volvo 850 Estate Touring Car Replica

The Swedish automaker entered the 1994 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) with an unusual racer in the shape of an 850 Estate. Surprisingly, the car’s profile had marginally better aerodynamics than the sedan. However, Volvo did it more as a marketing stunt than anything else. And it worked. 

Despite not winning a single race, the 850 Volvo Touring Car is the stuff of legend. It helped lift the image of Volvo in the eyes of the public. Additionally, it cemented its place in the hearts of race fans around the world. We count ourselves among those many fans, as does Ian Oberholzer.

On a whim

Gqeberha resident Oberholzer spotted a tatty 850 Estate in the online classifieds and bought it to create a cheapie endurance racer – one similar to that used in the LeMons series (more of which here). Consequently, the tatty old hearse (yes, seriously) was rescued and taken to Ian’s workshop. There the car was found to have a naturally aspirated engine mated with an automatic transmission… sadly, missing its steering column. The hard work of building a Volvo 850 Estate Touring Car Replica began. 

Check out a Volvo-powered Mercedes racecar at this link.

Reptiles and crazy Swedes

In the process of stripping out everything that was not needed, Ian and his mates encountered several issues. This includes a tailgate lock with no key, a 70 cm boomslang (tree snake) living in the heater box, and nut/bolt sizes ranging from 7 mm up to 21 mm with no apparent logic.

During this time, Ian acquired an 850 T5 for parts. It was a sedan, but everything from the B-pillar forward is identical. This is where the bulk of the parts was needed anyway. Ian swapped over all the bits he needed before selling the donor car. However, it is at this point, as with many ideas, the concept of the cheapie racer quickly ran away from Ian.

Check out the incredible Volvo P1800 Cyan restomod at this link.

Special guest

At the time, the Killarney 9-Hour (which took place last week, Dec 11), was only a few months away. Coincidentally, Ian heard that Jan Lammers would attend the race. Lammers and Rickard Rydell were the two who raced an 850 in the BTCC.

Thus, Ian figured it’d be great to build a replica of the BTCC car and bring it to Cape Town to grab a few pics with the former race ace. A new plan was formed and the clock started ticking. The race meeting was now just a few weeks away. Ian called in every favour he had to ensure he’d make it to race at Killarney.

More below the gallery… (Racing pics at Killarney courtesy of Tony Kent.)

More donors

In a bid to accelerate the build process, Ian bought another 850 Estate. This was a fully running car with a manual transmission and turbocharged engine. Sadly, it had a massive oil leak,  but it turned out to be a really easy fix. Now, after a few miles behind the wheel, he thought the better of stripping it for parts.

Salvation for the newly acquired wagon came in the shape of a wrecked Volvo C30 T5. Yet another donor was bought and gave most of its vital bits to the project car. Installing the powertrain from the newer car wasn’t an easy task and it required plenty of custom fabrication to slot into the older frame. 

Final stages of panic

The new engine was fitted and a MaxxECU was wired to handle vital controls. While the car had a beating heart, it was still shy of a few key safety items, including a seat, dashboard and roll cage. With a week to go the guys bent the pipes required and welded in a bespoke roll cage. After a flat out session, the car had a full, race-spec roll cage similar to the original, a mounted seat and a new steering system from one of the donor cars. 

With days to race, the team laid out and fitted the braking system. The cooling system (radiator and intercooler), as well as piping and wiring, was completed. The Volvo 850 Estate Touring Car Replica was finally down on its wheels and had a very basic alignment set-up before being loaded onto the trailer the night before the race.

Check out a beautiful Alfa 155 Touring Car that went up for auction at this link.

A marathon

From the Windy City, the team set out early on the morning of the day they were scheduled to race. They completed a nine-hour marathon drive through the pouring rain to get to Cape Town. Ian had very little expectations of the freshly finished racecar, hoping to simply complete all the laps of his two races, even at a reduced pace.

The team arrived only 15 minutes before qualifying. In that first session, Ian built up to speed as the car had never been driven in anger. It ran 0,5 bars of boost in quali and race one. In race one, the car had a small coolant leak and in race two he went from 19th to 8th position. In the later race, the car ran closer to factory spec 0,95 bars, at which level the engine develops about 170 kW. For interest’s sake, the original racecar made roughly 215 kW from a high-revving naturally aspirated motor.

Covid restrictions

As it turns out, current travel restrictions meant that Jan Lammers could not travel to SA so Ian couldn’t get the car signed or any pics of the ex-F1 pilot with his tribute. Straight after the second race on Saturday morning, Ian loaded up his Volvo 850 Estate Touring Car replica and headed straight back home.

The future of the Volvo 850 Estate Touring Car Replica

We chatted to Ian after he returned home about his lovely machine and he had the following to say:

“While it wasn’t an easy build given the time frame and condition of the car, it was great to take something that most would deem beyond salvagable and turn it into something special that will be used for many years to come at circuits around South Africa.

“I knew about Lammers not coming to South Africa a week or two before the event, which was a bit disappointing but decided to carry and stick to the goal of having the car at least one event in 2021. And, there will always be next year.

“Moving forward, there is still quite a bit of chassis work to be done before the 2022 season starts. I will run the car at a few races at Aldo Scribante to dial in the suspension and brakes, once I’m happy with its lap times and that no further changes are required, I will strip the car down to the bare shell to respray it between events. The plan is to keep the car looking as close to period-correct as possible.”