Volvo Beat A 'Ring Lap Record But Kept It Secret For A Year
We all know what happens at the Nurburgring. A manufacturer borrows the old North Loop circuit for a day or two, smashes out a record-breaking lap time and throws out a florid press release about it.
But not so with Volvo. In understated style typical of the Swedes, Volvo took a lap record with the S60 Polestar and then didn’t tell anyone about it. For an entire year.
After finishing the 2016 Nurburgring round of the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC), the Polestar Cyan Racing team elected to stay in Germany for a few extra days. It conducted a secret test of its road and race cars, essentially for no better reason than to see how fast they could go on the demanding Nordschleife.
Unexpectedly, the team recorded a 7’51.110 time for the S60 Polestar, beating the fastest time set by a road legal, production four-door car at the time.
So why did it keep quiet? Volvo says that the test revealed important information that it then incorporated into both its racing cars and the Polestar road cars. It’s only safe to let the secret out now, as the WTCC returns to the ‘Ring for 2017.
Comments
They just didn’t wanna get involvod
That sounds like something I’d do if I was the head of Volvo
i guess they thought the lap time would be “indestructible”
TurboToddler (Straight-five) I’m proud to read this.
how much you wanna bet they forgot about it a few months after then suddenly remembered
Damn it Volvo, I knew the S60 Polestar could go an entire 35km/h faster than the electronic limiter but nothing this ridiculous! Congratulations, I’m very proud of you!!!
I have so much respect for Volvo for not telling anyone. Number 1, they don’t have competition to struggle with; 2, they were just trying to make their cars better, not to sell more of them, but to put out genuine performance
Volvo is one of the few brands which make good looking cars throughout its range.
Maybe they didn’t reveal it because a lap time doesn’t mean anything to a customer of a four door street car…
2 seconds in the video: Nurnburgring is not the name of the track. The racetrack in Nürnberg is called Norisring, you actually set your record at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife which is based in Nürburg :-D
But has it not now been beaten by both the Porsche Panamera Turbo and Alfa Romeo Giulia QV?
Wasn’t it slower than the M3 to begin with? This is a little confusing.