Volvo Dealer Racing, known originally as the Volvo Dealer Team and occasionally as Volvo 850 Racing, Volvo S40 Racing and Volvo Racing was an Australian motor racing team that debuted in 1994 competing in the

Australian Production Car Championship The Australian Production Car Championship is an Australian motor racing title for production car racing, production cars. The championship was first contested in 1987 and from 2008 to 2015 the title was awarded to the most successful driver in th ...

and at the

Bathurst 12 Hour The Bathurst 12 Hour, currently known as the Meguiar's Bathurst 12 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is an annual endurance race for Group GT3, GT and Production car racing, production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, in Bathurst, New South ...

before stepping up to the new

Australian Super Touring Championship The Australian Super Touring Championship (formerly known as the Australian 2.0 Litre Touring Car Championship) was a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, CAMS-sanctioned national motor racing title for Super Touring Cars. History Super Touri ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and continued racing through to

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

History

In 1994, Volvo contracted George Shepherd's Roadsafe Motorsport to manage a Group E production car programme.Australia's most iconic Volvo racecar
Speedcafe 10 June 2013 The team first appeared at that year's

, running a Volvo 850 T-5R in Class T and an 850 GLT in Class B. Tony Scott would continue driving the 850 GLT, claiming third in the 1994 Australian Production Car Championship. The T-5R re-appeared at the 1994 Sandown 500 with Kent Youlden driving alongside Dutch Formula 1 driver

Jan Lammers Johannes Antonius "Jan" Lammers (born 2 June 1956) is a Dutch racecar driver, most notable for winning the 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans FIA World Endurance Championship, world endurance race, for Silk Cut Jaguar Cars, Jaguar/Tom Walkinshaw Racing, TW ...

winning its class and finishing fourth amongst the production cars. In

, the team benched the production cars as the 12 Hour race left Bathurst to move to an end of season race at

Eastern Creek Raceway Sydney Motorsport Park (known until May 2012 as Eastern Creek International Raceway) is a motorsport circuit located on Brabham Drive, Eastern Creek (40-kilometres west of the Sydney CBD), New South Wales, Australia, adjacent to the Western ...

, with the team entering the

, acquiring a Volvo 850 Estate that had been campaigned in the 1994 British Touring Car Championship from

Tom Walkinshaw Racing Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) was a motor racing team and engineering firm founded in 1976, in Kidlington, near Oxford, England, by touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw. The company initially handled privateer work before entering works touring car ...

. In

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Peter Brock Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, al ...

was signed to drive a more conventional Volvo 850 sedan. Jim Richards would drive the car to win the 1996 Bathurst 1000 support event, before replacing Brock full-time in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, the team upgraded to a S40 winning the

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a Touring car racing, touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supe ...

. The team expanded to two S40s in

with Cameron McLean, Mark Adderton and Mark Williamson driving the second car. The team closed at the end of 1999 after a loss of factory support from Volvo.

References

{{Reflist Australian auto racing teams Auto racing teams established in 1994 Auto racing teams disestablished in 1999 1994 establishments in Australia 1999 disestablishments in Australia