• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

Track events.

T

The Stickman

New member
Joined
Jan 2, 2012
Location
Lehigh Valley pa
Ok I am wondering how many people use their Volvos for track events. If so what do you think are Volvo's strong points on track? And has anyone run the Lightning track at NJMP with their Volvo. One of the main reasons I ask is to know whether I can get my 740 to be as fast as my lother car as I am faced with the decision as to which car to dump money into. I know what my other is capable of.
 
The Stickman said:
Ok I am wondering how many people use their Volvos for track events. If so what do you think are Volvo's strong points on track? And has anyone run the Lightning track at NJMP with their Volvo. One of the main reasons I ask is to know whether I can get my 740 to be as fast as my other car as I am faced with the decision as to which car to dump money into. I know what my other is capable of.
Click to expand...

Why would the Volvo be held to different laws of physics than any other vehicle?

300hp in a 3000lb Volvo is more or less the same as 300hp in a 3000lb Chevy Nova or Vega :wtf: Easy to copy what your current mark is if you know the specs. Find what is different on the 740 (such as gearing) and make the change.

Obviously things like top speed will be different due to aerodynamics (or lack of) but really, explain how if all things being equal spec wise, the Volvo couldn't do the same thing as your other cars?

and what kind of track? dirt, 1/4 mile, 1/8 mile, road course?
 
I've been around both NJMP tracks at speed and paced. The Lemons 240s seemed to like Lightning last year. Good tires, lightness, grip, lower center of gravity, stiffer chassis and suspension and fresh brakes is what you want. And power.

Gut the interior, add chassis braces, get good tires (Hankook Ventus RS-3s are good for cheap), add IPD springs and sways with Bilstein HD shocks and any Volvo would be a fun little weekend track toy for not too much money. As for brakes, stock Volvo rotors with Hawk pads are great. I autocross and drag race my 960 from time to time and my biggest pitfall is tires.


As for your question about Volvo strong points on track... Not many. The chassis aren't horribly stiff, they're mostly all under powered, they're mostly all over 3,000 pounds and most of them have long wheel bases. Not great for road racing. Strong point I think would be brakes.

I still love driving on the track in my Volvo and going fast. It's just a bit harder to make a Volvo go fast than it is a comparable BMW.
 
You can easily have two vehicles of the same weight and hp and not have them equal on track. Hell I have had two of the same exact vehicle and not had them anywhere near the same in handling. This would be for a road course.
 
FlyingTog said:
I've been around both NJMP tracks at speed and paced. The Lemons 240s seemed to like Lightning last year. Good tires, lightness, grip, lower center of gravity, stiffer chassis and suspension and fresh brakes is what you want. And power.

Gut the interior, add chassis braces, get good tires (Hankook Ventus RS-3s are good for cheap), add IPD springs and sways with Bilstein HD shocks and any Volvo would be a fun little weekend track toy for not too much money. As for brakes, stock Volvo rotors with Hawk pads are great. I autocross and drag race my 960 from time to time and my biggest pitfall is tires.


As for your question about Volvo strong points on track... Not many. The chassis aren't horribly stiff, they're mostly all under powered, they're mostly all over 3,000 pounds and most of them have long wheel bases. Not great for road racing. Strong point I think would be brakes.

I still love driving on the track in my Volvo and going fast. It's just a bit harder to make a Volvo go fast than it is a comparable BMW.
Click to expand...

Any ideas of lap times for Lightning? Also I prefer a longer wheelbase car. But everything I have tracked before has been a full frame car. One light and one heavy. Oddly the heavy one has been the best. Part of me going to a Volvo was to get back to a lighterweight car and do what should be proper as in lightweight decent hp. In stock form the heavier car still outperformed the Volvo to this point.
 
The Stickman said:
Any ideas of lap times for Lightning? Also I prefer a longer wheelbase car. But everything I have tracked before has been a full frame car. One light and one heavy. Oddly the heavy one has been the best. Part of me going to a Volvo was to get back to a lighterweight car and do what should be proper as in lightweight decent hp. In stock form the heavier car still outperformed the Volvo to this point.
Click to expand...

The Lemons 240s were running 1.30ish times around Lightning. The E30 I rode in was doing slightly better than that. I estimated my car to be able to pull off 1.50s in stock form. Spec Miatas pull off 1.20s. Anything in the minute and a half range is respectable around Lightning.
 
The Stickman said:
You can easily have two vehicles of the same weight and hp and not have them equal on track. Hell I have had two of the same exact vehicle and not had them anywhere near the same in handling. This would be for a road course.
Click to expand...


Name these 2 cars, both bone stock? How equipped from the factory?

So many other variables.

If they are stock, yes...but change a few things (gearing, springs, a little geometry ) , and they could be even.

You act like the Volvo has a straight front axle. :roll:

The basic design of your car is the same as many cars that are successful road racers...

Not sure if it was SCCA, but there had been a few decently successful 700 road race cars that competed with Mustangs and Cameros.


Hell I have had two of the same exact vehicle and not had them anywhere near the same in handling.
Click to expand...

Again, still variables, age of car, condition. Sure, even if you get a 2 brand new 5.0s exactly optioned, one will always be a few thou off than the other.But not like a minute like you are trying to make the Volvo.
 
Last edited:
Snip// "As for your question about Volvo strong points on track... Not many. The chassis aren't horribly stiff, they're mostly all under powered, they're mostly all over 3,000 pounds and most of them have long wheel bases. Not great for road racing. Strong point I think would be brakes."

I always seemed to run out of brakes in my 5.oh 242gt. But I was running stock GT stuff with a.market pads. And that would be for a 20 minute session
on a 8-10 turn 2 mile road course. But I'm hard on brakes in racing street cars.
 
This is what I ran on Lightning at NJMP. I had another one just like it and while one had widerBut still cheap) tires they were both bone stock in the beginning. This one cornered light years above the other. I did a 98 second lap on Lightning. That is with only 2 sessions out of the 6 I would have had if the engine wouldn't have went. I was driving like a rookie and not hitting my marks and the tire pressures were way off. I also had yet to use the brakes to their capability. I figure I had could have been a bunch quicker. And from what Tog has said it's decently quick as it is. Not bad for a 4200lbs wagon.
100_3136.jpg

BTW Notice a theme with these 2 cars?
Picture060.jpg
 
photos

CAPT_BLOTTO said:
There's no pictures of track events.
Click to expand...

Is this better?
IMG_1844.jpg


Great on track, left all the Lotuses (Loti?) behind and was about the equal of a BMW 328. Standard apart from having the boost wound up to 1 bar. The marshalls thought it hysterical.
 
What exactly are your car choices?
If you'd be willing to switch to a 240 Volvo it's a much better track car than a 7/9 series.

Peter has roughly 100k in his 744 race car over the last decade so anything is possible, but even he'll admit he'd have been better off with a 240 base.

Mueller said:
300hp in a 3000lb Volvo is more or less the same as 300hp in a 3000lb Chevy Nova or Vega :wtf: Easy to copy what your current mark is if you know the specs. Find what is different on the 740 (such as gearing) and make the change.

Obviously things like top speed will be different due to aerodynamics (or lack of) but really, explain how if all things being equal spec wise, the Volvo couldn't do the same thing as your other cars?
Click to expand...
Really? You are either a slow/average driver or have no track experience if that's really what you think.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top