Classic Volvo P1800 transformed

How a race team has used 2020s tech to resurrect a Volvo icon. By Jake Groves

What if crack touring car outfit Cyan Racing could go back in time and race in the ’60s? Christian Dahl, boss of the Scandi team founded in 1996, wanted to make that idea a reality with a continuation model based on the Volvo P1800. His imagination was fired by reborn versions of the Jaguar E-Type and classic Porsche 911s.

‘That left us with inspiration to create what could have been if we, as a race team, had been there during the ’60s, racing the P1800, and got to design a road version of our race car,’ says Dahl. His team has pedigree: it’s won three World Touring Car titles and countless victories in the Swedish Touring Car Championship.

The Volvo P1800 Cyan is a fresh build from the ground up, keeping the original’s looks but none of its hardware. While some continuation cars have their engines swapped for electric motors, the Cyan P1800 uses a 414bhp turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder derived from the team’s S60 touring car’s, with power sent to the rear wheels via a limited-slip differential and five-speed manual dogleg-pattern gearbox from racing engineering firm Holinger.

‘Obviously we could have built an electric Volvo P1800 filled with all the latest luxury technology,’ says Dahl, ‘but that wasn’t what we wanted. It’s designed for high revs, with intuitively linear torque. We have learnt from racing, where the drivers want perfect control of the torque delivery.’

Carbonfibre body panels replace the original bodywork and the steel frame is stiffened up by a titanium rollcage. The original P1800’s suspension has been completely reengineered with aluminium uprights and two-way adjustable dampers front and rear, while the live rear axle is replaced by a fully-independent configuration. Cyan says the entire car weighs 990kg.

‘It’s about clearing away anything disturbing the direct connection between driver, tyres and road,’ says project boss Mattias Evensson. ‘Our objective was to keep that undisturbed sensation while refining it with today’s best tech.’ Unlike Cyan’s first road car, the C30 Polestar prototype from 2005, this one is intended to be put into very limited, very expensive, production.

CODE BLUE REBORN RACER UNDER A TONNE Carbonfibre body, titanium rollcage, stainless-steel exhaust, race-spec suspension and a carbon propshaft combine to keep kerbweight to 990kg. Winning WTCC team puts its tech to work WTCC HEART Turbo four revs to 7700rpm, makes 414bhp and 336lb ft. Based on the unit from Cyan’s S60 racer (above), it’s tuned to be as linear as a turbocharged engine can be.

FEELING THE ROAD Drilled discs and four-piston AP Racing brakes lurk inside bespoke forged 18s wrapped in Pirelli rubber. Potential buyers may want to haggle for some ABS.