Volvo 850 Estate TWR Team sponsored by Securicor Omega Express - British Touring Car Championship - BTCC 1994
Marking / livery in 1/24 scale manufactured by SK Decals (ref. SK-24018, also SK24018)

In 1994, Volvo returned to racing, taking part in the prestigious British Touring Car Championship, better known as the BTCC. It was the first time that a Station Wagon bodied vehicle had participated in a championship of this type. To this end, a collaboration contract was signed with Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), which meant a curious "marriage" with which he had been one of his toughest rivals in touring car racing in the 1980s, an agreement that was maintained until the 1999 season. The team was made up of 24 people under the command of competition director Roger Sillman, a veteran of the previous and successful TWR campaigns, and in particular, of the Jaguar Gr.C project in the Sport Prototype category. Probably the biggest problem for the team in 1994 was that the car only took to the track just before the first race of the year and that very few members of the team had experience racing 2-litre touring cars. With more time in development, the Volvo 850 TWR could have been a winning car, and indeed it incorporated a number of interesting features, including an in-line five-cylinder engine and a radical chassis set-up. The Volvo's familiar bulky bodywork was an aerodynamic advantage insofar as it reduced the tendency to lift to which a passenger car is subject in the absence of aerodynamic add-ons. Even the formidable width of the big body was a positive bonus. In touring car racing terms, being wide is good. Volvo drivers sat well back in the cavernous cabin, and the Volvo was light on the front end for what was typical of other front-wheel drive competitors. That was partly because the Volvo 850 TWR had its engine offset. The chassis designer managed to squeeze the transverse engine between the front axle and the original firewall bulkhead (which had to remain unchanged from the original car). This ploy isn't possible on most front-wheel drive cars, but it was possible on the 850 as it was designed to mount a turbocharger system between the standard engine location (ahead of the front axle) and the firewall. As the use of naturally aspirated engines was mandatory, the space for the turbocharger was “available”. As a curiosity, Volvo was a year ahead in the use of catalytic converters in its engines, since it was within Volvo's policy to run its cars "green" and with the least amount of emissions possible.