Guy Martin's Volvo

A truly amazing sleeper and a fantastic car those old volvos are the biz especially the estates ..............

but fastest car in britain .....dont make me laugh its not even close

But still one super cool car - id own it in a heatbeat
 
Hmmm. There's a phrase I am trying to think of.....oh yes......What a load of crap.

(I have to admit that it is a very well put together car, I like it)

Headline is, as usual, misleading.

Martin says, "I reckon it is about the fastest car in Britain"
and -
"I reckon it does 0-60mph in less than three seconds." Another article quotes 3.1secs.

and -
"I reckon it is about the fastest car in Britain — quicker than any Ferrari, Porsche or even Bugatti"

19 cars on this list ( including LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder, Bugatti SuperSport) claim different:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fastest_production_cars_by_acceleration

788bhp. Original car weighed 1000kg. Interior seems to be lighter but engine, gearbox, rear axle, roll cage, huge wheels and brakes will add weight, however let's be generous and say the car still weighs 1000kg (unless someone can confirm its actual weight)

788 bhp in a 1000kg car equates to 788bhp/tonne (even I can do that sum in my head :) ) running on E85, certainly no slouch but nowhere near the fastest car in the country, not by a long way, probably not even in the top 100. If he took it to the drag strip he would be very quick but not the quickest by a long way.

For example, as usual, I will use my amateur built car. 520bhp and 650kg running on standard petrol = 800bhp/tonne, and my car will be nowhere near the fastest in the country.
 
Since it is proper recorded times that determine the fastest car I will stick to what I know about which is GTRs .
Im sure other people will have other examples of other makes which are quicker as well and maybe quicker than this GTR .
I use this example because I was there , saw this car do this and saw the print outs and times on the screen that day.
As og said 0-60 in 3.1 seconds is extemely quick but not close to the fastest .
The fact is that phrase includes tuned cars so I will just give one set of figures from the 30-130 day at marham which I went to. ( because only one is needed)
It should also be noted this was a fully road legal car and that it was over two years ago .
It was a new style GTR ( R35) and yes a fortune had been spent on it but that's ok in the " fastest " category ?
Top speed over 240 mph . 60 mph was under 2 seconds and 100 in 3.6
Im sure 30-130 was under 5.
Whatever it was it would have left that Volvo so far behind as to have been embarrassing for someone claiming to have the fastest car.
And those times are recorded on two separate v boxes in the car .
And is that the fastest now ......... Definately not and it probably wasn't then either.
 
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In Martin's defence he only reckons it was the fastest, it was the newspaper headline writers that claimed it was the fastest, twisting his words to make a better headline.
 
However, that doesn't make it a bad car. It would be great for trips to B&Q and surprising the boy racer brigade :) The only change I would possibly make would be to fit stock looking wheels.
 
My comments about the "fastest" bit should not be confused with those about the car which I have already lauded over.It is stunning although if you are going for old school I agree with og (again) that period wheels should be the choice

Re the fastest claim, Im not convinced - with guy martins knowledge reckoning it was even close the fastest is somewhat foolish because he should know better.

Still it is damn fast and damn cool.
 
Whatever the headline it is certainly an interesting feature. This would be a typical project a TorqueCars member would aspire to.

I love seeing what people do to older models to bring them up to the desired spec.
 
It looks awesome.If I was going to build a sleeper it would be something along these lines.

Definately not the fastest but there is potential there.
 
I have been toying with the idea of putting an 70s front on the stagea to make it a real sleeper. Problem is that old japanese cars are really silly money in Japan and the chance of finding one in the UK is close to nil
 
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Fastest requires Power & it cant be fudged. Mine would beat it easily down a 1.5 mile straight.
The Fastest Road car in the UK has 1400bhp to reach 239mph in 1.5 miles. Most confuse quick off the line where weight is a factor with Fastest where its simply Power v Aero. My old girl just tads the Top 25 fastest in the UK & this Volvo would be a long way back from that. It might reach 200mph in 1.5miles though. If my car had been ready a challenge would have been made to Guy. Remember this on 5th gear against Tiff, we kicked his butt bigtime.
 
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