Volvo 850 BTCC cylinder head trickery by TWR

[Jimmy Choo]

This is just utter genius!

[scotta]

Its rife in motorsport!

This is why it costs £6500 for a FF1600 engine. Which if you remember comes originally from a 1966 Ford Cortina GT and has been in around 6.2bn cars since.

[RobYob]

"We had qualifying engines that lasted 40miles"
One of Jason Plato's comments in the great interview with him and Matt Neal on the Late Brake show.

[V8Granite]

I think it was in Octane magazine but the European touring cars were on another level. The square cams on the Merc engines which meant they couldn’t idle below 4000rpm and literally threw the valve off the cam lobe to gain extra cam lift, incredibly clever.

Dave!

[mik]

This kinda thing is always fascinating.

I can’t find the vid I was looking for, but this explains the Celica Turbo “mod” I was looking for quite well.

[integrale_evo]

I think it was in Octane magazine but the European touring cars were on another level. The square cams on the Merc engines which meant they couldn’t idle below 4000rpm and literally threw the valve off the cam lobe to gain extra cam lift, incredibly clever.

Dave!

The itc, etc, dtm cars were on another level, 14,000rpm v6s channelled shells, space frame front ends etc.

If anything I think it makes btcc even more amazing with what they were able to get out of ‘production’ based cars and layouts and 8000rpm limits.

[V8Granite]

I remember seeing a bonnet open on BTCC Mondeo last year, standing at the bumper you needed binoculars to spot the engine it was so far back. One slip off the clutch and you’d burn your foot on the exhaust manifold

Dave!

[integrale_evo]

Yeah, that was more bonkers rule bending, most mounts etc had to be within a certain distance of the production versions. I think driveshaft position or crank position was one of them. On the v6 mondeos they just rotated the engine to some absurd angle so the weight was as low and far back as possible.

[dinny_g]

The itc, etc, dtm cars were on another level, 14,000rpm v6s channelled shells, space frame front ends etc.

Absolutely - didn't they have active suspension like the Williams F1 cars too

[integrale_evo]

Yeah, it all got daft even quicker than the btcc, only 3 manufacturers and costs spiralling. They went to similar to the current btcc rules with certain common off the shelf sub assemblies and v8 engines you could bolt on to the body of your choice.

[RobYob]

The itc, etc, dtm cars were on another level, 14,000rpm v6s channelled shells, space frame front ends etc.

Absolutely - didn't they have active suspension like the Williams F1 cars too

Active weight distribution too didn't they? The ballast they had to carry was on hydraulic rams to shove it from one end of the car to the other as needed.

[Jimmy Choo]

Active weight distribution too didn't they? The ballast they had to carry was on hydraulic rams to shove it from one end of the car to the other as needed.

That makes Renault and their Tuned mass damper look quaint.

[Carlos]

Didnt one of the BTCC teams chop the roofline and it only came to light when the car went on to a privateer team and couldnt get a windscreen to fit