THE Volvo P1800 Cyan , created by Cyan Racing, combines the elegant lines of the original Volvo coupé launched in 1961 with contemporary mechanics and chassis, but it remains definitely “old school”.
No electronic aids — it doesn't even have ABS — or electrons. Underneath the hood is an in-line turbo four-cylinder with an exclusive octane diet coupled to a five-speed manual gearbox (dog leg). The 420 hp and 455 Nm reach the asphalt only and only through the rear wheels and accrues less than 1000 kg on the weighbridge — how can we not appreciate this machine?
Perhaps we would have chosen another setting to better exploit his performance or dynamic skills than the icy (-20°C) snow-capped landscapes in Åre in northern Sweden. It does not appear, however, to have been an impediment for the Cyan team to push the P1800 to its limits in challenging conditions.
Mattias Evensson, Volvo P1800 Cyan Project Manager and Engineering Director at Cyan Racing"The Volvo P1800 Cyan is our way of combining the best of the past with the present, moving away from the power, weight and performance numbers of contemporary high-performance cars."
The white mantle made it possible to prove how easy the P1800 Cyan is to drive in difficult conditions and to amplify the properties of what they wanted to achieve with the development of this machine, as Mattias Evensson, engineering director at Cyan Racing says: “the basic concept of the car looks like it works pretty well, it doesn't really matter if you're on a totally dry competition circuit, a wet and windy country road, or on ice here in northern Sweden.”
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Evensson adds that “this concept somehow got lost along the way for today's high-performance cars. For us, this is getting back to basics.”
The Volvo P1800 Cyan leaves it to the driver, concludes Evensson, to “explore its limits rather than relying on the electronic aids of today's performance cars to control its power and mass”.
A recipe for creating fun and very rewarding cars whose ingredients are more than well known: “engine response, chassis balance and low weight”.