Volvo P1800 Restomod by Cyan Racing playing in the snow
The Volvo P1800 Restomod by Cyan Racing heads for Northern Sweden to be put through its paces on snow in -20c temperatures.
Whatever you’re opinion on Restomods (taking a classic car and using modern tech to make it more appealing), there’s no denying that some are deeply impressive, like the restomod of the Volvo P1800 by Cyan Racing.
Revealed last autumn, Cyan Racing – with Volvo embedded in its DNA – took the ‘Saint’s’ car and treated it to a very modern makeover. Not, as you might have expected, with an EV powertrain, but with modern Volvo ICE power.
Using the same 2.0 litre four-pot Volvo they used in the Volvo S60 TC1 race car, and tuned for 41bhp, Cyan’s P1800 also got a five-speed manual ‘box sending power to the back wheels through a limited slip diff – but with no modern driver aids like ABS – big steel discs, bigger wheels, IRS and a body reinforced with carbon fibre and aluminium.
Now, as Swedes are prone to do, Cyan has taken their P1800 off to the frozen north (of Sweden), with lots of snow and -20c temperatures, to see how their new toy fares. And it seems to fare very well (as you can see in the video below).
Cyan Racing’s Chief Engineer, Mattias Evensson, said:
All of the properties that we have tried to achieve were almost amplified by driving it on the low grip of snow and ice.
The basic concept of the car seems to work really well, it does not matter that much if you are on a bone-dry racing circuit, a wet and twisty country road or on the crisp ice here in northern Sweden. You still feel confident and in control.
I would say this concept has somewhat been lost along the way for the performance cars of today. For us, this is returning back to basics.
If you want one (and who wouldn’t?) Cyan Racing will build you one. But it’ll be £400k.
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