A VOLVO 740 AT THE GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED??
We mentioned in the last Crude News that Axel was building a very special Volvo 740 Estate to be premiered at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It was a mammoth task to get it finished in time but Axel and his team made it (just).
Being the ONLY Volvo V70 drift car in the world with a Mazda 3-rotor engine, sequential gearbox, and Carbon Kevlar body, the interest from fans was amazing. Over the weekend, Axel’s Instagram saw over 3.5 million views – quite a result!
The sounds from the 850 BHP (at low boost) rotary engine were crazy, as was the cheer from the crowd when he smoked up the hill!
The Volvo was, of course, powered by Sunoco Race Fuels and Driven Racing Oil products. The Sunoco E85R is a very powerful race fuel that makes the fumes smell like tequila. The engine is under enormous strain but is safely protected by the Driven XP6 (15W-50) racing engine oil, and the gearbox and differential by Driven’s transmission oils.
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out one of Axel’s latest YouTube videos to catch all the action from the weekend. The full build journey is also documented on his channel – definitely worth a watch if you’ve missed any of it. Check out this video for a short summary of the weekend.
What’s Next for the Volvo?
Axel’s heading to Silverstone this weekend for the Monster Energy Brooklands Slide Competition at the Gassed on Track event, happening Saturday 26th July. It’s a high-speed drift challenge – time to see how fast the old brick can really go!
Driven XP6 SAE 15W-50
Driven launched the XP range in 2004, which is when we first met them at the PRI show in Indianapolis. Back then, the oil was called Joe Gibbs Performance Racing Oil, as it was originally an initiative by the successful Joe Gibbs Racing NASCAR team. At that time, the offering included just a running-in oil and the Driven XP1 (SAE 5W-20) racing oil – the same oil the NASCAR team was using to keep their high-revving engines together at over 9,000 RPM.
Traditionally, NASCAR teams had been using SAE 20W-50 racing oils. However, newer oil specifications, which promoted longer service intervals (more detergents) and fewer anti-wear additives (to help reduce emissions from unburnt oils), led to increased engine failures. Through a partnership with Lubrizol (one of the largest additive suppliers to the oil industry), Joe Gibbs Racing successfully tested a new additive formulation that resulted in much better reliability and more power.
The improvement was so significant that they were able to dramatically reduce the oil’s viscosity, which led to increased power and cooler running – in fact, during qualifying, they even used an SAE 0W oil.
Today, the XP range has expanded massively, with a variety of viscosities available. It is now complemented by additional lines of oil for everything from race engines to hypercars and everything in between.
