Volvo’s motorsport history is full of weird and wonderful occasions. I mean here’s a company that once went Touring car racing with an estate. Now the Swedish manufacturer decided they should explore a new field of motorsport. So they chose Australian V8 Supercars championship.

Nothing weird about that, until you realize Volvo does not actually produce a V8-powered car. There was one V8 they used to put in the S80 and the XC90, but that was discontinued long ago. Luckily though, they have Polestar, an equally mad tuning and racing firm that does Volvo’s dirty work for them. And this is what they’ve come up with for the Australian series, an S60 V8.

This being Polestar, it is no ordinary V8 that powered Volvo’s racing car. The 5.0 liter unit runs on E85 bioethanol and makes 650 horsepower. That is a lot of power, especially as the stripped-out racing S6 weighs only 1,400 kg.

Using a six-speed sequential gearbox mounted at the back (transaxle) for better weight distribution, that power spins the rear wheels fast enough for the car to hit 100 km/h from rest in 3.2 seconds, and reach a top speed of as near as makes no difference 300 km/h. It’s a good job then the Aussies have a liberal view when it comes to rules and regulation in motorsport.

Volvo S60 V8 Supercars benefits from AP Racing brakes, Control Rimstock 18-inch wheels, Dunlop tires, Ohlins TTX dampers, and MoTec ECU and electronics. The car will makes its debut during the first round of 2014 V8 Supercars Championship on February 15 at Sydney Motorsport Park.