Video: The Volvo 242T is a car you never thought you'd see racing

30th October 2025

Russell Campbell

With a side profile akin to stacked breeze blocks and the frontal area of an Ikea distribution centre, the Volvo 242T is not the sort of machine you’d instinctively file under ‘racing car’. And yet, against all expectation — someone did go racing in one, and the result is far more glorious than logic suggests.

Look closer and the 242T might not be such an unlikely choice after all. Volvo’s bank-vault build quality suddenly seems rather useful in the door-banging theatricals of touring car racing, and its early mastery of turbocharging provided a genuine performance ace up the sleeve.

If you were going to have a monumental shunt, there are worse badges to have on the grille, and there’s more than enough room inside for a helmet, race suit and most of your pit equipment.

Volvo also has deeper motorsport roots than many realise. The PV444 made its name in both rallying and circuit racing, while the mighty 850 T5 estate became a 1990s BTCC legend, its silhouette alone guaranteeing icon status. Against that backdrop, a 242T racing car seems a lot more plausible.

82nd Members' Meeting

INTERVIEW: Gordon Shedden on driving “the most unlikely racing car in the world”

It's why this Bastos-liveried example became an unexpected star of the 82^nd Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport. Three-time BTCC Champion and Methuen House Captain Gordon Shedden, entrusted with hustling the Swedish saloon in this year’s Gordon Spice Trophy, summed it up perfectly:

“The Volvo just looks like the most unlikely racing car in the world, but it’s amazing how many people stop past the garage and look at it. I think it’s got a bit of a cult following, and I think that’s pretty cool.”

The car pays tribute to the Volvo France-supported privateer entry that contested the 1982 French Group 1/1B Production Championship. Four decades later, its charm hasn’t faded. It’s still square, still surreal and still turning heads.

At this year’s event, the only question was whether this iron-sided Swedish underdog could still cut it. In this video, Shedden talks us through the car before hurling it into battle in the Gordon Spice Trophy, proving that sometimes the most unlikely race cars are the ones we remember most.