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When Volvo raced an estate

As Honda brings the estate shape back to the BTCC, GARY WATKINS tells the inside story of Volvo's 850 estate programme 20 years ago - but just whose idea was it?

Surely it was some kind of joke... The idea that anyone would choose to run an estate in the highly competitive world of the British Touring Car Championship seemed preposterous in the extreme. The fact that the late Tom Walkinshaw was behind Volvo's entry with the unconventional body shape 20 years ago only fuelled speculation that it was a wind-up.

The possibility that TWR would run an 850 estate was talked about the moment the stories of Volvo's return to top-flight touring car racing broke in October 1993.

Previous article Double BTCC champion John Cleland hails quality of 2014 field
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