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Head To Head – Racing Truck VS Racing Car – The Best Of Swedish Engineering

Ever wondered which would win in a head to head battle between a Volvo racing truck and a Volvo WTCC racing car? Well it’s just happened, so if you’ve got a spare few minutes, make sure you check out the video linked below.

So first of all, a quick introduction.

The racing truck, named the Iron Knight, is a truck developed to produce serious power – 2400 horses to be precise. This carries it from a standstill to 60mph in a more than respectable 4.6 seconds, and is the world’s fastest big rig clocked topping out at 172mph.

“The Iron Knight can be summarized in one single word: perfection,” Boije Ovebrink, its driver, has said. “It’s beautiful to look at and is an unparalleled powerhouse when you floor the accelerator.”

The Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 on the other hand, is a lot less powerful at 400hp, but at the same time, a lot less heavy, meaning it too has a 0-60 time of 4.6 seconds, and a much faster cornering ability.

So the battle is afoot and the first race is a quarter mile sprint. Boije Ovebrink in the Iron Knight, and Swedish racing driver Thed Björk in the Polestar. With both vehicles lined up at the start and the roar from their engines deafening, they launch.

For the first two thirds of the drag they were neck and neck, but the high powered truck pulled away taking the win.

To finish the battle, both vehicles were taken to the Swedish racetrack, Mantorp. This is where the results get a little skewed, however. On a racetrack, there is no doubt that the car will win. So to make this a fair test, the Iron Knight was given a head start.

Even with the head start, the WTCC car takes the win by a metre or so.

So what do we take away from this event? In reality, there is no use comparing these vehicles. They’re built for different things, and will both excel within those. But what this video does show is just how well engineered these machines are – and of course, Geely, the company that just bought the majority of Lotus, is behind this.

Hopefully the innovation that we have seen in this video can be reflected in the future of Lotus. We can only hope.

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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