Biante Model Cars are very pleased to announce the 1:18 Scale Volvo 850 Sedan driven to victory by Jim Richards in the 1996 Australian Super Touring Championship Bathurst support race.

The announcement of Volvo joining the V8 Supercars Championship in 2014 created plenty of interest, but its last assault on Australian motor racing in the mid-1990s was one that helped give it massive ‘street cred’ After claiming the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1986 with a turbocharged 240 model in the hands of Kiwi Robbie Francevic, Volvo returned a decade later to compete in the two-litre Australian Super Touring Championship.

Initially an ex-British Touring Car Championship station wagon was imported in 1995 for Tony Scott to drive, before an ex-BTCC 850 Sedan was secured for 1996 as well as a famous pilot. Peter Brock signed a deal to drive for Volvo alongside his existing commitments in the Australian Touring Car Championship with the Mobil Holden Racing Team and its five-litre Commodore program. This created some angst and politicking, but Brock simply got on with the job and enjoyed competing in both forms of racing. He drove the distinctive red #05 five-cylinder Volvo in the eight round Super Touring series, which had completed six of its eight rounds by the time October rolled around.

Two-litre cars had previously formed their own class in the Bathurst 1000 before the category decided not to compete in 1995 and the 161-lap classic was, for the first time ever, a V8-only event. In 1996 the two-litre cars returned to Bathurst as a support category for the AMP Bathurst 1000, competing in three non-championship sprint races. Both Brock and fellow HRT endurance driver Greg Murphy (a works Audi driver signed by HRT to co-drive the team’s eventual race-winning #1 entry with Craig Lowndes) focused on their V8 commitments in the main race, opening up their regular cars to replacement drivers for the weekend. The Orix Audi team grabbed rapid Italian female Super Touring driver Tamara Vidali to replace Murphy, while Volvo signed a driver who was competing in the main V8 race – none other than Jim Richards.

Richards was co-driving with son Steven in Garry Rogers’ Valvoline Commodore but had no problems in accepting the offer to drive the Volvo, which retained Brock’s familiar #05. To drive a Brock #05 vehicle at Bathurst was no new thing for Richards, given he co-drove with Brock to three successive Bathurst 1000 victories in 1978, 1979 and 1980 at the height of the Holden Dealer Team. After running on Dunlop tyres earlier in the year, the Volvo team under George Shepheard swapped to Michelin tyres for Bathurst (and indeed the rest of the series) with Richards qualifying fifth behind the BMWs of Craig Baird and Geoff Brabham, Brad Jones (Audi) and Paul Morris (BMW). The expat Kiwi finished second to Baird in the opening five-lap sprint on Saturday before again finishing runner-up to the BMW pilot in the second five-lap sprint, which followed soon after.

The final race, an eight-lapper, was held on Sunday morning ahead of the main AMP Bathurst 1000 and drivers found themselves faced with miserable, wet conditions. Richards was forced to start fifth given the grid for Race 3 reverted to qualifying times, though the race start was delayed due to the conditions – and the fact that Baird skated off on the formation lap and Vidali almost followed suit! The Volvo pilot was able to enter Hell Corner in fourth place and set about picking off the three BMWs one-by-one. He moved by Brabham then Baird, and chased down leader Morris, eventually catching and passing the Diet-Coke car on lap four at Griffin’s Bend. From there Richards was able to control the race and withstand the pressure from Jones’ four-wheel-drive Audi Quattro A4 to seal a popular victory, the first for Volvo in Super Touring and their first in Australian touring car racing since Robbie Francevic at Adelaide International Raceway in 1986. Brock took back the #05 850 for the rest of the Super Touring season, though Richards’ association with the Swedish manufacturer was only just beginning. He replaced Brock in the team’s entry in 1997 full-time and went on to win another Bathurst 1000 crown in 1998 in an S40 with Swede Rickard Rydell.

We’re pleased to present the opportunity to place your orders for this model, another replica from the iconic career of Jim Richards.

I have the pleasure to present you this model of the Volvo Venus Bilo. This is the first scale model ever of this iconic Volvo. It was a more difficult project since not many infos are available regarding this Volvo. The most difficult task was to reproduce the unusual shapes of the front end correctly. I'm sure you will agree with me that the model maker did a great job. This 1:43 scale model made of resin is available for 60,00 £ (  71.5 € / 95 $ ). Postage and packing are included in the price. Source  : theessenceofthecar.co.uk Click here to learn more about this car.

more photos will be added shortly

The Volvo Venus Bilo was a concept car revealed by Volvo in 1933. It was a streamlined design with rear hinged doors and door in the side to access the engine bay. It was designed to have a great loading capacity. Nine specially designed suitcases could be fitted into spaces in the back and a compartment in the right front fender. The left hand fender contained a spare tyre and tools. A second spare tyre in the rear was used as a bumper.

The Swedish company was not sure how the public would react to a closed sedan with no fender lines or running boards.  So they commissioned Gustaf Ericsson to build a car and gave him full credit.  Instead of being a Volvo, it was given the name Venus Bilo

The design was done by Gustaf Ericsson and it was based on a Volvo PV655 chassis. The coachwork was done by Nordbergs vagnsfabrik in 1932. It was Volvo’s timid attempt at streamlined styling. 

The fate of the car itself is unknown. After World War II it was sold to a person in Denmark. In the mid 1950s it was owned by a Danish scrapyard owner who rebuilt it into a pickup truck. It was used as late as 1956, but then it vanished.

The concept led to the production model Volvo PV 36 Carioca

The model is available to buy from my website www.theessenceofthecar.co.uk and the price is £60 including postage.

David Roots
01926 854771
www.theessenceofthecar.co.uk

The Models

Welcome to the world of The Essence Of The Car.

This is different concept in the presentation of scale model vehicles. Instead of the high level of detail usual in the die cast ranges, these models present the vehicles in their basic form. All are made to the standard collector's scale of 1/43 and each model carries a serial number and is accompanied by a certificate authenticity.

They have been described in different ways, such as sculptures or being like the original clay model that the vehicle manufacturers make as part of their development programmes.

The Concept

The idea started because I wanted a model of a special (full size) supercar that I was working on. The scale was decided by the availability of models of comparative subjects.

It quickly became apparent that to try to achieve die cast levels of detail within the limitations of domestic model making would be too time consuming. Therefore the idea of capturing just the raw shape of the car was born.

As the body started to take shape, the wheels were the next problem. Proprietary wheels would not fit with the simplistic approach of the body. So, the wheels and tyres had to follow the same simplistic approach. The wheels and tyres should be made as separate parts, the wheel centres being simplified to the swept shape of the wheel while the tyres were reduced to simple rings to an appropriate section.

The Company

The Essence Of The Car is a low key operation. All of the master models are made in house by hand. When those are complete, the necessary moulds are made, again in house, and any production can begin. All of the models are then finished by hand.

Whilst the process has its limitations, it is being continually developed to widen the scope of subjects that can be modelled. Examples developed so far include thin sections such as tail fins, open pickup truck bodies and separate chassis and axle detail where these are an important part of 'The Essence Of The Car'.

The catalogue will always give some indication of models in the pipeline, but the simplicity of the process means that requests for a planned subject will determine its place in the development queue. Similarly, new model ideas can be responded to, even to the extent of fitting in the odd special order.