Proving it’s more than just safe station wagons, Swedish car company Volvo->ke188 is entering one of Australia’s toughest races, the V8 Supercar Series with its highly modified S60 sedan.

As Volvo teased earlier this week, the S60 is powered by a monstrous 5.0-liter V-8 kicking out 650 naturally aspirated horses and 487 pound-feet of tire-shredding torque. The result is a zero to 62 mph time of only 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 185 mph. The engine was developed by the famous Volvo tuner Polestar from Volvo’s existing 4.4-liter V-8 found in the S80->ke394 and XC90->ke3145. Polestar modified the aluminum block and bolted on new aluminum heads to help achieve a 10:1 compression ratio while eight individual throttle bodies carry E85 fuel to the cylinders.

Today the Volvo race team showed off their S60 racer for the first time by driving it across Australia’s most famous bridge and holding a press conference in its shadow. On Saturday, the team to hit the track at the Sydney Motorsport Park in a shakedown day before competing in the Clipsal 500 on March 1st though 2nd.

Click past the jump to read more about the standard Volvo S60.

2014 Volvo S60 V8 Supercar

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 2014 Volvo S60 V8 Supercar
  • Engine/Motor: V8
  • Horsepower: 650
  • Torque: 487
  • [do not use] Vehicle Model: Array

Volvo S60

The Volvo S60 received a facelift for 2014 with a new hood, front fenders, a widened grille, new headlights and a wider lower front fascia. New LED taillights and integrated exhaust pipes are new out back.

The S60 is powered by two different engines, one of which has two separate outputs. The base 2.5-liter inline five cylinder produces 250 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque that’s sent to either the front wheels or to all four wheels in AWD models. The 3.0-liter turbocharged inline six makes an even 300 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque, and AWD is standard. Volvo’s S60 R-Design is still powered by the 3.0-liter turbo I-6, but it gets a modest bump in power to 325 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque.

Prices for the S60 start at $32,400 for the T5 and rise to $45,700 for an AWD T6 in R-Design Platinum trim.