2008 - 2010 Volvo S60 Build
3R Automotive started building Volvo S60 World Challenge race cars for KPAX Racing in 2008. After receiving 4 "white body" S60 Volvos (chassis' with doors, roofs, trunk lids and hoods) directly from the assembly line in Sweden, 3R immediately went to work developing the wide body shape needed to accommodate 13" wide wheels. The goal was to make all the body shape modifications with the OEM metal body panels and then have "bucks" and molds made from the modified metal panels. Light weight carbon fiber panels were then produced from the molds. 3R took the custom carbon fiber panels and fit them to the roll cage reinforced chassis' and thus transformed the Volvo S60s into a highly evolved race cars.
2011 Volvo S60 Build
In 2010 KPAX Racing won the World Challenge GT Manufacturer's (Volvo) and Driver's Championship after 2 intense years of hard effort. Also during 2010 Volvo re-designed the Volvo S60 for model year 2011+ and it was decided that the KPAX Racing 2008 S60 Volvo race cars needed to incorporate the new styling for the 2011 World Challenge race season. So... after some agonizing delays and 11th hour decisions, 3R Automotive worked through the engineering, design and production of new body panels based on the 2011+ Volvo S60. Using a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and CAD design software on the S60 Chassis' 3R was able to acquire highly accurate 3D design data. This 3D design data allowed 3R and Volvo to develop the new 2011 S60 body panels entirely in CAD versus the hand fabrication method used to create the 2008 body work. While the carbon fiber panels where being made 3R adapted the S60 chassis', where needed, to receive the new body panels.
