Innsbruck

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Friday – Team Volvo On Ice

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Jeremy Our XC60 is returning 44mpg and the company’s new V60 diesel hybrid can up that to 150+mpg but there’s one Volvo that goes even better than that. The Team Volvo bobsleigh needs no fuel and is emission free – provided you are heading downhill on ice that is.

 

Today we took our first look at the daunting Igls bobsleigh track in Innsbruck – 1217 metres, 14 bends and a lot of testosterone. The British Bobsleigh Championships start on Saturday and Team Volvo clocked up a decent 56.04 seconds on the second of two runs. It means we qualify for the main event tomorrow with seven or eight other entries.

 

Hurtling down a tube of ice at 78mph is obviously an assault on the senses. Sitting back in my hotel room, I’m aching in places I didn’t know I had. Tomorrow it will be hard to crawl out of bed for the main event but the camaraderie in this sport is incredible. Jessica will be disappointed to be missing all that Lycra but at least the spiked running shoes are uber cool…

 

 

 

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Thursday – Swapping the XC60 For A Bobsleigh

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Jeremy This isn’t some new dealer incentive but a chance to go very fast down an icy tube with my eyes shut. Volvo has invited Car Couture to take part in the British Bobsleigh Championships in Innsbruck this weekend. Jessica was suddenly ‘otherwise engaged’ and so I’m scribbling this from Gatwick Airport. Hopefully, I won’t do a John Noakes flip the thing over – but I’m pretty sure I will have my eyes shut. Volvo sponsors British bobsleighing and, at the moment, the UK No. 1 team is fifth in the world.

The XC60 has just averaged 47mpg on the run down from Wiltshire, which I think is more than respectable for an SUV. And those blind spot warning lights on the doors are proving very useful – especially with kamikaze courier motorcyclists on the M25. Now Saab is no more, I’m also give my ‘Most Comfortable Seat’ award to the R-Design set in our XC60. Let’s hope the bobsleigh is equally as relaxing…