Racing at ‘Rock to Road’

By |  March 17, 2017

We often hear stories of interesting quarry reclamation projects, and one of the most interesting of late comes out of Europe. It was in Sweden where Volvo Construction Equipment and one of its dealers converted a quarry into an automobile-racing arena for the 2017 World Rally Championship (WRC).

The WRC spans 13 races on four continents, including North America. Rally Sweden – the only winter race on the circuit – is the largest annual event in the country, according to Volvo. The three-day rally attracts more than 200,000 spectators and nearly 100 million television viewers worldwide.

To provide onlookers with an awe-inspiring view of the race, there are four arenas located at key points along the route. This year, Rally Sweden enlisted the help of Volvo Construction Equipment dealer Swecon to construct its headline arena, Road to Rock, inside a rock quarry.

When Rally Sweden announced its decision to convert the Torsby quarry into a permanent arena, Swecon saw it as an opportunity to integrate the aggregate industry with an impressive sport in an organic way. “[It] was too good to pass up, according to Fredrik Rigö, market communications manager for Swecon.

In the fall of last year, the company began removing shot rock, and by this winter it was ready for racing. Swecon provided a fleet of Volvo excavators to create the track, including an EC160E, EC220E, EC250E, as well as an L150G wheel loader and an A35D articulated hauler to carry away the burden. The center of the quarry was transformed into a VIP area.

The reclaimed quarry is now a permanent stadium.

We’d love to hear about your interesting reclamation projects, so send us a line and a couple of photos.

This article is tagged with , , and posted in Editors' Blog

About the Author:

Darren Constantino is an editor of Pit & Quarry magazine. He can be reached at dconstantino@northcoastmedia.net.

Comments are closed