Cover story: Honda Civic Type R

All these wings,
flaps, vents,
creases, folds,
bulges, splitters…
they all have a
purpose. That
purpose being
to monster the
Nürburgring
Think of the
new Civic Type
RÕs spec as an
equation to
generate the
front-drive
NŸrburgring lap
record.
The 2.0-litre turbocharged engine
makes 306bhp and 295lb ft, enough to hit 167mph at the
end of the Döttinger Höhe straight. The helical limited-slip
differential slashes five seconds from the time. Adaptive
dampers provide control whether you’re flying at Flugpatz or
braking hard into Bergwerk. An aerodynamically optimised
body with a nearly flat underfloor sucks the Civic to the
ground at high speed. There are 19-inch alloy wheels and bespoke
Continental Sport Contact 6 tyres, four-piston Brembo
front brakes with 350mm drilled discs, Dual Axis Strut front
suspension… All of it feeds into the Honda calculator to
produce an answer of 7min 50.63sec, the current front-wheeldrive
lap record (as we go to press, at least!).
Project leader Hisayuki Yagi makes no bones about this
being the number-one target throughout development. Not
ride quality, not steering feel, not throttle response. He just
wanted to be fastest. And, he says, there’s more to come: if
someone beats the record with a sensible, useable car, he’ll
respond, and Honda UK might have a special edition to punt.
There’s a risk, of course, that this willy-waving could result
in a car that’s as suited to real roads as a jet-powered shopping
trolley. So we’re giving the Type R our own challenge. I’ll get
a day to download Yagi, drive the car on the road, and test its
trackday-credentials on the Slovakia Ring (I know, wrong
country, wrong circuit, sorry). Meanwhile, a few pages down
the road you’ll find Steve Moody and the CAR road-test team
in Wales with the Type R and two key rivals. The hardcore
Renault Megane Trophy-R will put the Civic’s turbonutterbastard
credentials under the microscope like a schoolkid
with a worm, a hot day and a twisted sense of humour. The
Golf GTI is also on hand, because if the Type R is severely
compromised by its track-focus, nothing will expose it like the
polished Volkswagen. There’ll be no stopwatches in Wales;
we’re interested in which car is most enjoyable drive.
Arriving at the press launch, Honda has the last-generation
Civic Type R on hand for us to pore over. It looks small, still
modern, strikingly unadorned – quite a contrast to the new
car. Every bit of aero addenda is said to be functional and
positioned with millimetric accuracy, but it does look like
someone’s let the Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Donkey kids into the
garage with superglue and an Airfix kit. Bits are stuck all over
the shop.
Those red highlights on the leading edge of the splitter are
also key, not for laptime, but for bragging rights. It tells the
world we’ve got the top-spec GT. It adds £2300 to the £29,995
sticker, but also auto lights and wipers, parking sensors,
CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | July 2015
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