NEWS
Civic Type R headed for the 'Ring
Honda plans to take on current front-drive record holder at the NordschleifeThere’s a battle brewing in the hot hatch market, a face-off between France, Japan and Spain.
In the world of extreme hot hatches, the Renault Megane RS was king of front-wheel drive around the Nurburgring with a lap time of 8 minutes 7 seconds. That was until early March. Then the Seat Leon Cupra snatched the title away from Renault with a super-quick lap of 7 minutes 58 seconds. And now the Honda Civic Type R is knocking on the door and wants that crown. And from what we've seen and heard about this four-door bantamweight so far, it could well have the power and poise to dethrone the Leon Cupra.
In fact, one source close to Honda told us that during a secret 'time attack' session by Honda's engineers in September last year, the Type R clocked a blistering time of "around 7 minutes 56 seconds," just eclipsing the Leon Cupra, but that’s unofficial. Yet another source says we can expect "something under 7:55". The fact that we may not know the truth about this lap time for another year, until the Type R is launched, only adds to the intrigue.
Built by Honda in the UK, the current model bread and butter Civic went on sale in 2012 in Europe. But even before this model was launched, rumours flowed thick and fast about the potential of a Type R version in the pipeline. Those rumours proved spot on when we were given a few short laps in a Type R prototype in November last year.
That car packed a turbocharged 2.0 litre 4-cylinder VTEC powerplant pumping out something north of 280hp. Honda would not go into details about exact power output as it must match power to emissions, meaning that this car must pass the stringent Euro6 regulations due to take effect this year. But like a master chef giving his diners a brief taste test of a new dish, Honda engineers dangled the Type R's in front of us for an hour before hustling the prototypes away as quickly as they'd appeared, leaving us drooling for more. Admittedly the prototype we tested was a little rough around the edges, but its power and handling were stellar and proved to all who drove the car that Honda is well on the way to claiming that record Nurburgring lap time mentioned above.
At this juncture we feel we should try to put things into perspective. If the Type R has broken the eight-minute barrier, then that would make it faster than the Nissan Skyline (R33) GT-R's 8:01 of 1995, and equal the time of the 300hp 3.2 litre Honda NSX-R posted in 2002. How times have changed!
We need to get one thing straight here. When Honda started out creating the Type R, they had one mission. To be the quickest! And just to show how serious they were, Honda left that announcement up to none other than the company's president himself, Takanobu Ito.
"With the aim of launching the Type R in 2015, we are developing this car to break the record for the fastest lap time for a front-drive car."
If you are going to make such a bold claim then why not get the boss to do it? Makes sense.
To achieve that milestone, the Type R is undergoing special treatment. As we mentioned the Honda gets a 2.0-litre turbo producing 'over 280hp' and 400Nm. Up until recently we'd heard that the Type R would be fitted with a seven-speed DCT, but our source confirms that Honda engineers have opted for a tried and proven six-speed manual transmission.
But to enable it to challenge for the top time, it needs a chassis and suspension setup that can handle the g forces and suspension travel needed for the world's toughest track. Our source tells us that while the Type R will employ the current centre tank layout, it will incorporate a new suspension package that includes McPherson struts on the front and a radical new "interchangeable" setup on the rear that will allow the new base Civic to easily house hybrid and electric specifications as well as the standard petrol engine.
One other piece of technology to be found on the new Type R will be precision all-wheel steer (PWS), hardware found on the front-drive Acura RLX. This independently controls the toe angle of the rear wheels.
Inside the Type R will be fitted with a specially designed Momo steering wheel, reclining Recaro bucket seats and unique instrumentation. Expect to see the production version on the Honda stand at next March's Geneva Motor Show.
Now even if Honda does capture the crown for fastest front-wheel drive car around the 'Ring, there is another waiting in the wings to dethrone it. We are just hearing that Ford will be dropping a turbocharged 2.3-litre into the upcoming Focus RS, generating a mind-blowing 330hp. The plot thickens.
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Written byPeter Lyon
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
If the price does not contain the notation that it is "Drive Away", the price may not include additional costs, such as stamp duty and other government charges.
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