Honda Civic Type R Sets FWD Nürburgring Record

It is the year for breaking records at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, it seems. The Lamborghini Huracan Performante now holds the distinction of setting the quickest lap time for a production car. Now, Honda has claimed that the Civic Type is the quickest Front-Wheel-Drive car to complete the lap - beating the previous record set by the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S.

With a time of 7:43.8, the Honda Civic Type R is over five seconds quicker around the 'Green Hell' than the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S and nearly seven seconds faster than the previous Civic Type R. 

As ever, there could be controversy around this lap time. The car used by Honda was not exactly a production-spec model; Honda claims it is “technically representative of production specification” with a safety-enhancing roll-cage which does not affect torsional rigidity. Honda also removed the multimedia system and the rear seats to compensate for the added weight of the roll-cage.

The Honda Civic Type R is another unicorn car that most Indians will never see/hear/touch. The Type R badge is placed on a Honda car when it is the ideal track performance machine - the Civic Type R has been setting hearts on fire since 1997!

The Civic Type R is a part of legend; featuring prominently in many racing games and being hailed by motoring magazines/blogs/TV shows/online videos as one of the best hot hatches ever.

The 5th generation Civic Type R was unveiled to the world at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show - heavily modified inside out. Unlike many of its competition which have moved to all-wheel-drive, the Civic Type R remains a front-wheel-drive car. Also, no fancy automatic transmission is available to help you go faster - this comes with a 6-speed manual transmission.

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Chassis rigidity has been improved by 40 per cent, claims Honda, with major modifications to the springs, dampers, bushings, steering system, along with an entirely new front suspension, new limited-slip differential, bigger brakes, bigger wheels and tyres etc. A 16kg decrease in overall weight and better stability due to improved aerodynamics meant the new Civic Type R could go around one of the corners on the track at 150kmph, which is 10kmph faster than the previous Civic Type R!

The Civic Type R is powered by a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder turbocharged petrol motor developing 310PS of maximum power and 400Nm of peak torque sent through a 6-speed manual transmission to the front wheels.