It must be nice to have a race team in your back pocket ready to do your bidding. Honda has clearly been taking full advantage of its close working relationship with Team Dynamics recently, because it has just unveiled a Civic Type R built by the Droitwich-based firm at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire.
The one-off model is intended to showcase the potential of everyone's favourite front-drive hot hatch. To do this, the team has chucked a small pile of 'carefully selected' off-the-shelf components at the car.
Most notably, it has modified the ECU (Superchips), the induction system (ITG), intercooler (PWR, sports cat (Dream) and exhaust (Scorpion), yielding a claimed 25 per cent improvement in performance. That puts peak power at 400hp (or possibly 405hp if its reporting bhp) and 369lb ft of torque - 74lb ft more than standard.
We'd wager that the standard Civic chassis is man enough to accept those figures without too much undue fuss. But this is a multi-championship winning race team so of course it didn't stop there: the Team Dynamics Motorsport car also receiving Eibach Pro performance springs, adjustable anti-roll bars and rear camber arms. Not to mention Dunlop DZ03G track day tyres.
Throw in some braided Goodridge brake hoses and a set of 19-inch Pro-Race lightweight wheels and you've got yourself a Type R concept that even a BTCC team can be proud of. No word on performance figures yet or how much the project cost, but the result is fully road-legal and, while wider production is not planned, Team Dynamics will apparently build you one if you ask nicely.
Commenting on the new Civic, James Rodgers, team manager at Team Dynamics, said: "We're familiar with the race-winning FK8, however we wanted to showcase what can be extracted from the car with just a few light modifications. The standard car, which we call a race car for the road, is so competent that it really doesn't take much to take it to the next level."
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