While most of the world's media was testing the
Golf GTI Clubsport S
is at the Nurburgring last week, a few - including PH - were at the Hungaroring for Honda's latest record effort with its Type R nemesis. Yes, apparently spurred on by what they achieved on the Nordschleife - and absolutely nothing to do with having that record taken from them - Honda has used the
Civic Type R
to set five new front-wheel drive lap records.
We'll get to the exact implications of the times in a moment, but it's worth confirming the details first. Along with the Hungaroring, the Civic Type R was timed at Monza, Estoril, Spa and the Silverstone GP circuit. The drivers were picked from Honda's BTCC and WTCC line up, with Brits Matt Neal and Rob Huff taking on the Silverstone and Spa laps respectively. WTCC driver Norbert Michelisz set both the Hungaroring and Monza times - full interview with him to follow - with Estoril duty left to Portuguese Bruno Correia.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's quite hard to find any FWD records for those circuits. It's worth pointing out though that all the times were set with a production Type R, as opposed to the rather rapid pre-prod car used at the 'ring. Still, the Civic has proved itself as a really capable hot hatch in subsequent real-world testing, so these times should be more representative than the Nurburgring car.
Ready for the numbers? The Silverstone lap was 2:31.8, at Spa it was 2:56.9, Monza 2:15.1, a 2:04.1 at Estoril and the Hungaroring lap a 2:10.8. It's hard to properly contextualise those numbers without comparable times from similar cars, but certainly going under three minutes at Spa looks impressive. Having done a few sluggish laps in Hungary with the current car, that 2:10 looks like a fair achievement too.
... to Spa. They've been busy!
Honda says the aim with these laps is to "assert Type R as the leading front-wheel drive performance hatchback"; when questioned on the possibility of a Nurburgring return, European PR boss John Kingston said "Who's to say we won't go back and have another go?". Whatever happens, it's clear that this FWD circuit supremacy race isn't over. Will VW aim to beat Honda, or is it content with the 'ring record? Could it perhaps give
SEAT
the freedom to re-establish some track kudos? Then of course there's the
Renaultsport
With a third of the FK2 Civic Type Rs produced finding homes in Britain, it would appear the new car doesn't require any help with sales over here. But is it a worthwhile activity? Would prospective buyers now be more inclined to buy a Civic over a Leon, a Golf or a Megane? It's always a popular talking point, after all! Over to you...
Estoril
Hungaroring
Monza
Silverstone
Spa