The Tegiwa Type-R Trophy proves that low cost need not be synonymous with low performance when it comes to motorsport. We know the 200hp EP3 Civic to be a capable machine out of the box, and in stripped-out and tuned-up race trim, I can now confirm it's properly rapid. Moreover, thanks to the tight regulations of the 750 Motor Club's Honda series, someone handy with spanners can build one and rock up to a race for as little as £6,000. And yes, that's including the donor car.
For track day drivers looking to compete or existing racers wanting maximum excitement for minimal costs, the Type-R Trophy has to be one of the most compelling options out there. Once a driver has paid £115 in 750MC membership and registration fees, it costs as little as £250 to enter a double header race day. Sure, with a 20min qualifying session and two 15min sprints, you're getting less circuit time. But as anyone who's competed will tell you, there's simply nothing like the rush of going racing. Let alone in a field of 8,000rpm hot hatches.
PH knows that feeling well, most recently from the EnduroKA championship that we're contesting in for 2020. But the Type-R Trophy is obviously different from the acclaimed endurance series, because it is exclusively for standing start sprint races and features cars capable of reaching 120mph at the end of Brands' short straight. Where the EnduroKA championship rewards consistency and team strategy, the Type-R series requires balls-out speed and commitment. Even when the heavens open and it's your first go.
Knowing how high the standard of racing in one-make series like the Type-R Trophy can be, I did sneak in 30 mins of practice on the Friday before Saturday's double header at Brands. But the session's weather was hot and dry; come the weekend the sky was thick with clouds and the track was sodden. Semi slick Nankangs were swapped for treaded boots and Paddock Hill bend went from a brake-turn-floor-it to a brake-panic-clench. I was grateful that car number four had been setup to be 'forgiving', put it that way.
Thanks to the minimal mods applied to each Type-R Trophy car, though, the race EP3 is brilliantly approachable. Some of the cars in the field are salvage Civics, fitted with replacement engines, but all use the 2.0-litre K20 with only intake, exhaust and sump baffle mods. They get coilovers and a roll cage, and other motorsport bits like a race seat and harnesses, as well as a maintenance-free MFactory helical limited-slip differential to work with the standard six-speed gearbox. But other than that, the setup for each of the twelve cars (the grid has shrunk due to coronavirus) to race on Saturday was familiar.
This is probably reflected in the fact that I managed to qualify with the third quickest time; the car is just so approachable that a newbie can utilise previous experience of Brands in the rain once up to speed. But with some serious drivers in the field, including longstanding CJon Peerless and Dan Thackeray (who's raced in the VW Cup GB no less) faint hopes of a podium finish in race one were swiftly dashed. Before Paddock Hill Bend, to be exact. Put simply, I fluffed the standing start, assuming that the K20's high-end delivery of power would require a few thousand revs off the line. That's a rookie error, of course, because on a greasy surface it just equates to lots of wheel-spinning. I was sixth before the end of the straight. By the end of the first lap there was a clear gap to the leaders.
At least this provided ample opportunity for further experimentation. The Type-R Trophy Civic, with its minimal mods, never feels anything less than fast at Brands. The engine note and volume change significantly when the VTEC comes into play, with that famed high pitched K20 intake roar now completely unfiltered. Out of Clark Curve, once the fronts hook up, the EP3 explodes towarredline, so you're forced to quickly kick the clutch and grab fourth on that high-mounted gear lever as the diff juggles the load across the axle. It's genuinely exciting stuff.
Paddock Hill Bend is obviously daunting as hell with the wiper going to clear spray from the pack ahead. Braking in these conditions lasts for a couple of seconds; drop to third and chase the throttle once the car's rotating from a late turn in. Get back on the power too late and the rear will come around, but - as evidenced by a couple cars ahead - it's nothing that can't be saved with some FWD touring car full throttle saves. I don't try replicating it. The diff does wonderful things out of Druids, so the K20 ends up screaming down the hill towards Graham Hill Bend, where the car prefers a wider, 'wet line' approach to avoid the slippery inside.
The following left-right of Surtees is wonderful to attack at speed. Scary, too, but so exciting as the car wiggles and hops over the kerbs on the left and runs towards those on the right. And then it's another wet line approach through Clark Curve, so you're able to open the throttle more as the circuit cambers to the right onto the straight. That being said, I overwork the fronts as later into the race getting a clean exit from this bend becomes harder and harder. As a result, I end up coming home in fifth, and only because a driver ahead half spins in the race's closing stages.
The following race yields the same result, but in totally different circumstances. Thanks to slightly improved pace and growing confidence, it's with a much closer-fought battle (see the half-lap fight from 3:06 and a failed do-or-die move at 13:30 in the video below). The Civic's explosiveness, the small field and the genuine pace of these race-prepped EP3s mean the fun factor is off the scale. And I was only fighting for fifth. Thanks to the low budget priorities of the series, the racing's cheap, clean and the cars are said to be highly reliable. Case and point: Jon, who kindly provided us with the seat for the Brands day, is to enter the car we used into an endurance race later this month. Barring an oil change and check over, it is said to require no additional maintenance.
There are other ways to get out racing in a similar vein, of course, with 750MC's own Clio 182 series - which also contested at Brands on Saturday - the nearest relative. Really it's a matter of preference for which series a driver might choose; but I can confirm that those who choose to go down the Civic Type-R Trophy route will never want for excitement. Memory of the weekend will live with me for sometime. Long enough to sustain at least half a dozen trips to the EP3 section of the classifieds at any rate...
[Photography by Jon Elsey]
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