VTEC Really Kicked In, Yo: Honda Civic Type-R Laps The ‘Ring In 7:50:63


VTEC Really Kicked In, Yo: Honda Civic Type-R Laps The ‘Ring In 7:50:63

One of my automotive mantras is “Fast is simply fast.” It doesn’t matter what you’ve got, how you have it set up or what it looks like: if it hauls ass properly, I’m a fan. With that being said, I’ve had a stockpile of Honda jokes for decades. I never bought into the “fast Honda” thing, mostly because the honestly fast Civics, Accords and CRXs were hard to find, while a veritable flood of “Pimp My Ride” refugees with grapefruit-launcher exhausts and crappy body kits roamed the landscapes filled with drivers hopped up on Red Bull who would squawk “Power to Weight!” like Blackbeard’s parrot and refused to listen to anybody’s argument otherwise while missing third gear at the strip. So, unless I had actually seen the car move for my own belief, I refused to accept the concept of a fast Honda that wasn’t an NSX.

And now, I have a nice, warm plate of crow to eat. This video shows a preproduction Honda Civic Type-R ripping the Nurburgring a new one. According to Honda, the tune is in line with a production car, and while this particular mule didn’t have air conditioning, a passenger set or a sound system, the weight of the roll cage at least offset the loss, if not was heavier. The top speed? 270 k/mh…167 miles an hour. That 7:50 lap time? That’s comparable with a Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 and would be an absolute threat to a Nissan GT-R. Honda has already came out and said that they will send a production car to the ‘Ring to validate the number. We’ll be watching.


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8 thoughts on “VTEC Really Kicked In, Yo: Honda Civic Type-R Laps The ‘Ring In 7:50:63

  1. Nick D.

    The times and output numbers are certainly impressive, but I’m not a fan of the weight, MacPherson strut chassis and questionable styling. I would much rather have the original EK9-chassis Civic Type R with cleaner styling, light curb weight, screaming N/A B16B power and double-wishbone suspension.

    1. mooseface

      Yeah, the move th MacPherson struts was a weird one, because the Civic two generations ago had a really nice suspension setup that could handle well with minimal work. That’s kind of Honda’s thing though: introduce a boring product, make it really cool mid-generation with some weirdo skunkworks upgrades, then take away the cool parts with the next generation. I can never figure out their game.

      1. Nick D.

        Yeah, the EF, EG and EK chassis Civics, as well as the Integras, Accords, Preludes and Legends all had excellent double-wishbone suspensions. I owned a ’90 Legend and that car handled like you wouldn’t believe. I long for the days of Old Honda, with screaming 9000rpm N/A motors, close-ratio gear boxes and low curb weights. New Honda is very boring and bland

        1. mooseface

          I feel much the same way. I’m a huge Toyota nerd and I keep wondering where all the fire went. I feel like both Honda and Toyota have grown content resting on their laurels and aren’t really innovating anymore.

          1. Nick D.

            Yeah, Toyota lost their way big time. What happened to all the fun cars, the Celicas (Of FWD, RWD and AWD designs) and Supras and MR2s and Corolla GT-S and Starlets and Cressidas? What happened to the 3S-GTE BEAMS and 1JZs and 2JZs and 2ZZs? Now it’s just a wave of bland soulless commuter cars, except for the FR-S (And that light is about to be extinguished soon due to flagging sales)

          2. mooseface

            The thing I feel is lacking most of all from contemporary Toyota is their almost ritualized simplicity.
            I grew up a Chevy guy, my Uncle was a mechanic who was a Chevy guy I hated all things foreign. Somehow the Land Cruiser bug bit me hard, and I ended up with one, and it was weird: maintenance work was easy, service parts were reachable, seams were stout and frame rails gusseted. It was so honest and unapologetic in its simplicity, it never pretended to be anything and never offered much in the way of creature comforts, but it was just so real and tangible.
            The same goes for my current truck, an ’83 Hilux, it’s honest to the point of brutality, but dead-nuts simple. It’s like a faithful old dog that’s far from being very bright but incredibly long on love.
            Where did that go?

          1. mooseface

            That was a weird era for Mitsu. They began so strong and then somehow just lost it all.
            Mitsubishi deserves a major renaissance!

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