Does Honda Civic Type R Fight Back for Its Lost Crown?

Back in April 2017, Honda Civic Type R went to Nurburgring racetrack in Germany and set an astonishing time of 7m43s8”. It was stupid fast for a front-wheel-drive car. It was faster than a Pagani Zonda S 7.3 or an Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

The record for a front-wheel-drive car lasted for two years. In April 2019, Renault Megane RS Trophy-R smashed the record by 3 seconds and put out 7m40.100”, which is about as fast as a Bugatti Veyron and faster than Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera LP570-4.

While the Japanese company used a stock Civic Type R, which could have been bought from any Honda showroom around the world, the French car-maker used a special edition that was lighter and more powerful than the stock version.

It is available on specific markets and only in 500 units. It is way more expensive than the base Megane R.S., and lighter by 130 kilos (286.6 lbs) than the standard vehicle as well. But it was within the rules of the game.

Honda had to swallow its tears and went back to the drawing board. A less powerful car killed their time by almost three seconds around the 20.83 km (12.9 miles).

In 2018, Honda launched the Type R Challenge, setting up lap-records on various racetracks such as Magny Cours (France), Spa Francorchamps (Belgium), Silverstone (U.K.), Estoril (Portugal), and Hungaroring (Hungary).

Fast forward to 2020. The health crisis turned the world upside down, but the Japanese carmaker was not on its knees anymore. It prepared the 2021 Civic Type R model and includde three special editions and, with one of them, tries to set new lap records this year.

The lightest one, which appears to be the version used for the lap-records, will be track-oriented. As soon as the green-lights for testing were lit on racetracks, they were there. In February, Honda announced that they would start selling a Civic Type R Limited Edition that will feature 20” forged BBS alloy wheels with Michelin Cup 2 Tyres.

The 100 units built for the European market will be offered in an exclusive new color, “Sunlight Yellow”. The Limited Edition will have 1,333 kg (2938 lbs) and the carmaker announced that it will have the same 320 hp as the standard Type R and it will do the 0 to 62 mph run in 5.7 seconds.