As one of the most popular cars for many decades the Honda Civic has always been a fan favorite and a true attention getter. As one of the most popular tuner cars in history and a car the shows up with huge performance in a sport-centric design the Civic has been a car we all want and can buy to have a fun and engaging drive during our daily commutes. This car shows up with enough sport to make us feel it’s not a sedan but also enough sedan to let us know it’s for the whole family, offering great balance.
At the top of the performance spectrum for the Honda Civic rests the Civic Type-R hatchback. With this body type and the amazing power under the hood this car is made to be the best Civic in the lineup when it comes to handling, suspension, power and simply overall performance. This is the Civic you take to the track and the one that will give you a feeling of crazy fun from behind the wheel, but it has a true purpose in life other than to be the most fun Civic in the lineup for you to enjoy.
That single purpose was to have the fastest time in a front-wheel drive hatchback around the Nurburgring Nordschleife and it certainly was able to achieve that feat. The Civic Type- R hatchback ran the loop as a prototype in 7 minutes 50.63 seconds which is the new record that was set nearly a year ago. Even though the lap was accomplished in a prototype, the setup for the car now that will be offered at dealers later in the year is the same one that was aboard the prototype that day. The only differences between that car and one you will see on the Honda lots is the air conditioning was removed for this run but the roll cage had to be installed. Strangely, or maybe on purpose, the way the roll cage was installed was not meant to improve the rigidity of the car because it was attached via rubber blocks.
So now the question is what will happen if another car breaks this record. According to Honda, if that happens they will simply have to take back their record. You would think the car would be as awesome as you can make it but Honda confirms there are still some adjustments that can be made such as losing another 120 pounds of weight and adding 20 horsepower. This would be the only option as the Honda team has stated this car cannot be driven any faster making car modifications a necessity.
Since Honda is hell bent on keeping this record it’s now time for someone else to step up and take this lap faster in a front-wheel drive hatchback if for no other reason so we can see exactly how Honda will upgrade the already amazing Honda Civic Type R to find a way to regain the lap record. Until that time comes, we can all just enjoy how amazing this car really is and appreciate the same car that made this record lap is the one we can buy at our Honda dealers.
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