Honda is getting ready to welcome a new Civic Type R to Australia, but there’s still some life left in the old girl.
The FK8 Civic Type R Limited Edition has broken the production front-wheel drive lap record at the The Bend in South Australia not once, but twice.
First up was a regular 2020 Civic Type R, which lapped the International Circuit in 2 minutes 13.251 seconds. That’s just over a second faster than the previous record, held by the Renault Megane RS Trophy-R.
Next came the Type R Limited Edition. Just 20 were brought to Australia, priced at $70,000 drive-away and sold using a lottery system. Honda kept one car, with the serial number AUS-001, for promotional purposes.
Compared to the regular Civic Type R, the Limited Edition rides on 20-inch BBS forged alloy wheels, which help shave 10kg from the car’s kerb weight. They’re wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres.
The new rolling stock works with a revised steering setup, and reworked dampers that evaluate road conditions faster for “better handling response and ride quality”.
Thanks to the changes, the Limited Edition shaved another second from the regular car’s lap time, stopping the clock at 2:12.260.
“Our team were confident the regular production Civic Type R could beat the existing lap record at The
Bend for a front-wheel drive road car and then go even quicker again in the Civic Type R Limited Edition to
set a new record lap time,” said Honda Australia director, Stephen Collins.
“We were really keen to find another opportunity to take on the time attack challenge as a fitting farewell
to this generation of Civic Type R, as it really closed the loop on what has been a hugely successful five year
run for the car, bookended by lap record achievements.”
Honda made a big deal of the previous-generation Civic Type R’s prowess on track at launch, embarking on a quest to beat the lap records at five well-known circuits around Europe.
It looks likely to do the same with the 2023 model, which will potentially touch down in Australia late this year.
The winged, widened Civic Type R has been snapped a few times at the Nurburgring, both on the surrounding roads and on the track.
In 2017, the previous-generation Civic Type R toppled the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S for the front-drive lap record with a 7:43.8 lap of the Nordschleife in its “final phase of testing”.
MORE: Everything Honda Civic
