Honda Ireland recently ran an event giving its customers and retailers a chance to experience the range-topping Civic Type R at Mondello Park in Kildare. When we received the call to attend the day we were immensely excited, as it would be our first chance to try it out on the race track!
The morning began with a fun warm up event where the aim was to navigate a tight course of cones as quickly as possible. Each person took a few turns around the course in a rear wheel drive Honda S2000, and as it was wet, there were chances to drift sideways, spin around and lots of cones knocked over in the process! Mondello Park’s instructors offered excellent advice on the quickest way to get around the course and everyone had a Cheshire cat grin on their face each time they stepped out of the car.
Now it was time to progress to the track. Honda had brought along two new 1.6 i-DTEC diesel Civics, which gave everyone a chance to get to grips with the circuit and conditions before progressing into Type R. Despite being much less powerful, the 1.6 diesel Civic was rather impressive to drive on track, as it cornered easily around the tightest turns and the engine was torquey enough that many left the car in third gear the whole way around the circuit! While it was not as track-focused as the daddy Type R, we were suitably impressed with how well it coped on track.
Now it was time for the main event. Honda had brought along three different Civic Type Rs and they certainly looked right at home in the pit lane surrounds of Mondello! We had only driven the standard diesel Civic a few minutes earlier, but there was no comparison as we stepped into the Civic Type R driving seat for the first time. With a sublime sound from the 2.0-litre turbocharged VTEC engine and a slick six speed gearbox, it accelerated aggressively out of the pit lane and glided through the first series of turns. With standard features like a mechanical limited slip differential, adaptive dampers and huge 350mm Brembo brake discs up front, the Type R is more at home on the race track than any other front wheel drive on the market.
Despite the fact that there was so much power on tap, the Type R is hugely confidence-inspiring to drive, even for those who didn’t have previous track experience. Each lap we got progressively faster and even had an opportunity to properly test the +R button, which stiffens the steering and dampers, relaxes the stability control and adjusts the throttle mapping for an even more track-focused driving experience.
It is now easy to see why the Civic Type R has been crowned the world’s fastest front wheel drive production car around the Nurburgring; everything about it from the handling, to the engine, to the slick gearbox and aggressive styling makes it the perfect package for a great day on track. Faster than ever before, sharper than ever before and even more fun to drive, being at the wheel of the new Civic Type R in Mondello Park is an experience we won’t forget!
Car Details:
Model driven: Honda Civic Type R
Prices from: €48,750
Power Output: 306bhp
Torque: 400Nm
Engine: 1996cc four-cylinder petrol
Transmission: 6-Speed Manual
Body style: 5-Door Hatchback
Top Speed: 270km/h
0-100km/h: 5.5 seconds