Before assembly at J.A.S, the Civic TCR racer starts life alongside its road-going cousin in the United Kingdom. This is the only step in the production process where the two cars share the same location. Honda assembles the car’s frame and adds a coat of primer, then sends a small allotment to Italy, where they start their journey of becoming race cars. Successful on the track and revered by driving enthusiasts around the world, the Type R is the pinnacle of Honda factory performance.
It doesn’t aurally rev out, so the shift lights are key informers of when to pull the right paddle for a rifle-like upshift. Braking is slightly tricky, as the pedal placement is very much set up for left-foot use—not my preferred method. There’s no traction or stability control but wheel spin is only a concern in that tight, first-gear hairpin. Thankfully, torque steer is minimal, and throttle modulation combined with a bang into second gear as the revs quickly rise easily sorts things out. It’s not a wicked-fast car, but it loves to be thrown into a corner and grip is excellent as the slicks warm up. As I inspect the Civic TCR in the paddock, it’s even clearer that this is no mildly modified street car.
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Honda Performance Development turns the awesome Civic Type R into a real-deal race car. Of course, the highly connected modern electronic systems in the Civic were probably the toughest part of the build. Sometimes they would take something out, like the active dampers, and the car would freak out as there was nothing getting plugged back into that place.
It’s a progressive slide, and a quick grab of countersteer through the feelsome steering corrects my trajectory and combines with the weight transfer to allow me to power out of the corner quickly and smoothly. Front-wheel-drive performance of this caliber is a new experience for me, and it’s made immediately clear this factory Honda is a 100 percent, full-on race car. “With the introduction of the new Type R TC-class race car, we now offer a complete lineup of turn-key, Civic-based race cars for registered racing customers in North America.” Reinforcements have also been applied to the factory six-speed manual transaxle. HPD engineers developed and tested the Civic Type R TC race car in-house, drawing on experience gained from production car and race vehicle engineering, including development of the HPD Civic Si TCA race car.
Civic Type R Honda Customer Racing Study 2018 Version Frankfurt Motor Show Exhibit Car
The new 1.5-way limited-slip diff locks in power to both wheels on acceleration and partially locks the car’s two wheels together on deceleration to use more of the car’s power when they need it. As I hand the Civic Type R TCR back to Lamb and the ATL Speedwerks team unscathed, I can’t stop grinning. I’ve driven many factory race cars over the years, most of which were noticeably faster than this Honda. But there’s something about the approachability of a properly set up front-wheel-drive race car combined with tight M1 Concourse track that makes this experience particularly memorable.
He then talks through the starting procedure and the stiffly mounted inline-four ignites with just the right amount of drama to let you know it’s serious. I dip the clutch with my left foot, thumb the white steering wheel-mounted button for neutral and select first gear via a steering-wheel-mounted paddle. The long-travel throttle and grabby JAS twin-disc racing clutch means pulling away is a touch tricky, but I don’t stall the raspy engine.
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He calls the 6-speed manual a “superb gearbox, one of the best I’ve ever used.” Heck, he even calls the seats “comfortable” and hilariously waxes poetic about its rear cargo space and legroom. That’s also why the car Team HMA is developing for the series is so interesting. It’s not a one-off franken-race car where the mods are top-secret bespoke components you can’t have.
Its five-door wide body is reinforced by an MSA-Certified welded roll cage. Some cars wear you out after a few laps because you’re working so hard to get the most out of it while keeping it out of the wall. You can drive it on the edge all day long without breaking a sweat. Finding time in your laps comes down to fine-tuning your lines and braking points. They also plan on getting a new carbon fiber main plane for the rear wing, as the one they were using this weekend was taken off the Accord—and still had the attachment points for the Accord hanging there.
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Surprisingly, you don’t need to be a pro race-car driver or have a giant team behind you to experience the Civic Type R TCR. HPD is happy to sell you one. Oh, and the spares package is helpful, adding a further $21,402. I told you this was a proper race car, and racing’s never cheap. It’s almost always worth it, however—just make sure to get your Type R TCR’s front diff set up correctly. Honda World Racing will be its first customer for the new Honda Civic Type R TC, entering two cars in the 2020 SRO TC Americas series competition. Honda World Racing campaigned three Civic Type R TCR race cars in IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge in 2019 and will again in 2020.
Road cars, however, are always going to be a bit of a compromise. Nice track suspension is usually too stiff for bad potholes, for example. Other parts, such as the cross-drilled rotors that come stock on the Type R, aren’t made to withstand the extra heat, wear and tear of a whole race’s worth of laps.
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In much the same way the strategically lightened Civic Type R Limited Edition feels quicker and more planted than a standard Civic Type R Touring, the Type R TC feels like the next rung up the performance ladder. Not to be outdone so early in the Civic’s life, Honda has fought back with this, the Civic Type R Customer Racing Study. Now, we immediately started daydreaming of a slightly costlier Type R that swapped the rear seats for a cage, the front seats for FIA-compliant harnesses buckets and the slick manual gearbox for a particularly violent sequential transmission. Of a one-make series that sounded like Darth Vadar stuck in a tumble drier and with flamboyant two-wheeling at every kerb.
Customers get trackside engineering assistance and parts support during events. There’s also a technical support line to let owners consult with engineers when not competing. In addition to his expertise writing about cars, trucks, motorcycles, and every other type of automobile, Brett had spent several years running parts for local auto dealerships.
Real Drive Honda Civic Type R Customer Racing Study
The good thing about being based in Alabama is that Barber Motorsports Park is right there. To get an idea of what they needed to do, Team HMA brought an ex-media car Type R to the track to see what it could do, and what needed to be improved. HMA had been looking for something new after running their Accord in Pirelli World Challenge for the past three years. The fact that everyone on the team works for Honda put them at an advantage when it came to developing race parts for the Type R.
Looking at the list of past driver’s championship winners reveals the Subaru Levorg took first in 2017, and a Chevrolet Cruze won in 2010. The Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro finished first in 1965 and 1973, respectively. Each Civic Type R goes through a 300-hour transformation process in an Italian factory to become a TCR. All information contained herein applies to U.S. vehicles only. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
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A coilover suspension, 18-inch lightweight wheels, and six-piston front and two-piston rear brake calipers round out the mechanical upgrades. All these bits are underneath a much wider car thanks to the composite body kit. The car also looks more aggressive thanks to its large adjustable front splitter. The TCR’s interior goes through a significant lightweighting process, negating most of the sound deadening found in the road car. There’s a huge roll cage, one composite racing seat, and a quick-release racing-spec steering wheel. The street car’s gauge cluster gets traded out for a multi-function display that rests right above the steering column.
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Beyond that, the folks at J.A.S drastically alter the Civic to race, in a process that typically takes about 12 days to complete. A J.A.S. representative says the factory has produced up to eight examples of the TCR in one month, but their preference is to build between three and six in that timeframe to keep quality control high. From the initial assembly phase to the final shakedown run, the TCR gets over 300 hours of attention from engineers before completion, customizing the car depending on customer needs.
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