Was Honda upset about Volkswagen breaking their record?
Records are broken all of the time, especially on the Nurburgring. Last year, the Honda Civic Type R ran the fastest lap ever for a front-wheel-drive car. A couple of months ago, the Volkswagen GTI Clubsport S went for the record and beat it, smashing the Type R’s record by more than a full second.
It looks like the team behind the Honda Civic Type R and not too happy about that because they have gone out and set front-wheel-drive speed records at five legendary European race tracks: Spa in Belgium, Monza in Italy, Silverstone in Great Britain, Estoril in Portugal and Hungaroring in Hungary.
Honda Civic Type R knocking down records
At Spa, Honda factory driver Rob Huff ran a 2:56.91. WTCC driver Norbert Michelizsz set the records at both Monza (2:15.16) and Hugarorong (2:10.85). Three-time British Touring Car Championship winner Matt Neal clocked a 2:44.45 while WTCC safety driver and former racer Bruno Correia drove Estoril in 2:04.08.
These track records are impressive, nonetheless since the Honda Civic Type R was a full production vehicle with no track tune done whatsoever. In contrast, the Volkswagen GTI Clubsport is a hardcore racer more or less designed for the track. It doesn’t have a backseat and features many other items that are associated more with racing than a production vehicle.
Knowing that there would be interest in Honda’s track records, they filmed video of everything and made them available online.
Hopefully, we will get the 2017 Honda Civic Type R in the United States.
