Civic Type R

Make
Honda
Segment
Hatchback

The Honda Civic Type R is already one of the most revered hot hatchbacks on the market, but Honda has taken it to a new extreme with the new Civic Type R TC customer race car. Engineered by Honda Performance Development, the Honda Civic Type R TC is available for Honda Racing Line members with racing licenses and is eligible to compete in the SRO TC Americas Touring Car competition and certain SCCA and NASA classes.

"The successes of Honda Racing Development's TCA Civic Si and TCR Type R in North American touring car championship series have generated a strong interest in more ready-to-race Honda Touring Cars for North America," said Ted Klaus, President of Honda Performance Development. "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."

Designed specifically for TC-class competition, the Civic Type R TC is based on the production Civic Type R and designed exclusively for track use. HPD engineers developed and tested the Civic Type R TC race car in-house using experience gained from the team's production car and race vehicle engineering, including development of the HPD Civic Si TCA race car.

Under the hood is the same 2.0-liter inline-4 engine as the standard road car tuned to produce between 270 and 330 horsepower depending on the series the driver will compete in. In stock form, this engine produces 306 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque in the road car.

Compared to the road car, the Civic Type R TC is modified with a slew of race-ready components including a high-flow front grille, a vented hood, a new radiator, and oil cooler, an exhaust downpipe and turbo back exhaust, and a six-speed manual transmission with high-strength 3rd and 4th gears. Other modifications include a limited slip differential, two-piece front brake rotors, brake inlet ducts, and a FIA-spec 16-gallon fuel tank. Inside, the Civic Type R racer is fitted with a a welded multi-point racing cage; and a racing seat with six-point harness.

Pricing for the fully-prepped Civic Type R TC race car starts at $89,900. For comparison, the regular (street legal) Civic Type R starts at $36,300. Honda also provides racing customers with trackside factory engineering assistance and parts support as well as a support line that can connect racing customers directly with HPD engineers when they're not at the track, which will definitely get the attention of serious racers.