The FK8 Honda Civic Type R may already be a potent piece of kit out of the box, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t scope for greater performance with a number of handy tweaks. The Japanese carmaker’s UK arm knows this, which is why it has unveiled two radically different tuner concept cars at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) Test Day 2019 at the Millbrook Proving Ground.
The first one is fairly straightforward. Developed by Team Dynamics Motorsport, which runs Honda’s successful British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) campaign, it takes the standard turbo hot hatch formula and turns it up to 11.
Changes include a Superchips ECU, an ITG induction system, a PWR intercooler, a Dream sports catalytic converter and a Scorpion exhaust, altogether providing a 25% performance boost. Outputs from the 2.0 litre VTEC Turbo engine have jumped from 316 hp and 400 Nm of torque to a whopping 400 hp and 500 Nm.
All that power still goes through the front wheels, so to keep the car on the road there are Eibach Pro performance springs, adjustable anti-roll bars and rear camber arms and Goodridge stainless performance brake hoses. It rolls on 19-inch Team Dynamics Pro-Race lightweight competition alloy wheels shod in sticky Dunlop DZ03G track tyres.
But the more eye-catching project comes from Ralph Hosier Engineering in the shape of the Civic Type OveRland. Even though it’s only due to be ready in a month, the car has already been given a substantial makeover, turning it into an off-roading monster. The company says it was inspired by rally raid, overland and safari racers, and with the big arches and fat 255/55R18 BFGoodrich tyres it certainly looks that way.
The suspension has been raised by over four inches (three inches at the rear) but retains the standard car’s torque steer-quelling Dual-Axis strut arrangement, while the rear end gets bespoke trailing arm mountings and modified transverse links. Both cars are built using pre-production units, wear signature Championship White paint and retain the standard six-speed manual gearbox and safety features.
Although there are obviously no plans to put these cars into production, Honda UK says that both Team Dynamics and Ralph Hosier Engineering claim they will build one-off versions for “discerning” customers. So, get those chequebooks ready…
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