The Honda Civic Type R has reclaimed the lap record for a front-wheel drive car at the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany, taking it back off the Renault Megane RS Trophy R.
According to Honda, the record was broken during "testing conducted for the model’s performance evaluation", with the Type R lapping the 20.8km-long track in just 7 minutes 44.881 seconds, beating the Megane's time of 7:45.39 from 2019.
The Renault had dethroned then-current record-holder, the previous-generation FK8 Civic Type R, which had set a time of 7:43.8, back in 2017.
Yes, you did read that right - the old Type R's lap time was technically less, but this is because before Renault nabbed the record back in 2019 the rules around what counts as an “official lap” were changed, making it fractionally longer.
Before 2019, the Nürburgring track itself had nothing to do with "official" lap times and most people measured a lap of the Nordschleife excluding the short front straight between last gantry and the first bridge, which is why lap times were often referred to as "bridge to gantry" (or BTG). The old Type R's 7:43.8 was measured along the BTG 20.6km version of the circuit, while the new Type R's time reflects the current official 20.8km version of the track. In 2019 the Megane's BTG time was 7:40.1.
"Under the concept of ‘Ultimate Sport 2.0,’ we developed the all-new Civic Type R with the spirit of ‘going beyond our past achievements’ and strived for the ultimate FWD sports car by refining the ‘essential value’ and ‘emotional appeal’ unique only to our Type R models," said Hideki Kakinuma, Civic Type R Development Leader.
"Since the start of sales in Japan in September 2022, we have received customer feedback from all around the world filled with amazement and joy, far exceeding our expectations. However, we still had one more mission to fulfill, which was to claim the title as the world’s fastest FWD car with a record Nürburgring lap time.
"Six years after the lap record was set by the previous-generation Civic Type R (FK8), we reached this new dimension as a result of all of the passions we poured in and all the advancements we made for this Type R model. Finally, our wish to share this title with all Type R fans all around the world came true.
"We sincerely hope that all current and prospective owners of the Type R will enjoy and love their vehicle with the pride we share with you.”
