The 2023 Honda Civic Type R has set a brand new report for front-wheel drive automobiles at Germany’s Nürburgring racetrack—for those who learn the fantastic print.
The newest Civic Sort R lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 7:44.8, Honda confirmed Wednesday in a press launch. That is a barely longer elapsed time than the 7:40.1 set by the Renault Megane RS Trophy R in 2019, however Honda is claiming the report underneath newer guidelines that redefine the size of the observe for the needs of official information.
A Nordschleife lap continues to be round 13 miles, however the report claimed by Renault was set over a barely shorter distance. Below guidelines adopted in 2019, the official size of a full lap is 20.8 kilometers or 12.9 miles. Previous to that, it was 20.6 kilometers, or 12.8 miles, which is the observe size at which Renault set its lap time. The Megane RS Trophy R’s lap time over the 20.8-kilometer distance was 7:45.3, so the Civic Sort R was faster on this apples-to-apples comparability.
This enables Honda to reclaim the front-wheel drive Nürburgring lap report for manufacturing automobiles, however once more it requires a little bit of rationalization. The FK8-generation Civic Sort R broke the record back in 2017 with a 7:43.8 time over the shorter lap distance used on the time. The Civic Sort R had set the report one different time previous to that, with a 7:50.6 lap in 2015.

2023 Honda Civic Sort R units ‘Ring report
The newest report was set utilizing Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, which aren’t commonplace on the Civic Sort R however can be found by way of sellers, Honda famous. Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires are commonplace gear on the $43,990 Type R.
That base worth buys a scorching hatch with 315 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque produced by its 2.0-liter turbo-4 engine and despatched to the front-wheels by way of a 6-speed handbook transmission.
Shifting to the Eleventh-generation Civic platform, the Type R has grown larger. The wheelbase has grown 1.4 inches over the earlier era, whereas the observe width has elevated by as much as 1.0 inch. Honda additionally claims 8% elevated torsional rigidity and 13% elevated bending rigidity.
Honda in 2022 confirmed a front-wheel-drive lap record at Japan’s Suzuka Worldwide Racing Course, with a production-spec automotive lapping the three.6-mile observe in 2:23.1. We additionally named the Civic Sort R the Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2023.