THIS YEAR HONDA celebrates 25 years of its pioneering sports brand, Type R.
The Type R brand takes Honda’s racing heritage, knowledge and technology and uses it to produce high-revving performance road cars that are revered and coveted by driving enthusiast across the globe. It tweaks the regular models and makes them more lightweight, more intense, more performance orientated, more dynamic and more free-revving.
To help with the 25th birthday celebrations, we’ve decided to take a look at some of the legendary cars to wear the red R badge.
1992: The NSX-R
The NSX is a two-seat, rear-wheel drive coupe that was tested and improved with input from Ayrton Senna.
In 1992, Type R got to work on the NSX and removed all unnecessary items – like the airbags, sound insulation and traction control – to shed 120kg, taking the already svelte supercar down to just 1,230kg.
It is powered by a 3.0-litre DOHC VTEC V6 which is capped out at 276hp, to comply with safety regulations.
The NSX Type R came in Championship White in homage to Honda’s first Grand Prix-winning car of 1965. Production of the first-gen NSX-R ended in September 1995 but there was a second iteration released in 2002. The NSX-R was exclusively for the Japanese market.
1995: DC2 Honda Integra Type R
In 1995 the first Integra Type R arrived. The formula was the same as is was for the NSX-R: strip the regular two-door coupe of all unnecessary weight and increase the engine’s power.
As part of the weight saving effort the Integra Type R features a thinner and lighter windscreen than the regular model. It also gained a limited-slip differential, stiffer hubs, improved brakes and some subtle styling tweaks.
The Integra Type R has a 1.8-litre DOHC VTEC in-line four-cylinder engine with a max power output of 199hp at 8,000rpm. Behind the steering wheel the rev counter reads all the way to 10,000rpm, redlining at 8,400rpm. Nice.
1998: CL1 Honda Accord Type R
The Honda Accord Type-R (ATR) was produced from 1998 to 2002. Again, Honda applied its tried and tested Type R formula to the four-door family saloon. The body shell was stiffened, the load lightened with the removal of the air-con, sunroof and most soundproofing and the suspension and brakes were beefed up.
As with previous Type R models, the heavy front seats were chucked in favour of lighter Recaro seats and a bodykit was added with a huge spoiler for that sporty effect.
The star of the show though is the epic 2.2-litre VTEC-equipped four-cylinder engine producing a healthy 210hp at 8,000rpm and delivering extra mid-range torque. When the VTEC kicks in somewhere north of 5,550rpm, the ATR just takes off. The Accord Type R is what you would call a ‘real sleeper’.
2001: EP3 Honda Civic Type R
The EP3 Honda Civic Type R was probably the model that brought the performance brand into the mainstream.
The bread-van styling of the Civic was an unlikely base for a hot hatch but it worked and the Type R engineers employed their magic formula again and produced a cracking hot hatch.
A quirk of this model was the gear stick mounted to the dashboard – but this clever positioning meant less distance for your hand to travel to shift, resulting in speedier gear changes. Powering this practical but powerful family motor was an energetic 200hp 2.0-litre iVTEC engine that hurls the car to 100km/h from a standstill in just 6.8 seconds.
2006: FN2 Honda Civic Type R
In 2007 the new Honda Civic moved away from its boxy shape and became a lot more futuristic in style. It used a revised version of the high-revving naturally aspirated twin-cam engine from the previous Civic Type R – producing one horsepower extra, but adding a smoother power delivery thanks to some re-configuration of the variable timing settings and a different profile for the high-speed cam.
2015: FK2 Honda Civic Type R
This version of the Civic Type R appeared in 2015 and is powered by the K20C1 Direct Fuel Injection 2.0-litre VTEC Turbocharged engine with a maximum power output of 306hp at 6500rpm and maximum torque of 400Nm at 2,500-4,500rpm.
It was the first turbocharged Type R.
2017: FK8 Honda Civic Type R
This is the latest Type R model, released just this year.
It keeps the OTT styling of the last edition and uses the same engine in revised form – only now it produces 316hp. The six-speed manual gearbox directs power to a limited slip diff that divvies the power to the front wheels and it also has a multi-link rear axle.
It’s one of the lightest cars in its class with a 1,380kg kerb weight and it can do the 0-100km/h dash in just 5.7 seconds. It is also the current front-wheel drive lap record holder around the Nurburgring Nordschleife, where it recorded an eye-watering lap time of 7:43.8 seconds.
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