Honda today released a collection of photos showing the the next generation Civic Type R testing ahead of its official reveal at Japan’s Suzuka Circuit. Although no extra information was given with the photos, they do at least show the car being worked on by engineers and tested. The new car is still covered in camouflage whose pattern is a combination of the letter R transposed over the outlines Type R models of the past.
The collection of shots provides us a
better look at the model and, in one photo, it is helpfully parked in front of
the outgoing Civic Type R, helping to give us a sense of how different the two
cars will be. A shot of the car from the back, meanwhile, reveals three
centrally-exiting exhaust pipes, as we’ve seen previously. Another, from the
side with the hood up, reveals a pair of vents at the front of the hood.
Based on the 11th-generation Civic
chassis, the new Type R is expected to be stiffer, longer, and wider than its
predecessor, all of which should help improve its driving dynamics. The car is
expected to retain its 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, which makes 306 hp and 400 Nm in the 10th-generation car.
When it was updated, the Civic Si
officially lost some horsepower, though there’s a case to be made that Honda
was underrating the engine. Whether the Japanese automaker will add power to
the Type R or simply focus on making it a better driver’s car, like the Si,
remains to be seen, but the hot hatch has also been seen testing at the
Nurburgring, so it’s likely to perform either way. Speaking of circuits, Suzuka
is one of Japan’s premier race tracks and the host of the Japanese Grand Prix.
It is owned by Mobilityland Corporation, which is a subsidiary of Honda and was
originally designed as a test track for the brand. The 5.8 km track
has 18 corners and is the only FIA Grade 1 circuit that has a figure-eight
layout apart from Ferrari’s Fiorano test track.
The new Honda Civic Type R will be
unveiled in 2022, though the automaker hasn’t provided us with a more precise
date than that.
