Track prepping the Type R

Honda is bringing its new Civic Type R to race in the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.

It is a vehicle that has been designed and built from the ground up at Team Dynamics’ workshops in Worcestershire. Honda Yuasa Racing began to design the car in September last year and started building it in November.

The car is based on the production version of the latest Civic Type R, which was recently unveiled following a five-year wait. This production version will be coming to car showrooms in July.

Of course, the race version of the Civic Type R has some differences that make it more ready for the track. It can develop 350 bhp with 400 Nm. Because the team considered the latest production Civic Type R closely when designing the track version they were able to make some improvements that differed from the Tourer from last year. For example, the new tourer has increased downforce, less and drag and better management of air flow.

The new car will be unveiled at the BTCC media day at Donington on Tuesday March 24th.

Technical director at Honda Yuasa Racing Barry Plowman said: “We cannot wait for the new season to start. Our car for 2015 is going to win races. The shape of the new road going Civic Type R has allowed the team to build on the design and take it forward to be a championship winning car.”

“2015 is widely being billed as the year Honda is back and we are continuing that into BTCC. We’ve worked hard over the winter to ensure we have a winning car for 2015.”

For the sixth consecutive season, Honda will have Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal getting behind the wheel of its Tourer.

Neal said that he and Shedden are very excited for the new Civic Type R. He explained that it is considerably advanced from last year’s Tourer, from its engine to the aerodynamics.

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