That’s right folks, we have a new front-drive record holder at the Nürburgring. Honda set a lap time of 7 minutes and 43.8 seconds at the famed German racetrack. That puts it a bit over three seconds ahead of the former record holder, the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S, a super-limited edition, 306-horsepower monster GTI. That also means the Type R is just under three seconds shy of the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1’s record. According to the Type R’s lead chassis engineer, the car was capable of such a time thanks to a wider track, longer wheelbase, wider tires, improved suspension, and better aerodynamics than its predecessor.
Honda of course has its own recording of the lap, seen above, to show it isn’t lying about the time. The company says the car is representative of a production car, although a few modifications have been made. Honda fitted a roll cage for safety, and it claims that it had no affect on chassis rigidity. It also removed the rear seats and infotainment display to offset the extra weight of the cage. Honda also says the car used “street legal, track-focused tires.”
Now before you all start mashing the keyboard to take Honda to task for making these modifications, this is a good time to remember that we shouldn’t get wound up over ‘Ring times. As we talked about during the Huracán Performante controversy, not only are most times, including the previous VW one, not perfectly impartial and trustworthy since they’re performed and recorded by the manufacturer, they’re also only a measure of performance in one very specific situation. In short, take these records with a packet of salt, and recognize that a fast car at the ‘Ring isn’t necessarily a fast car everywhere. That doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun seeing what cars are quicker at this track, but it does mean that you should save your fury for more worthy causes.
Related Video:
