Honda Civic Type R sets front-drive record at Bathurst

Former Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button has set a new benchmark lap time for a front-wheel drive production car around Mount Panorama race circuit at Bathurst in the Honda Civic Type R.

Set on April 22 during the Easter long weekend in a completely standard, factory-spec Civic Type R on road tyres with no modifications, Button’s time of 2:35.207sec was posted as part of the Australian leg of the ‘Type R Challenge 2019’ designed to highlight the performance potential of Honda’s giant-killing Civic Type R hot hatch.

Button -- who holds the unofficial Mt Panorama record at just 1:48.8, set in an F1 car in 2011 as part of a special event to promote the Australian GP -- recorded the time within just 14 fast laps spread over a one-hour session in the morning and a 10-minute afternoon session.

“Anything you drive around Mount Panorama is pretty amazing. Up across the top of the mountain, the Type R is so fast through there, so once I got into a rhythm and got used to the speed you can carry, it was really good fun,” said the 2009 F1 world champ, 2018 Super GT Series winner and Honda ambassador.

Honda’s Bathurst time attack was inspired by the ‘Type R Challenge 2018’ program, which saw a team of Honda racing stars break front-drive production car records at a range of European racetracks in the new Civic Type R.

Fresh from becoming the first car-maker to officially back Australia’s new front-drive TCR touring car series via a Civic Type driven by Tony D’Alberto, Honda Australia brought the Type R Challenge concept outside Europe for the first time as part of Honda’s 50th birthday celebrations. The idea was first floated last year.

“Mount Panorama holds a unique place in Australian motorsport, so it was a privilege and a thrill for the
Honda Australia team to be able to take on that challenge in the Civic Type R, especially with Jenson behind the wheel,” said Honda Australia director Stephen Collins.

“The Civic Type R had plenty of form to suggest it could achieve something equally special around the revered Mount Panorama, Bathurst circuit and that’s exactly what Jenson and the Honda Australia team achieved on Easter Monday,” said Collins.

Best known as the home of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race held each October, the challenging 6.213km Mount Panorama circuit is a public road for 350 days each year and includes 23 corners, 174m of elevation changes and gradients as steep as 16 per cent.

For perspective, Button’s 2:35.2 time would have placed the standard, $51,990 Civic Type R second on the grid in its class at the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour held race the previous day.

It is also nearly 1.3sec quicker than Allan Moffat’s 2:36.5 lap record in the legendary Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III, set during the 1972 Hardie-Ferodo 500 endurance race around the original, 41m-shorter 6.172km circuit.

“I definitely put the car through its paces and it was a quick time; two minutes 35 seconds is a really good time
in a front-wheel drive car and it was hot as well, so I think if it was cooler you could go a bit quicker, but I do feel like I got everything out of the car,” Button said.

“The Honda Civic Type R really is the perfect car for a time attack challenge like this. And it’s 100 per cent a road legal car that’s straight off the production line, so to do a two minute 35 second lap is fantastic.

“We came here to have fun and see what this amazing car can do around this iconic track and it did very well – it’s definitely an exciting car for enthusiasts.”