These 395bhp And Dakar-Inspired Civic Type Rs Are Our Kind Of Awesome

Honda UK has just unveiled a pair of wild concepts adapted from the Civic Type R. Following the Civic Type R pickup of last year, the firm has commissioned both a 395bhp track monster and a wider, higher off-road maniac.

The hotted-up Type R, unofficially dubbed the Civic Type RR in the vein of Honda’s highest-performance motorbikes, has been fettled by touring car racing setup Team Dynamics Motorsport, which runs Honda’s works Halfords Yuasa Racing team in the British Touring Car Championship.

The Civic Type R by Team Dynamics Motorsport is fully road-legal but packs 25 per cent more muscle in its 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, making it good for 395bhp and 369lb ft - still channelled through the front wheels. You get a Superchips ECU upgrade, a bespoke ITG induction system, PWR intercooler, a Dream sports cat and a very fruity Scorpion exhaust that reintroduces the red centre ring detailing seen on the FK8 Civic Type R concept.

To help manage such an ample extra helping of beef it wears ultra-sticky Dunlop DZ03G semi-slick track-day tyres over 19-inch Team Dynamics Pro-Race super-lightweight wheels. Bounce is taken care of by 20mm lower Eibach Pro Sport coilovers with revised, track-friendly geometry. Inside there are Cobra Nogaro bucket seats trimmed in special Team Dynamics upholstery.

Top speed is stated as 175mph. In a Honda Civic, remember. There’s no number for the 0-62mph sprint yet but you still get 420 litres of pure hatchback practicality at the back. Sort of, anyway: the rear seats are somewhat missing.

The second concept unveiled at the 2019 Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ annual ‘test’ day, where journalists gather to punt hundreds of different cars old and new around Millbrook Proving Ground’s handling and off-road courses, is something a bit different.

Honda UK commissioned renowned engineer and author Ralph Hosier to build what’s being called the Type oveRland, a Civic Type R with most of the bodywork ripped off and replaced with custom fabricated parts.

It’s over four inches higher than standard, ‘a lot’ wider (the bodywork alone is eight inches broader) and sits on a totally bespoke suspension setup that’s soft and prone to lift-off oversteer, because absolute giggles. Vast but lightweight Compmotive rally wheels clothed in aggressive 255-section BF Goodrich off-road tyres shroud the standard Civic Type R’s red Brembo brake calipers.

There are two spare wheels held in a bespoke well over the rear wheels, where the tailgate glass used to be. Naturally there’s a full roll cage, seats adapted to take five-point harnesses and hooligan spirit seeping from its every pore.

Both cars are finished in Championship White and, if you like (and we certainly do), you might even be able to convince Team Dynamics or Ralph Hosier Engineering to build you one of your own…