Honda's hottest Civic has become the fastest production front-drive car to circle the Nurburgring's famous Nordschleife race track, achieving the feat in a shade under seven minutes and 44 seconds (7:43.80).
That time is nearly seven seconds shorter than the outgoing Civic Type R's time, and breaks a record set just last November, when the VW Golf GTI Clubsport S did the deed in just over 7m47s.
The all-new 2017 Honda Civic Type R is, of course, the first of its kind slated for North American consumption, and will become the most powerful Civic ever sold on this continent when it reaches showrooms here late this spring.
Its 306 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque come from a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder engine that puts its potency to pavement through a six-speed manual transmission.
Honda says the new car owes its performance boost to a nominally lighter curb weight, wider track and tires and better aerodynamics. The chassis upgrades allow for higher corner entry speeds, but the only downside of the new body's aero tweaks appears to be a lower top speed of 265 km/h, versus the outgoing Type R's 270 km/h.
Have a look at in-car footage from the Type R's lap here:
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