For the King of The Hell campaign we promised that whoever could prove they were the last of the late brakers, the quickest of the quick, that their bite was as bad as their bark, would win a Type R for a year. And Muorali Selvarajah did just that. Muorali followed the competition and the leaderboard around the country, coming back to the last event to reclaim pole position, winning the title with a blistering lap time of 2 minutes 8 seconds.
Hot hatch enthusiasts notoriously believe themselves to be superior drivers to the rest of us, so the competition called these wannabe racers out to prove they had what it took to tame the Type R. Undoubtedly Muorali excelled on the simulator, but now it was time for him to prove it on the track. It was safe to say Muorali was more than happy to oblige: ‘Christmas has come early – that sounds absolutely unbelievable.’
The Day
In true king style, Muorali was collected from his house by a private car and taken to Donington Park – which sees the best drivers and riders of British Touring Car and British Superbikes put through their paces. Muorali could not wait for the day, put on by the King of The Hell team ‘I must admit, the anticipation is killing me!’ He was given a well deserved reception, being greeted by Gordon Sheddon (2015 British Touring Car Champion), the Honda team and the Civic Type R Owners Club (CTROC).
To get things started Muorali took to the track with Gordon ‘Flash’ Sheddon who gave him some top tips, invaluable to Muorali as it has been a ‘quest to fulfil his childhood dream to be a professional racing driver.’ He then took to the wheel himself proving his outstanding race skills, keeping up with the pros and setting lap times that raised more than a few eyebrows.
Meanwhile in the pits the Synchro Race Team (a volunteer race team from the Honda Factory) set up their Type R for the track which has been designed and developed for 24 hour endurance races. Similarly, The Civic Type R owners club had their beloved cars checked for the track before they took their position on the starting grid. They weren’t alone on the grid, an NSX and a Honda Jazz joined the fleet of proud owners.
The Civic Type R Owners club flew around the track setting impressive times although none could beat Muorali, who also defended his position on the King of The Hell simulator inside the arena with other CTRO representatives.
Gordon Sheddon mixed amongst the crowd before it was time for the moment everyone was waiting for. The moment Honda have built up to for half of 2015; the handover of the King of The Hell Type R. Muorali unveiled his car, his face etched with anticipation pulling the red silk cloth off his brand new Milano Red Civic Type R GT.
It’s a wrap
The day wasn’t over; Alyn James from the Synchro race team took Muorali back on the track for some red hot race tuition, before everyone headed out on the track together. The love, passion and pride for the iconic Civic Type R, a real beast of a car, could be felt all over Donington.
As the day drew to a close, and the pack of glistening Type Rs left the track , Muorali began his trip home in his very own race car for the road, a very worthy King of The Hell winner. Ecstatic about the day, Muorali was excited to have the car at home for the next year as ‘my own car has 114k miles on the clock so this couldn’t have come at a better time.’
As Muorali confessed ‘there’s still a tiny part of me that dreams I will somehow get to race one day,’ Honda hopes him beating over 13,000 participants and winning the ultimate King of The Hell competition suggests that this could very much be on the cards one day.
