by Paul Bailey
Nestled within the tranquil Ardennes Forest in Belgium lies a hallowed racetrack that’s held in the highest esteem by fans and race drivers the world over. This circuit – Spa Francorchamps – is nearly 100 years old and although shortened and reshaped over the years its character remains the same: fast, challenging and unpredictable. It draws spectators like moths to a flame and during the recent World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) race weekend it also provided the perfect stage for Type R fans to get up close and personal with the new Civic Type-R concept.
The ultimate driving experience
During this electrifying event, Honda gave Civic Type R owners from across Europe the opportunity to breathe in the beautiful rolling hills of the Ardennes and take in the spine-tingling atmosphere of one the most famous motor-racing circuits in the world. The Honda Civic Type R – Spa weekend attracted more than 200 Civic Type R owners and cars from 15 different countries across Europe, with just over 300 guests in total. The event held three big attractions for the Type-R owners: The chance to see the new Civic Type R concept car and then meet the WTCC Honda drivers Gabriele Tarquini, Tiago Monteiro, Norbert Michelisz and Mehdi Bennani. The final attraction could be considered the ultimate driving experience: two laps of world-famous Spa in their own Civic Type Rs.
Three Civics finished inside the Top 10 at Spa
Honda’s Motorsports PR manager for Europe, Anthony Chmarny explained why the manufacturer was so keen to host the event at this exciting venue: ‘Spa was the ideal place because it’s easy to get to from across Europe, it has a vibrant motorsports history and it was the first time WTCC had been here in five years.’ Continuing, he said ‘It just seemed a great opportunity to have some fun and engage with the passionate Type R community.’ Judging by the sight of hundreds of Civic Type Rs together that community really responded to the idea. ‘We really wanted to give our loyal fans and customers a chance to see what the new Type R concept looked like up close and personal, meet the Honda racing drivers and drive the racing circuit,’ says Anthony. ‘We achieved all three dreams in one day, making a lot of people very happy.’
God’s own race track
Diehard Type R fan, Stuart Pridham from Manchester UK, was among the huge gathering of owners and his enthusiasm bubbled over when we caught up with him next to the circuit: ‘I’ve worked with Honda on so many Type R related events via our Civic Type R Owners Club (CTRO) and when we heard about this event we had to mobilise the troops.’ It seems it wasn’t a tough task. ‘The chance to visit Spa, which a lot of us refer to as God’s own race track, and to be able to drive its famous turns, plus see the concept in the flesh… well, it was simply too good an opportunity to turn down,’ he explained.
Type-R fans were given unique access to the new Civic Type-R concept
Even so there was much to organise, according to Stuart: ‘We had to plan it very quickly and pull all of our resources together to have commemorative T-shirts and stickers made for our members making the journey. Luckily, everything arrived on the Thursday morning and we left early on Friday. People from all over the UK converged at Folkestone and then we ran in convoy through France and Belgium, arriving at Spa late on Friday evening. It was an amazing experience.’
Smiles were a mile wide
The journey was just the start. On Saturday morning the Type Rs started to arrive at Spa and within just a few hours nearly 200 packed the car park near the famous Eau Rouge corner – a left-right-left combination that plunges downhill at the entry before climbing steeply up to a blind summit and is taken at well over 120mph in the WTCC cars. It was quite a sight. The knowledge and dedication to the Type R cult was almost tangible as language barriers were broken down through passion and smiles.
Civic Type Rs tackle the Eau Rouge corner
With such a dedicated audience to impress, the Civic Type R concept couldn’t have had tougher judge but the response was overwhelmingly positive. The similarity between the aggressive concept and the WTCC Honda racing around the track was obvious and it seems the Type R fans are ready to welcome the next chapter in this exciting story with open arms. Of course, during any other weekend an audience with the concept car would have been the absolute highlight, but when each and every Civic Type R took to the track for their parade laps the owners’ smiles were a mile wide. It was proper once-in-a-lifetime stuff and a fitting way to end a captivating weekend.
