https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lXGmjt1FtQThere’s plenty to shout about when were talking about the new Civic Type-R as far as numbers go – 310 PS and 400 Nm from a 2.0 litre VTEC Turbo engine, a 270 km/h top speed and a 0-100 km/h time of 5.7 seconds is rather impressive.

Great on-paper numbers then, but what about real world performance? Honda has announced the Nürburgring lap time for the Civic Type R development car, and the magic number is 7 minutes 50.63 seconds, which puts the new CTR well ahead of the current front-wheel drive lap record holder, the Renault Megane RS 275 Trophy-R (7 min 54.36).

Alas, the CTR’s record run – accomplished during the final phase of pre-production testing – isn’t official, but the automaker says that development car’s technical specifications are representative of the final production car, with a standard state of engine tune and kit levels identical to the production car.

The only changes were the removal of equipment (air conditioning, the front passenger seat and audio equipment) to offset the additional weight of a full roll cage, which Honda says was installed specifically for safety reasons and not to add rigidity.

The development car used production-specification high-rigidity 19-inch alloy wheels, fitted with 235/35R19 road tyres developed especially for the car.

So, no new lap record for now, and Honda says it is planning to send a production CTR out to the ‘Ring' later this year with the aim of setting a new lap record for a front-wheel drive production car.