Civic was dominant at JTC with 6 wins in 6 races

An important feature of the Civic was that many generations of the car competed in touring car racing. The most notable of these was its success in the All-Japan Touring Car Championship (JTC), which was contested under Group A (Gr.A) regulations. The Civic’s JTC debut was at the West Japan Circuit in the third round of the JTC series in 1985.

While a car based on the Group N specification was entered in Round 2 at the Tsukuba Circuit, the full Gr. A specification tuned by Mugen (now M-TEC) made its debut in western Japan. The “rule-breaking” duo of Satoru Nakajima and Osamu Nakako made their appearance, and Mr Nakajima immediately took pole position.

Although he ended up retiring from the final race due to fuel gauge trouble, he started from pole position in the following round at Suzuka (round 4) and took his first win after a top battle against a BMW 635CSi. The car on display this time was the very same competition car that competed in the JTC in the 1987 season, and was one of the cars in which the famous duo of Nakako-san and Hideki Okada showed overwhelming strength with six wins from six races to win the championship.

There is also a prototype of the latest Civic RS, which will be launched in autumn.

In front of the display panel explaining Honda’s commitment to MT sports was a prototype of the current (11th generation) Civic RS, which is due to go on sale in autumn this year. However, as it is a prototype, details have not yet been announced.

The current Civic on which it is based is a highly regarded model when viewed as a single car, although whether it deserves to be called a Civic is a matter of opinion. Honda (and its laboratories) have put their heart and soul into developing one such car, and with the RS badge on it, there’s no doubt that it’s a fun car.

translated by DeepL