If there’s one thing we like here at Carscoops it’s exciting on-board footage from the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Even more so those videos where you think the driver is completely mad, driving something not particularly fast (at first glance) and keeping up with, and passing other more powerful cars, in a heroic attempt to prove that a modified model can compete with something that was purpose-built to go fast.
The Honda Civic Type-R, the 2001 to 2005 EP3, which is my personal favorite of the hot offerings by the Japanese automaker, is one of the most fun front-wheel drive cars you will ever get to drive. They are also very reliable and wear their mods well – most of the ones I get to see on the street have had some kind of modifications done to them, very few actually being stock.
I recently came across this video, uploaded in 2010 by Dany Czech, which shows such a car (a modded EP3) keeping up with a Nissan GT-R on the twisty Nordschleife. Sure, the Nissan gets away on the straights, as the Civic only has a claimed 230 hp (around 30 hp more than stock) but it holds on superbly in corners, and does not seem to understeer at all, no matter how fast the driver pushes it – the larger part of the investment must have gone into suspension, braking and tires.
Check out the video below, and be prepared for some very exciting driving, high-speed cornering and some stupid maneuvers done by other drivers with which the track was shared that day.
By Andrei Nedelea
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