I was fortunate enough to meet a great dude at the NoEqual Tea & Tires Meet, named Ifwat. He offered me a ride in his 600hp R35 GT-R, so who was I to turn that down, right?! On launch, the thing scrabbled for grip at all 4 tyres, before catapulting us into the horizon, one gearchange after another, before reaching silly speeds and scaring the crap out of me.
Toward the end of the meet, he mentioned that he was also heading to Kiss of the Horizon event, and that he had a spare seat, but in something more special than the GT-R – that certainly got my attention.
The car in question was over A$70K brand new, strictly Japan-only, and sold out in 10 MINUTES after launch. Mugen also developed a lot of special parts for this car, that you can’t purchase anywhere. Honda lovers rejoice: possibly the hottest, most desirable Civic ever made, 1 of 300, the factory-tuned Mugen RR!
During the day he told me all about the story of the car, how the previous owners had neglected it, even to the point of being damaged by rats. Being a Honda guy myself (S2Ks), this upset me quite a bit – especially given that this wasn’t exactly an old car, or a barn find, but a VERY expensive, very rare late model car!
Just check out this gorgeous interior. Simple and effective, yet still special.
Mugen CF gearknob framing the plaque with the serial number: #25 of 300.
Mugen CF gearbox, attached to the fettled K20A. The Mugen-tuned 2 litre makes 240ps and 22.2kgm torque, both up compared to the standard Civic Type R. No small feat, given how highly-tuned the K20A is from factory. This is achieved with new camshafts, valve springs, ram air intake, large capacity intake box, 4-2-1 exhaust manifold, high flow cat and exhaust.
Fortunately he spent a lot of time and money restoring it, to the point of purchasing and installing some replacement wear and damage-prone items, such as the suspension, wheels, driver’s seat, floor mats, etc, with the originals wrapped in plastic and placed in storage, ready for sale to the next owner.
The Mugen/Recaro CF-frame seats are custom made for each buyer apparently, and slightly too narrow for my fat ass!
Mugen CF wing
Just check out the Rays Volk RE30s around the Endless brakes! The standard 9-spoke Mugen alloys, Bridgestone RE070s and brakes are in storage.
Being a racing driver by trade, Ifwat’s driving technique all the way up to Genting Highlands, coupled with the Civic’s incredible mechanical grip, rev-happy motor (9k!) and super light weight, made for another butt-clenching journey, but I loved it. And all throughout, you could feel that every piece was fettled by people who KNEW what they were doing, and wanted to achieve a very fast car, with total balance.
Cheers for the ride mate, and see you soon!
1 Comments
[…] was privileged enough to be offered a ride up to Genting Highland in Ifwat’s genuine Mugen RR, which I did a quick feature on. Very special, and incredibly […]