Motor Trend's Angus Mackenzie gets an inside look at Honda's Type-R factory in Swindon
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00:00 Honda Civic Type R, you know we love this car.
00:13 306 horsepower, 0-60 in just over five seconds, a top speed of almost 170 miles an hour, and
00:21 a Nurburgring lap time that makes older 911s look, well, slow.
00:26 This might be the best front-drive high-performance hot hatch in the world right now.
00:32 In fact, I reckon this is the most impressive high-performance Honda I've ever driven, other
00:37 than the original NSX.
00:40 Now you've probably noticed the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car.
00:45 We're in hot hatch country, out here in the wilds of Wales on roads like this, you understand
00:51 why cars like the Type R exist.
00:54 It's magic.
00:55 But let's head to Swindon, to the Honda factory, and see how the magic is made.
01:01 This is not quite the magic I was expecting.
01:14 I think the magic is figuring out how to get around this thing.
01:20 I don't want to be over there.
01:46 Hello and welcome to Swindon, home of the Civic Type R. Where's Swindon, you ask?
01:52 Well, we're about 100 miles west of London, and this town has some fabulous manufacturing
01:58 history.
01:59 They started building steam engines here in the 1840s, and in fact, the very last steam
02:03 engine built in Britain rolled off the line here in Swindon in 1960.
02:08 Where I'm standing right now used to be the Vickers Supermarine factory, and they built
02:15 the Spitfire during World War II.
02:18 But Swindon today is Honda town.
02:20 The factory over there is a hive of activity.
02:24 A new Honda comes off the line here every 69 seconds.
02:33 These are just some of the 11,500 FK8 Series Civic Type Rs that have already been built.
03:03 They're built here in Swindon, 4,000 of which have already been shipped to the United States.
03:09 And coincidentally, these very cars are headed stateside too, and every single one of them
03:14 will be taking back a little piece of America.
03:17 You see, every single Civic Type R engine is built in a Honda factory in Ohio.
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