It was only a matter of time before tuning shops in Japan got their hands on the FL5 Honda Type R. Spoon Sports is one of, if not the earliest, and for all fanboys and fangirls alike, what a great time it is to be alive! The new CTR came a-knocking a few days ago and as research and development has started, we can expect good things from Spoon and its tuning shop Type One.
FL5 Type R will get the Spoon Sports and Type One treatment, as any CTR should
Photo: Spoon Sports / Type One
Spoon announced that a unit of the latest Type R, the FL5, has been delivered to their Type One garage and will proceed “steadily” with their test development. Touted as the strongest generation yet, the FL5 is set to get a bump in power plus a lot of go-fast goodies via performance mods and kits. Heck, we most likely won’t be wrong to assume that we’ll even see it in the familiar Spoon blue and yellow livery once they’re done with it.
Photo: Spoon Sports / Type One
The first thing that Spoon and Type One did to the FL5 was hoist it on a lifter and have a look at its under-chassis. In their words, they are doing this to “look for ideas” but more importantly, the rationale is to really get a good grasp of how different it is from the FK8 Type R. Sitting on a totally new platform, they can’t exactly use the same principles with the previous generation can they?
Photo: Spoon Sports / Type One
They seemed to be pretty thorough – as any serious tuning shop from Japan should be – so much so that they took a close look at the exhaust system. Particularly with the muffler, we should expect this to get chucked out in favor of a new dual- or tri-outlet piece. Or maybe they’ll come out with a version of the Spoon N1 just like that for this Type R. Who knows?
Photo: Spoon Sports / Type One
Another small tidbit they said was that one specific part that they’ve used for all the high-performance vehicles coming out from the Type One garage, the Rigid Collar, will also fit the FL5 Type R. What the Rigid Collar does is to prevent the car’s subframe from rattling about while under heavy loads; cornering, to be exact. That in turn reduces steering wheel wobble and results to sharper suspension and steering feel, and, well, more rigidity for the chassis.
Photo: Spoon Sports / Type One
Apart from the engine, suspension, and body components, Spoon also has parts for the Type R’s interior. In the photo above we can see that one of their mechanics is already test-fitting a Spoon Sports steering wheel onto the column. Whether this will sport the same or a new horn button color remains to be seen.
For those who are eagle-eyed fans, you can’t miss the kevlar bucket seat in the photo, too. While the Type R comes with reclinable bucket seats from the factory, Spoon and Type One do away with them to replace them with fixed buckets; better for keeping drivers snug in their seats when racing, of course.
Photo: Spoon Sports / Type One
While all of these are going on, Spoon also said that they’ve already started on ECU programming as well. Using FlashPro, they’ve already sent out their preliminary information to the FlashPro HQ for further analysis, and while continuing their own studies at the same time. ECU flashing and mapping is a vital part of performance tuning, so we can expect Spoon to pull out all the stops with this new Type R as with all the Type R models they’ve built.
Photo: Spoon Sports / Type One
At tomorrow’s KDay!! meet in Japan, Spoon Sports is set to have both an FL5 Civic Type R alongside an FE1 Civic Si at their booth. The performance shop was noted to say that “We aim to make the 11th Civic Series even more fun and make drivers smile” (sic) and whether it’s for the occasional fan or hardcore race rats, working the Spoon magic along with Type One can make anyone more than just smile.
You have to admit that the though the livery may be a bit too loud, every single Honda Type R that comes out of the Spoon-Type One stable is “an amazing machine”. The FL5 should be no different. We know you won’t let us down, Ichishima-san! Fighto!
