The Boost Blue exterior features a custom graphics package to let you know from afar that yes, this is a Honda. More importantly for pace car duties, it features an interior roll cage, four-point racing harnesses, and a full Honda Performance Development brake package, which includes competition-ready brake rotors, brake pads and stainless steel brake lines.
The real star that will make it as noticeable as possible to both IndyCar drivers and fans alike are all the flashing accessory lights. Holy crap, this thing looks incredible when it’s lit up with its pace car lights.
(No matter what your crew chief says, please do not hit the pace car. That’s why the lights are really there.)
Honda has provided IndyCar with pace cars on and off since 2006, and naturally, this lets the company promote the updates to the Civic Type R for 2020. Honda says that not only has the Civic Type R’s styling been updated, but the handling, braking and ride have been tweaked for the better as well. A race track is the perfect place to prove that.
Honda should know how to put its Civic around a race car by now given that they made three racing versions of it, ranging from the Civic Si TCA and Civic Type R TC cars for TC America racing up to the more heavily modified Civic Type R TCR race car built for the global TCR spec. As such, the marque sells plenty of performance parts that they can raid to make this new pace car as fit for the track as possible.