- Honda has entered two 1975 Civic RS models in the historic Monte-Carlo rally.
- They only have 75 horsepower, but they're ready to take the fight to Porsches and Lancias, with Indy-winner Takuma Sato at the wheel.
- The effort celebrates the 50th anniversary of Japan's Honda Technical College, with the pair of cars prepared by a team of students.
Held each year, the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique restricts entries to cars that competed from the race's beginning up until 1983. As a result, the event is something of a touring museum exhibition of past rally heroes: Porsche 911s, Lancias, Mini Coopers, and Saabs. There's also a provision for Group B legends like the Audi Sport Quattro S or the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16.
Alternatively, you can also just turn up in a Japanese econobox.
That's exactly what F1 racer and two-time Indy 500 champion Takuma Sato is currently doing, behind the wheel of a 1975 Honda Civic RS. Yes, the first-gen Civic is one of the few Japanese cars eligible for entry in the historic Monte-Carlo rally, and it set out from Reims in France, traditionally the starting location for many of the historic French teams.
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As was the case when the event was in its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, competitors will be departing from six points across Europe, from Scotland to Barcelona to Turin. Sato's entry is one of the few non-European teams, and his Civic is the only Honda model to qualify for entry.
The cars were prepped in a special program by a team of 30 students from the Honda Technical College in Japan. Founded personally by Soichiro Honda, this year the college is celebrating its 50th anniversary, so running the Monte-Carlo is a fitting tribute. There are two cars, the one driven by Sato and the other by the head of the college.
Both were rescued as rusty basket cases, repaired, then prepared for motorsports with upgraded safety equipment and the necessary additional instrumentation to run a long-distance rally. Both are a cheery orange, and both are the 1200RS variant, a Japan-only model. These were a little feistier than USDM Civics back in the 1970s, with 75 hp versus the just-under-60 on this side of the Pacific.
Still, the first Civic wasn't originally intended to be a racer, and the RS designation here stands for "Road Sailing." It has, perhaps, a bit more in common with the reborn Prelude than the Civic Type R. Still, with a Japanese racing driver at the wheel, the team is confident about a strong finish.
Sato is a longtime Honda fan and owns several sporting examples of the marque: a Beat, a vintage S800, and, for a time, an S2000. However, front-wheel-drive performance is actually part of the earliest chapters of his racing story. When he arrived in the U.K. to race, he bought a brand-new Mini Cooper S. He drove the latter all over Europe, tens of thousands of miles, and he has a funny story about caning the life out of the little car at 70 mph up Eau Rouge with the tires smoking and his mother in the back seat.
You can imagine he'll squeeze all the available performance out of this tiny orange Civic RS, and the Monte Carlo rally has long awarded giant killers. Whatever the outcome, this is a chance for the college students to take great pride in their handiwork, and in Honda, even in a humble economy car, a Japanese David surrounded by the Goliaths of the rally.
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