183kW Jazz ready to race

The world’s fastest Honda Jazz is being readied to rally in Australia next year. Dubbed ‘G2’, the tuned-up small hatchback will be raced in the 2012 Bosch Australian Rally Championship (ARC) by a second Honda team – the drivers to be announced early next year – alongside existing drivers Eli Evans and Glen Watson in their Civic Type R.

Powered by a Mugen-tuned 2.0-litre four producing 183kW at 9000rpm, the Jazz G2 offers an, er, whopping great increase from the stock 88kW 1.5-litre Jazz, yet will remain two-wheel-drive only.

Honda claims that many of the rally-specific engineering components in the Jazz G2 are shared with World Rally Championship (WRC) cars. Although internationally Honda no longer participates in F1, Honda Australian spokesperson, Lindsay Smalley, quoted company founder Soichiro Honda’s famous line that “if Honda does not race, there is no Honda” to back Honda Australia’s expanded commitment to the ARC.

“Honda is proud to continue its support of Australian rallying and we hope next season will be better than the last,” Mr Smalley added.