ART OF SPEED
Honda Type R gearknob
Honda Type R gearknob
D‘DON’T REST YOUR HAND ON THE GEARKNOB BECAUSE you’ll knacker the forks.’ You hear this from time to time and it does sound irritatingly prudish. It’s sage advice, though. Using the gearstick as a rest causes the selector fork within the transmission to rub against the synchro ring, and that makes it wear prematurely.
The urge, you suspect, to do precisely this must be so very strong for owners of Honda’s DC2 Integra Type R. Theirs is no glob of nondescript tat. Rather a beautifully machined lozenge of titanium that the late Russell Bulgin once described as ‘smooth as flesh, cold as marble’. And you couldn’t wish for a finer control with which to stir the Integra’s five forward speeds and keep that 1.8-litre VTEC screamer on the boil. Glinting in a sea of black plastic, this is a gearknob that begs to be cupped in the same way the car begs to be thrashed – continuously.
The mechanism it orchestrates is exceptional, too, by any standard. Tight actions for the shift and clutch are paired with position-perfect brake and throttle pedals. The titanium knob has a meaty feel, requiring a little heft to set into motion but then almost hauling itself forward or back to select the next ratio unaided. It gives you rhythm, and acts as a sort of baton pass from machine to man.
So often it’s the details that get people like us feverish, of course, and so often has Honda demonstrated it understands this explicitly. Exotic gearlevers have long been employed as a brand signature, and though Ferrari’s open-gater is peerless in this regard, the titanium-topped shortthrow masterpieces from Suzuka hold a special place in our hearts. First seen in the NSX-R, the intention was to evoke the manual shifters of the MP4-series McLaren-Honda F1 cars that took Prost and Senna to glory. Titanium is desirable for competition use because of its low thermal conductivity compared with aluminium, and also its lightness and hardness. These qualities weren’t essential for the clammy palms of you or me on the B660, but what a classy touch. Especially in a frontwheel drive coupe costing just `16 lakh (in the UK).
Even though it harks from what will go down as a purple patch for performance Hondas, the DC2 Integra still seems freakishly singleminded. Lightweight flywheel and exhaust, no damping for the transmission mount or driveshaft, thinner windscreen glass, handported engine, 9000rpm limiter, aluminium wheels, no sound-deadening to speak of, a chassis to die for. The spec-sheet reads like a touring car’s.
Honda switched to aluminium shortly after the S2000 arrived in 1999 (not only was it cheaper, but lighter, too), but the crimson-etched titanium gearknobs in the EK9 Civic, CH1 Accord and DC2 Integra Type R models are very much the real deal. And around `25k to replace. So if you’re importing one of these Japanese cult cars, just make sure it hasn’t been interfered with at Yokohama docks first. ⌧