The Prelude Type R Is Real, But Not From Honda
Hasport's Club Racer and throtl's street car both swap in the Civic Type R drivetrain and demand heavy fabrication to make everything work.
Two separate builders just put a 315-horsepower engine where a 200-horsepower hybrid used to live in the new Prelude. Both cars use the Civic Type R as a donor and debut at the 2026 SEMA Show, running until November 6 in Las Vegas.
Hasport's time-attack machine arrives as part of Honda Racing Corporation's own booth, while Throtl, an aftermarket shop and YouTube channel, built a road-focused version with Idemitsu for the general show floor.
The Civic Type R's 315-HP Powertrain
Hasport Honda Prelude Club Racer
The production Prelude runs a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated inline-four paired with a two-motor hybrid system, good for a combined 200 horsepower. Honda built the car as a grand touring coupe, and its output fits that brief.
Both SEMA cars swap that setup for the Civic Type R's turbocharged 2.0-liter K20C1 engine and six-speed manual, rated at 315 horsepower in stock form. As The Drive first detailed, Throtl co-founder Evan Beckerman and his team pulled the swap off by bringing over far more than just the engine.
Throtl's car carries the Civic Type R's front and rear bumpers, reshaped to fit the Prelude, plus a carbon-fiber hood built with Seibon that incorporates the Type R's scoop as one piece. The triple-exit exhaust and rear wing came along too, with the wing's mounts shifted inward so the hatch still opens.
"The entire car thinks it's an FL5, so you plug in the OBD2 reader, it thinks it's a Civic Type R," Beckerman told The Drive. Throtl grumbled that the swap "was far from straightforward, despite the Prelude and Civic sharing core underpinnings."
Gallery: Honda Prelude Type R SEMA build by Throtl and Idemitsu
Hasport And Throtl Take Different Paths
Hasport's build, called the Club Racer, is aimed squarely at time-attack competition. It pairs the Civic Type R powertrain with suspension tuning borrowed from the Acura Integra Type S TCX race car and a custom Borla exhaust, wrapped in a livery that nods to the earlier Hasport Prelude Circuit Monster.
Honda is giving that car floor space inside its own Honda Racing Corporation booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center, alongside a dozen other racing machines. That placement signals institutional interest without a production commitment. For context on Honda's own styling ideas, look at how it previously dressed up the Prelude with HRC parts.
Throtl's interpretation skips the roll cage and race livery in favor of cabin work: red Alcantara door panels and rear seats, the Civic Type R's shifter and center console transferred whole, even its carpet. Beckerman said fitting the Type R's intercooler behind the stock Prelude bumper left no room for airflow, which is why the Civic bumper swap became necessary.
Beckerman said Honda could build this for not much effort, but doubted the company would risk upsetting the Civic Type R's position as the brand's performance flagship. That tension lines up with Honda's past public stance, where it has repeatedly said a factory Prelude Type R isn't happening for now.
Whether either SEMA build changes that decision remains unconfirmed. Honda's own choice to showcase the Hasport car at its HRC booth suggests the idea hasn't been dismissed internally.
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Source: The Drive
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