It’s a spectacular summer day in Montreal, and not just because it’s 80 degrees. It’s Formula One week, and the remote buzz is audible even downtown as F1 drivers crackle off practice laps at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. They turn one of the most peaceful places in one of North America’s greatest cities, into one of the noisiest.

Under the same bright blue Quebec sky, a few dozen miles away, another buzz becomes a din of beating wings, flailing arms and recently acquired curse words— Tabernac!—when vicious bastard blackflies mug me for quarter-sized drops of blood.

They get theirs. Soon enough, they’re overwhelmed by the angrier buzz of red, white, and blue swarming ICAR, a track fashioned out of the barely-used leftovers of Montreal’s old Mirabel airport.

We’re here to sample the track-ready 2017 Honda Civic Type R, a divine little ball-peen hammer that turns up Honda’s wick hotter than it’s ever been.

The Ford Focus RS, Subaru WRX, and Volkswagen Golf R get put on notice by the Type R’s breathy powertrain and its flare-tastic shape. Does it all gel like the Subie and VW—or does it barely hold its grip on reality, like the Focus?

Take a knee while we take the wheel.

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

Civic Si as prelude

It wasn’t so long ago—three weeks—that we took you for some Mojave loops in the 2017 Honda Civic Si, until now the latest installment in the marathon launch of the latest Civic. The launch began with the 2016 Civic sedan. Then hatchbacks and coupes joined the fun, before Honda headed into performance territory.

You read that story, so you know the Civic Si marks a VTEC-free waypoint on the road to happiness. Here’s the final stop: the fastest and most powerful Honda-brand car ever sold in the U.S.

Under its straked hood the Civic Type R sports a U.S.-built, direct-injected 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4. It blasts out 306 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque to the front wheels.

Every cubic inch of the engine gets massaged to withstand that searing output. VTEC makes its return, along with a water-cooled exhaust manifold, lightweight valves, an oil cooler, and a twist to the boost pressure from the Si’s 20.3 psi to 22.8 psi. It’s up on the Civic Si by 101 hp, and the Type R’s max torque spans a plateau from 2,500 rpm to 4,500 rpm, thanks to that extra boost.

A standard helical limited-slip front differential helps keep its hysterical power in line. A three-mode drive selector toggles some driving efforts from normal to Sport and +R track modes.

Honda doesn’t peg 0-60 mph times, but low-five-second times feel correct as track workers give us the two-finger OK to screech onto Mirabel’s elevation-free pavement in the Type R’s 20-inch shoes.

DON'T MISS: 2017 Honda Civic Si arrives with $24,475 price tag

Within a turn or two, the Type R distances itself from the schizo Focus RS on one end of the spectrum, and the WRX/Golf R on the other.

Tremendous power comes with trade-offs. There’s none of the manic high-end wail that’s marked VTEC from the days of the Prelude. Honda fits a three-port exhaust with a center resonator to make the Type R sound beefier down low, and smoother up high. The juvenile wastegate flapping, snarling, popping and crackling of the frantic RS have no equal here. Honda’s left a lot on the acoustic table, to some tuners’ delight no doubt.

The 6-speed manual plays the near-perfect wingman. It has Honda’s first rev-matching system, programmed to smooth out shifts until it’s in +R mode, where it zings throttle and plays some acoustic tricks to heighten the driving thrill. The system can be toggled off through the Type R’s Android-based display.

It stops when it needs, too. Ample four-piston Brembo brakes clamp on 13.8-inch front rotors and 12-inch rears. All Type Rs wear 20-inch aluminum wheels wrapped in 245/30R 20 Continental ContiSportContact 6 tires.

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

Elephant, meet room

The Civic Type R strains at the leash in the best ways, but finds the limits of front-wheel drive about as quickly as you think a 306-hp car would.

The front wheels have a lot of work to do here, with acceleration and steering and braking. All-wheel-drive rivals like the WRX and Golf R thread corners instinctively, masking sloppy footwork with balance.

The Civic Type R rewards a more careful tack. Pivot it into moderate bends, like the lump-free left-hander that leads into Mirabel’s middle ess, and the Type R deftly drifts through. As the pivots get tighter, patience rears its head in the form of understeer. Push the Type R hard into hairpins and it just slides off-line, waiting for you to back off.

Lift the throttle abruptly, and the Type R whips its tail as if to smack your hand with a ruler. Back off carefully, and the track-mode Type R will tuck its tail and move briskly around the bend.

MORE: 2018 Audi A5 Sportback first drive review: a niche worth exploring

Honda’s set it up to do just that, to overcome its fundamental biases. The Type R gets its own spring, damper, and bushing settings. The front springs are 200 percent stiffer than those in the base hatchback; the rear stabilizer bars, 240 percent stiffer. It also sports new control arms and knuckles, retuned electric steering, and a specific damper setting for each of its three driving modes.

A few laps of Mirabel’s slot-car track and that technique turns into second nature. In +R track mode, the Type R lays way off the steering assist, gives the dampers almost total rein over ride motions.

The dance grows more graceful with each lap. Slash through the straights, wait for the car to shift its weight and limbo just below the understeer threshold. Lift the throttle, rotate the car. Throw it through the wide corners, encourage it gently through the narrow ones. The Type R doesn’t like ham fists and ham feet, but there’s not much else it doesn’t like about going fast.

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

2017 Honda Civic Type R

Line it up

The Civic Type R loves a racing line as much as it loves a body line. It wears lots of them. Possibly, almost all of them. It’s the angriest-looking Civic ever, what with its flared fenders, massive air intakes, and big brake ducts. Honda must have found a sale on aero bits at nearby Bombardier: the Civic’s huge wing flanked by side sills and front winglets.

Tone it all down with gray or black paint, is our suggestion. The other available colors—red, white, and blue—won’t give your eyeholes a moment’s rest.

The cabin’s sewn up with red and black fabric and red thread. The deeply bolstered seats come off spongy but supportive, though like other Civics, we have a hard time finding a perfect seating position. (The Civic’s telescope-wheel adjustment sits near the firewall, so bring your long arms.) The gauges have a multi-mode meter that switches from grip levels to a boost gauge to a lap timer. Aluminum cools the tip of the shift lever.

Your Type R money—$34,775, with no options—gets you 20-inch wheels with 245/30ZR Conti tires, the aero add-ons, performance meters, sport seats and pedals, sport steering wheel, 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment, navigation, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a 12-speaker 540-watt stereo, dual-zone automatic climate control, keyless ignition, LED headlights, and a serial number plate on the console.