"The Type R was made to eat road race [circuits]," enthuses Robert Rosso, the owner of this '99 Civic Type R. He's taken the weekend toy to a couple of track events for kicks, and says of the experiences, "It handled amazing - better than both of my Evo 9s."

Whoa, that's pretty high praise considering the Mitsubishis he speaks of are the badass MR variety. But then maybe the Colorado Springs, Colo., resident isn't too far off in his assessment of the hatchback. After all, that "R" does stand for "racing."

Look at the specs. The Japanese market EK9, the first generation of the red R badge for the model, was the lightest Civic ever produced. Its stock B16B motor came hand ported from the factory and boasted one of the highest power-per-liter outputs ever, making some 182 ponies at the crank from roughly 1,600cc of displacement. It even came with a limited-slip diff in the gearbox.

Rosso picked up this particular EK over a year ago and has kept it close to cherry, with a scant 48,000 miles on the 10-year-old right-hand drive (or as the owner likes to put it, 77,000 original kilometers). After creating an EK CTR replica out of a '97 Civic DX, he learned afterward how unique the JDM model really was and went on a quest for the real deal that took him four years to find.

But this is no ordinary '99 CTR. There's actually one more letter we're forgetting to add to its alphabetic abbreviation: a lowercase "x." Starting in '99, the EK9 also came in a Type Rx trim, and contrary to what we first thought, it does not involve pharmaceuticals. The Type Rx featured a CD player, body-colored retractable electric door mirrors, power windows, air conditioning, keyless entry and aluminum "sports" pedals.

Rosso added to the impressive blend of OEM components what could be construed as gear from rival Japanese Honda tuners.

On the one hand, you have the Mugen bits, from the JDM company formed by the son of Honda founder Soichiro Honda. Those include the Mugen Twin Loop Sports exhaust system, Sports Suspension kit and forward strut-tower brace.

Then there are the unmistakable elements from Spoon Sports, in look-at-me yellow and blue, mainly a Spoon valve cover and window banner sticker. The rest of the Spoon grip is either more subtle or out of sight, like the clutch, 4-2-1 header and cam gears for the DOHC VTEC head.

(Spoon probably wins out on Rosso's ride, especially since Spoon founder Ichishima Tatsuru autographed the window decal.)

For several of the exterior's odds and ends, Rosso tried to keep it in the Honda family, getting some parts from its international accessories subsidiary, Honda Access. The Honda Access paraphernalia includes mud guards, window visors and an LSD badge. To set off the championship white body color, Rosso put the car on truly distinctive 17x7.5-inch Volk Racing TE37 rims in striking Takata harness green. We think that's what they call "Super JDM."

The hatchback's cabin is also a mishmash of influences. There are factory touches, like the Gathers speakers and red Recaro bucket seats. Then there are the complementary stock replacements, like the Nardi Corn suede steering wheel on an NRG quick-release hub and Pioneer CD/receiver with iPod and USB interfaces.

Rosso's hatch may be pretty basic, but you can't help but stare and study all of the detail on the race-bred street car. And more is on tap, like a set of Toda individual throttle bodies and some of its aggressive cams. Looks like Rosso may have even been bitten by the track-day bug, as a better race setup is also on the list of future mods.

You can tell Rosso REALLY loves the car; in our communications with him, he was never shy about expressing how great the EK9 is, keeping the superlatives rolling. "It's the best thing that's ever happened to me," he raved recently. "I have owned a lot of cars, and the CTR is the best."

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