By Jamie White – Head of Communications

Ricky Wilson – lead singer of British indie rock band, the Kaiser Chiefs – has been announced as an ambassador for Honda’s new Civic Type R.

Ricky is set to kick off his role as ambassador by piloting the new Civic Type R up the famous Hill Climb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on Saturday (June 27th).

As preparation for his drive at the world’s biggest motorsport garden party, Ricky secured his National B race licence at Knockhill last week, under the guidance of Honda BTCC star driver, Gordon ‘Flash’ Shedden. Honda currently leads the 2015 British Touring Car Championship.

Ricky said: “I have learnt an enormous amount of high-performance driving skills from Flash and am nervously confident I can handle the new Civic Type R around the famous Hill Climb at Goodwood.”

Ricky will take ownership of his own blue Civic Type R this summer, complete with the all-new +R mode, which increases the response of chassis and engine for enhanced driving thrills.

Ricky added: “For the first time, I feel like I can trust something at high speed. For a car that’s a small road car, it gives you a taste of the race. I think it’s brilliant.”

Gordon said: “Ricky has a natural talent behind the wheel, and we discovered he drove much better when listening to the Kaiser Chiefs when out on the track. His reactions were quick and smooth and I look forward to hearing about his Goodwood experience and living with the car during his time as ambassador.”

Leon Brannan, Head of Cars at Honda UK, said: “We are chuffed to bits that Ricky is our ambassador for Type R. It’s a car with great racing pedigree that has a huge fan-base on the roads. I’m sure Ricky will thrive on the adrenalin that 306bhp through the front wheels brings. I’ve promised him it’ll provide the same rush as playing Glastonbury…”

Mystery shopping and performance improvement company, Douglas Stafford, provides Honda UK with a bespoke nationwide mystery shopping, customer experience and performance coaching programme.