Surely the modern gizmos are the only things that make the modern front wheel drive stuff driveable like the newest civic type R (used in the OP). In this video on top gear they tested the alfa 147 GTA and for all its extra straight line speed it was slower around the track than a golf R32 or focus RS of the time because it had no technology. I think a lot of the more powerful cars would be rendered fairly useless if you ripped out all the tech that makes them fast.