Honda Collection Hall: The Greatest Place on Earth for a Honda Fan - Part 2: Race Cars

If the first installment of this series represents the brand's heart, the racing galleries in this second part represent its pulse. Every innovative road car we explored in the previous write-up has its roots in the high-pressure, oil-stained world of motorsport. Soichiro Honda famously said, "If Honda does not race, there is no Honda," and nowhere is that philosophy more palpable than among the rows of championship-winning machines resting at Motegi. From the ear-piercing scream of early Formula One engines to the carbon-fiber titans of the modern era, these machines are the physical manifestation of a company that views competition as the ultimate laboratory.

In this second installment, we will once again travel through time, stripping away the creature comforts of the road cars to focus on pure, unadulterated speed. To maintain the same depth as our previous look at the collection, we will be dividing these legendary race cars into decades. Join me as we trace the lineage of Honda’s competitive spirit, beginning with the bold, experimental triumphs of the 1960s that announced the brand's arrival on the world stage.

Prelude

To understand Honda’s racing pedigree, one must look back even further than the company’s founding to the 1924 Curtiss Special (Silver). This behemoth, powered by an 8.2-liter Curtiss OX-5 V8 aircraft engine, was the car that ignited a young Soichiro Honda’s obsession with speed while he worked as an apprentice at the Art Shokai garage. Acting as the riding mechanic for the garage's owner, Soichiro helped propel the Curtiss Special to a victory in the 5th Japan Motor Championship. This early exposure to the "Spirit of Racing"—the idea of repurposing powerful technology to conquer the track—became the foundational philosophy of his future company. It proved to him that engineering excellence was the only way to compete, a lesson that would eventually drive Honda to the pinnacle of Formula One.

1960's

By the mid-1960s, Honda had shocked the racing world by entering Formula One, and the 1965 Honda RA272 (Top Left) became the first Japanese car to ever win a Grand Prix. Driven by Richie Ginther in Mexico, its transverse-mounted 1.5-liter V12 screamed at a then-unheard-of 13,000 rpm, a feat of miniaturized power that remains a fan favorite at the Collection Hall today. This success was followed by the 1967 Honda RA300 (Top Right), famously nicknamed the "Hondola" due to its chassis collaboration with Lola; it secured a dramatic debut victory at Monza, proving Honda could win with a larger 3.0-liter displacement. The decade closed with a period of intense experimentation and tragedy, represented by the 1968 Honda RA301 (Bottom Left), which struggled with reliability despite its raw power, and the radical 1968 Honda RA302 (Bottom Right). The RA302 featured a magnesium-bodied, air-cooled V8—a testament to Soichiro’s stubborn belief in air-cooling—but its ill-fated outing at the French Grand Prix effectively brought the first golden era of Honda's F1 factory effort to a somber close.

1980's

After a strategic hiatus from Formula One during the 1970s—a decade where the company focused its engineering might on solving the global emissions crisis with the CVCC engine—Honda returned to the grid in the 1980s not as a full constructor, but as a dominant engine supplier. This "second era" of Honda F1 began in earnest with the 1984 Williams FW09 (Bottom), a car that served as a brutal, high-boost testbed for Honda’s turbocharged V6 power. The partnership quickly bore fruit, leading to the 1987 Williams-Honda FW11B (Top Right), a technological tour de force that secured both the Constructors' and Drivers' Championships (with Nelson Piquet). That same year, the 1987 Lotus-Honda 99T (Top Left) showcased Honda’s versatility, featuring an innovative active suspension system and driven by the legendary Ayrton Senna, marking the beginning of a historic relationship between the Brazilian driver and the Japanese manufacturer.

The decade reached its zenith when Honda joined forces with McLaren, creating a partnership that would rewrite the record books. The 1988 McLaren-Honda MP4/4 (Top) is widely regarded as the greatest Formula One car of all time, winning 15 out of 16 races in a single season. Powered by the incredibly efficient RA168E turbo V6, it allowed Senna and Alain Prost to duel for the title in a league of their own. As the sport transitioned away from turbocharging, Honda proved their atmospheric prowess with the 1989 McLaren-Honda MP4/5 (Bottom). Equipped with a thunderous 3.5-liter V10 engine, the MP4/5 carried the torch forward, securing another world title and cementing Honda's status as the undisputed king of the "Power Unit" during the most glamorous era of Grand Prix racing.

1990's

The 1990s began with Honda reaching the absolute peak of its second era in Formula One, characterized by an obsessive pursuit of mechanical perfection. The 1991 McLaren-Honda MP4/6 (Marlboro Livery) stands as a monument to this period, famously serving as the car that carried Ayrton Senna to his third and final World Championship. It was a significant technical milestone, as it featured the RA121E—Honda’s first and only V12 engine to win a title. The MP4/6 was a masterpiece of packaging, delivering over 700 horsepower with a spine-tingling exhaust note that many enthusiasts still consider the most beautiful sound in the history of the sport. As the last manual-shift car to win an F1 championship, its presence in the Collection Hall marks the end of an era of pure, driver-centric machinery.

While Honda eventually withdrew from Formula One in the early 90s, they redirected that competitive fire toward touring cars and endurance racing, dominating grids across the globe. The 1993 Honda Civic SiR-II EG6 (Top Left), sporting the iconic vibrant JACCS #14 livery, became a legend of the Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC), proving that Honda’s front-wheel-drive platforms could humble more powerful rivals through agility and high-revving VTEC efficiency. This was followed by a historic venture to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the 1995 Honda NSX GT2 #84 (Bottom). Driven by the formidable trio of Kunimitsu Takahashi, "Drift King" Keiichi Tsuchiya, and Akira Iida, this specific car secured a legendary class victory in the LMGT2 category, cementing the NSX’s status as a world-class supercar. Rounding out the decade’s racing triumphs was the 1997 Honda Accord SiR (Top Right) , dressed in the unmistakable Black-Red-Green Castrol #16 livery. This car became the face of the super-touring era, utilizing advanced aerodynamics and a highly tuned engine to decimate the competition in the JTCC, ensuring Honda remained a household name in motorsport even outside of F1.

2000's

The 2000s saw Honda return to Formula One as a full works constructor, aiming to recapture the glory of its previous eras with a completely in-house effort. The 2006 Honda RA106 (Top) stands as the high point of this period, famously driven to victory by Jenson Button at the Hungarian Grand Prix in a masterclass of wet-weather driving. This win was momentous, marking Honda’s first F1 victory as a constructor in 39 years and showcasing the potency of their high-revving V8 engine. However, the momentum shifted with the 2008 Honda RA108 (Bottom); despite its striking "Earth Dreams" livery designed to raise environmental awareness, the car struggled with aerodynamic inconsistencies on the track. These challenges eventually led Honda to withdraw from the sport at the end of the year, a bittersweet conclusion to a decade of immense effort and high-speed engineering.

While the F1 program faced a turbulent end to the decade, Honda’s dominance in the Japanese Super GT series remained unwavering, perfectly encapsulated by the 2007 Honda ARTA NSX-GT #8 (Red). Clad in its vibrant, aggressive orange livery, this machine was a radical departure from the street-legal NSX, featuring a mid-mounted 3.5-liter V6 and wide-body aerodynamics designed to produce massive downforce. Driven by Daisuke Ito and Ralph Firman, the ARTA (Autobacs Racing Team Aguri) NSX-GT dominated the 2007 season, claiming the GT500 Driver and Team Championships. It remains one of the most iconic silhouettes in the Honda Collection Hall, representing the absolute pinnacle of the first-generation NSX’s racing career and a golden age for Japanese grand touring competition.

2010's

The final chapter of the Honda Collection Hall’s racing story brings us into the modern "Power Unit" era, where Honda reclaimed its place at the pinnacle of Formula One. The 2019 season was a landmark year, represented by the Red Bull Racing RB15 (Top) and the Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda STR14 (Bottom). The RB15, famously driven by Max Verstappen, secured Honda’s first F1 victory in the hybrid era at the Austrian Grand Prix, proving that their technology could once again outperform the best in the world. Meanwhile, the STR14 served as the "sister" car, famously taking podiums in Germany and Brazil. 

For me, seeing the STR14 in person at Motegi was a particularly special surprise; just last year, I had the privilege of seeing its predecessor, the 2018 STR13, on display in Auckland at the Starship Supercar Show and even at my own workplace, GVI Penrose. Moving from the car that my workplace helped host in New Zealand to its direct successor in the heart of Japan felt like a full-circle moment, bridging the gap between my daily life and the global legacy of Honda Racing.

Conclusion

The racing machines of the Honda Collection Hall are more than just trophies of past victories; they are the physical evidence of a philosophy that views the racetrack as the ultimate classroom. From the high-revving V12s of the 1960s to the complex hybrid power units of today, these cars represent a cycle of constant failure, learning, and eventual triumph. Seeing these legends resting in the quiet halls of Motegi, it becomes clear that Honda’s identity is inseparable from the pursuit of speed. Each car we’ve explored was built to push the limits of what was thought possible, and in doing so, they provided the DNA that eventually found its way into the cars sitting in our own driveways.

However, our journey through the Hall isn’t quite finished. To truly understand the origin of this "Power of Dreams," we have to go back to where it all began: two wheels. Before there were supercars or Formula One titles, there were the motorcycles that built the foundation of the company and put the world on notice. Watch this space for the final installment of this series, where we will ascend to the next floor to explore the breathtaking evolution of Honda’s motorcycles, from humble motorized bicycles to the legendary machines that dominated the Isle of Man TT and MotoGP.