Honda engines of street and circuit sound off at 75th anniversary event

As part of Honda’s 75th anniversary festivities this year, the Honda Collection Hall in Japan invited guests to listen to the sound of engines. Taking a series of classic motorcycles, cars, and racing machines from the museum, curators fired them up for the crowd. The Collection Hall takes great pride in the fact that all their vehicles not only look good, but run as well.

The earliest Honda in the anniversary showcase is literally just an engine. The 1947 Type A, a gasoline motor that customers could retrofit onto a common bicycle, was Honda’s first product. Honda Motor Co. was established the following year. The first four-wheeled Hondas appeared in 1963, the T360 truck and the S500 roadster. Back then it must have been absolutely mind-blowing to see this home-grown red sports car zipping through a sea of black Datsun 310 sedans and Isuzu trucks on its way to a 9,500 rpm redline.

Another video shows Honda’s most historic racing motorcycles and cars. It starts off with the 1960 RC143, the bike that proved Honda, then a newcomer to the global stage, was a force to be reckoned with. Next up is the NR750, the unprecedented enduro bike with oval pistons and two connecting rods each. After that comes Honda’s iconic Formula 1 cars, starting with the 1965 RA272, the first Japanese car to win a Grand Prix, then the McLaren-Honda MP4/5 and MP4/6 from Honda’s golden era of F1 dominance.

Through this symphony of revs one can hear Honda’s engineering excellence through its earliest works. Redlines like that don’t happen without precision and technological know-how. It has been said that Honda is an engine company that happens to build great cars. There is perhaps no better proof than this event, and the fact that fans show up for it.