The Honda Collection Hall is a temple all Honda worshippers should make the pilgrimage to at least once in their life. Those who do arrive are rewarded with a double treat as the Honda Collection Hall is located within the Twin Ring Motegi complex, allowing devotees of the big H emblem to spend a day totally immersed in all things Honda.

It’s unfortunate that Honda’s founder, the late Soichiro Honda (who passed away in 1991) wasn’t able to witness the amazing Honda museum in person when the ribbons were cut to the venue in 1998. Nonetheless, I’m sure he would be proud as the legacy of what Honda-san and his company accomplished, as well as gifted to the automotive world are all archived at this incredible venue.

As I entered through the glass doors – which were decorated with silhouette vinyl of iconic Honda automobiles – I locked eyes with the mythical RA272 Formula One car. This legendary piece of machinery has to be Honda’s most influential race car.

One of my admiration for Honda as a brand is their passion for performance and motorsport, especially seeing such commitment very early on in the company’s life. Soichiro Honda-san’s quotes have adorned many popular motivational books but one particular quote resonates when I think of the RA272; "If Honda does not race, there is no Honda". So it was no surprise that Honda were the first Japanese manufacture to enter Formula One in 1964 with the debut of their RA271 model. A year later at the 1965 Mexican GP, American driver Richie Ginther took the chequered flag for Honda – marking the victory as not only Honda’s first GP win but additionally, the first ever GP win from a Japanese manufacture.

The RA272 is powered by a 48-valve, transversely mounted 1.5 litre V12 engine. What a symphony it would’ve been to hear the 230 horsepower RA272 singing at 14,000 RPM over half a decade ago when the car was actively raced in 1965. A red H badge and splash of Championship White paint are two ingredients commonly found on Honda’s modern Type R road cars; a tribute to the winning RA272.

Ground floor of the Honda Collection Hall also featured the S360 roadster of 1963. Despite bearing similar resemblances to the S500, the S360 never made it to production as the former was chosen to be built and sold.

Floor one showcased some of Honda’s motorcycles.

Production cars were the focus on level two. The first model which greeted me also happened to be Honda’s first ever production car; the T360 pickup truck. If Honda delayed the T360’s production by four months in 1963, the S500 sports car would’ve been the company’s first production car.

Throughout the sixties, Honda evolved the S500 into the S600, which later evolved to the S800. A classic in its own right, the S800’s death in 1970 would see the motoring world absent of a S-series Honda sports car for almost thirty years until the birth of the S2000 in 1999. It was interesting to note that there wasn’t an S2000 archived at the Honda Collection Hall.

Great-grandparents of modern day Honda vehicles – Civic, Accord, CR-X, Integra and Prelude to name a few – were all sat close to one another.

A nifty trick to reduce wear on window-seals for cars which sit around for extended periods is to not have the driver and passenger windows completely wound up. This allows the seals to breath as they are uncompressed.

Photos of the Championship White trio below have flooded the internet for years but this didn’t deter from seeing the real life version as I got to check out the nitty-gritties. Honda Collection Hall’s fleet do see sunlight as test drives around a dedicated circuit (just outside the museum) are checkbox items on each vehicle’s maintenance procedure list. You can even watch videos of the very same NA1 NSX-R, 98-spec DC2 Integra Type R and 97-spec EK9 Civic Type R below – performing their routine test drives on YouTube.

When I purchased and installed a brand new OEM-painted front lip for my DC2 Type R back home, feelings of extreme distress occurred as there was a minor OCD-agitating gap on the driver’s side. I now feel comforted knowing that even the Honda Collection Hall’s "museum-spec" example wasn’t immune to this problem.

Honda’s current foray in Formula One has not yielded the results we were all hoping for. However, once a upon a time, the red H-badge wearing race cars were victorious in battle. This area of the Honda Collection Hall served as a reminder of Honda’s efforts in Formula One as well as their rich history in motorsport.

My body froze and shivered as a snake of goose bumps slithered down my back when I made eye contact with the below.

Ayrton Senna needs no introduction. When I saw his McLaren Honda MP4/6, I was lost for words and still am as I presently type. It’s difficult to describe the aura which radiates from this car so I’ll just let the photos do the talking.

The first-generation NSX had a production run of fifteen years. During those years, Honda also campaigned their road-going supercar in various motorsport programs. Locally in Japan’s domestic series, Super GT (formerly JGTC), the NSX was in service for thirteen years – winning the championship title four times. During the 2000 season, Ryo Michigami piloted the Castrol Mugen Dome NSX to outright victory. The real McCoy was equally as stunning as the pixel-formed version my childhood-self would opt for when playing Gran Turismo 3 on the PlayStation 2.

An all-star driver lineup consisting of Keiichi Tsuchiya, Kunimitsu Takahashi and Akira Iida formed the Team Kunimitsu GT2 class entry for the 1995, 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Honda’s works team also participated in the 1995 event with two vehicles – both turbocharged NSXs – but failed to achieve honourable results in the GT1 class they raced in. It was the naturally-aspirated NSX of Team Kunimitsu which saw victory, snatching the GT2 class win and placing sixteenth overall.

Twin Ring Motegi’s third souvenir shop was located within the Honda Collection Hall. Close by was a neat little library with lots of Honda literature.

Honda has such a rich history in the world of automobiles and motorsport. Visiting the Honda Collection Hall allowed me to be reminded of great things this company has accomplished and produced. To see Soichiro Honda’s vision realised in the form of Honda manufactured road and race cars at the Honda Collection Hall was truly captivating. For you Honda worshippers out there, a visit to this temple is not only optional – it is a requirement.