Honda and Acura are rolling more than 20 championship-winning race cars and motorcycles into Monterey Car Week, turning the Peninsula's marquee automotive week into a rolling museum of the brand's eight decades on track. The lineup spans everything from a 1986 Formula 1 title winner to the IndyCar that carried Alex Palou to his fourth series championship last year, with machines set to appear at Motorlux, The Quail, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
According to a release from Honda Newsroom, the automaker will show off a collection that includes six Formula 1 drivers' championships, six F1 constructors' titles, 17 Indianapolis 500 victories and 25 premier-class Grand Prix and MotoGP constructors' championships. David Salters, president of Honda Racing Corporation USA, said Honda's founder believed competition improved the company, its engineers and its products — a philosophy the release frames as the throughline connecting a 1968 Suzuka class winner to a Formula 1 car built for 2026.
From Suzuka to Le Mans, Decades of Silverware
The static and dynamic displays trace Honda and Acura's competition record across nearly every discipline the company has entered, including Formula 1, IndyCar, IMSA, SCCA, Baja racing, MotoGP, Dakar, the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, AMA Supercross and Formula Xtreme. The Honda S800 RSC that won the GT-1 class at the 1968 12 Hours of Suzuka will share space with sports car winners like the Acura ARX-01A, which took the LMP2 class at the 2007 Sebring 12 Hours, and the Strakka Racing ARX-01c, which won LMP2 at the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Acura ARX-05 secured teams, drivers and constructors championships in 2019, 2020 and 2022 while competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship from 2018 through 2022, and it also won the 2022 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Its successor, the Acura ARX-06 developed by Honda Racing Corporation USA and Oreca, kept the streak alive when the Meyer Shank Racing No. 60 entry won the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona. The ARX-06 is scheduled to appear at both Motorlux and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.
Two-Wheeled History Rides Alongside the Cars
Honda's motorcycle heritage gets equal billing. Nicky Hayden's 2006 Honda RC211V, which helped secure 48 race wins, three riders' championships and four constructor titles for the model, will appear alongside the current Honda RC213V — a MotoGP machine capable of topping 223 mph that has piled up seven constructors', six riders' and six team championships between 2012 and 2026. The Honda NSR500 that carried Mick Doohan to the 1997 FIM Grand Prix championship, part of a run that saw the model collect over 100 race wins and 10 riders' world championships between 1984 and 2002, rounds out the two-wheel showcase.
Off-road and endurance riders get recognition too: Dick Mann's 1970 Daytona 200 win, the Honda N600 Baja's run in the 1970 Baja 1000, and Dakar Rally victories credited to Ricky Brabec in 2020 and 2024 and Kevin Benavides in 2021 all reflect a record that adds up to eight Dakar Rally wins for Honda overall. Miguel Duhamel's eight national championships in AMA Supersport and Formula Xtreme racing, plus 11 AMA Supersport and Formula Xtreme national championships for Honda as a brand, extend that tally further, while Jett Lawrence's 2024 Supercross championship and his sweep of the 2025 Pro Motocross and Supermotocross titles bring the motorcycle story into the present.
A 1986 F1 Champion Returns to the Track
Among the marquee pieces is the 1986 Williams Honda FW11, which claimed nine victories from 16 races that season and is scheduled to run demonstration laps at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Also on track will be Alex Zanardi's 1996 Honda-powered IndyCar and the 2001 championship-winning IndyCar once driven by the late Gil de Ferran, which McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown purchased from Roger Penske this year. Modern hardware shares the paddock too: the 2026 Aston Martin Aramco AMR26, powered by the Honda RA626H under Honda's new works partnership with the team, and the 2026 Honda RC213V will both be on display at the Reunion.
The show is a snapshot of a broader restructuring effort. Honda Racing Corporation USA, founded as Honda Racing Corporation in 1982, has amassed more than 500 race wins and 60 series championships and expanded in 2024 into consumer performance parts, merchandise and historic memorabilia sales. That same year, the organization formally rebranded from Honda Performance Development to align with the company's global motorsports structure, a restructuring detailed by IMSA that folded the North American racing arm into Honda's worldwide operations alongside its motorcycle and Formula 1 programs.
Beyond the historic machinery, the display carries a direct line to Honda's current racing form. Alex Palou's Chip Ganassi Racing entry won eight of 17 races in 2025, including the 109th Indianapolis 500, to secure his fourth IndyCar championship and Honda's seventh NTT IndyCar Series driver title — a run Honda Racing notes marked the first time since 2005 that one driver and engine manufacturer swept the Indy 500 and all three IndyCar titles in a single season.
Why Japanese Marques Are Front and Center This Year
Honda's showing arrives as the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion names Icons of Japanese Motorsport its featured marque for the first time in the event's 52-year history, according to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, with more than 40 historic race cars and 24 motorcycles from Honda, Toyota, Mazda and Nissan filling the paddock. It is a shift for a weekend historically built around European and American marques.
The timing lines up with sweeping changes elsewhere in racing. Honda's new works power unit partnership with Aston Martin Aramco for the 2026 Formula 1 season coincides with FIA rule changes requiring fully sustainable fuels and raising MGU-K electrical output from 120 kW to 350 kW, changes that Racecar Engineering reports push toward a roughly even split between combustion and electric power. Monterey Car Week itself continues to grow around these showcases, drawing more than 100,000 visitors to the Peninsula each year and generating an estimated local economic impact above $130 million, with major auctions across the 10-day event routinely topping $400 million in combined sales, according to Agent4Stars.com.
This year's calendar also marks the 75th anniversary of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on August 16, an event that began in 1950 with just 30 cars on a practice tee and has grown into a roughly 220-car exhibition. Honda's paddock presence follows other recent shifts around the week, including Bonhams' move of its flagship auction from The Quail to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca — its first venue change in 29 years — placing the sale directly inside the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion paddock alongside the historic race cars now on display.
