Special exhibition highlight

To the right, in the North Tower, is the Third Special Exhibition of racing bikes and cars, detailing "The Dreams, The Spirit, The Technology"of Honda motor sports. It traces Honda's progress from a maker who bought a 1956 125cc Mondial (also displayed) to study world-class technology, to a company that would quickly lead design trends itself. During the '50s and '60s, Honda's engines grew in complexity from two to five and even six cylinders. In 1954, the ambitious automotive company announced that they would compete in the prestigious Isle of Man motorcycle race. Their first attempt, in 1959, earned them the team prize for durability. Outright victory eluded them until 1961, when Honda trounced the opposition by taking the top five positions in the 125cc and 250cc classes. In 1966, Honda won all five classes after also entering a 500cc bike. In all, 24 bikes are displayed, including those ridden by Barry Sheene and Mike Hailwood. It's amazing that 500cc bikes dating back to the '70s were able to achieve speeds of up to 280km/h. The smallest bike is a 50cc Honda RC115, winner of five out of seven rounds in the 1965 World Championship series. There are also a couple of Formula 1 racers and the superficially similar Indy open-wheelers. One of the most famous cars is Ayrton Senna's 1988 McLaren Honda, which dominated the 1988 F1 series, winning fifteen out of sixteen GPs. The performance of these cars is awesome, achieving 300km/h top speeds from 1500cc twin turbo engines mounted in cars weighing less than 600kg. The Indy cars are similar, but with 2650cc single turbo engines.
Honda was the first Japanese manufacturer to compete in Indy car racing, and their inaugural entry, raced at Surfer's Paradise in 1994, is on show. A sound effects booth gives some indication of the noise all these machines make, although their real life scream is generally a lot louder