- HRC will sell its 2007 Sebring-winning Acura ARX-01a through a new heritage program.
- The factory says it will restore cars and provide trackside assistance for buyers.
- Historic NSX GT3 and Honda-powered IndyCar offerings are expected to follow.
Race cars are objectively cool, but they rarely age well as routine weekend toys. Parts become harder and harder to find, electronics inevitably need attention, and the people who built and truly understand the car in question move on to other things. That’s why Honda has just decided to kick off a new program where it’ll sell you genuine classic race cars and then help you keep them on the track.
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The all-new Heritage Racing Program is an offshoot of Honda Racing Corp. The first car on offer to wealthy buyers is the No. 26 Acura ARX-01a. It isn’t a replica or a tribute car, either. This is Acura’s first purpose-built endurance racer, and it won the LMP2 class at the 2007 Sebring 12 Hours in its debut with Dario Franchitti, Bryan Herta, and Tony Kanaan sharing driving duties.
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HRC announced the program as part of its Monterey Car Week display, where the car will appear at The Quail on August 14. HRC’s Monterey roundup also confirms that the ARX-01a will be displayed at Laguna Seca. Importantly, this isn’t just a racing car sales program. HRC says it will completely disassemble each car, consult original homologation papers, engineering notes, and period photos, then rebuild it with new or reconditioned parts.
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Engines will be rebuilt at HRC’s Santa Clarita headquarters, while electronics and some safety materials will receive sensible updates. HRC says it will track-test each restoration and make its engineers available for trackside support. In other words, buyers won’t just get a race car. They’ll get access to the people who designed it. They’ll get options during the rebuild process, and they’ll have the peace of mind to know the car can do real work at the track safely.
No price has been announced for the ARX-01a, which is hardly surprising. HRC has also restored four ARX-05 DPi prototypes and is displaying an NSX GT3 chassis that it says is currently for sale. That car scored 38 class wins in IMSA and SRO competition, so there’s clearly more than one way to spend a lot of money here.
Future offerings are expected to include historic Honda-powered IndyCars. That’s the real point of this program. Anybody with enough money can buy an old race car. Honda is betting that buyers would rather buy one with a factory lifeline attached.
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