Honda’s New Heritage Racing Program Lets You Buy And Restore Championship Race Cars
Honda Racing Corporation USA has launched the HRC Heritage Racing Program, a new initiative offering enthusiasts the chance to own, restore, and race championship-winning Honda and Acura machines. The program debuted this week during Monterey Car Week (Aug. 12–16, 2026), with the first car available for purchase making its public debut at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering on Aug. 14.
The headline offering is the #26 XM Satellite Radio AGR Acura ARX-01a — the V8-powered LMP2 endurance racer that won its class on debut at the 2007 Sebring 12 Hours, driven by Dario Franchitti, Bryan Herta, and Tony Kanaan. It was the first purpose-built Acura endurance racer and the first car and engine designed and developed by HRC in the United States.
Restorations Built From Original HRC Engineering Archives
What separates the HRC Heritage Racing Program from a typical historic race-car sale is the depth of factory involvement. Every restoration begins with the original homologation documents and is cross-referenced against notes and photographs from the HRC engineers who built each car. HRC’s technical archives back up the process at every step.
Each car is completely torn down, then rebuilt using new and reconditioned parts. Electronics are modernized, engines are rebuilt at HRC US headquarters in Santa Clarita, California, and some materials are updated for safety. Once reassembled, every car goes through thorough track testing before delivery — and HRC engineers remain available for trackside support when the new owner takes the car to competition. The goal, as HRC US Commercial Manager John Whiteman put it, is to maintain “the authenticity of design and driving experience” while making targeted updates for safety and usability.
The Cars Already Restored And Available
The ARX-01a is the first car listed for sale, but the Heritage program has already completed several significant restorations now on display or on track at Laguna Seca this weekend.
HRC has restored four Acura ARX-05 DPi endurance racers — the sports prototype that competed in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship from 2018 through 2022, securing three teams’, drivers’, and constructors’ championships (2019, 2020, 2022) and a Rolex 24 win in 2023. One of them, a 2019 Acura Team Penske car, is on display at Laguna Seca this weekend. The 2010 ARX-01c “Strakka Racing” LMP2 class winner at Le Mans has also been freshly restored and is racing at Laguna Seca in the Scott Pruett Legends event on Saturday with current Acura GTP IMSA driver Nick Yelloly. It moves to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on Sunday, displayed in the Japanese Motorsports: The Rising Sun At Le Mans class.
Also available for purchase is the Acura NSX GT3 Chassis No. 5 — the winningest NSX GT3 of all time, with 38 class wins across IMSA and SRO competition, two manufacturers’ championships, five drivers’ titles, and four teams’ championships from 2017 to 2023. It’s on display at Laguna Seca in its “Lady Liberty” livery. HRC also assisted Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, in refurbishing the 2001 Reynard 01i — the CART championship car raced by the late Gil de Ferran for Team Penske — fitting it with a period-correct Honda engine and making it track-ready. That car is making demonstration laps at Laguna Seca throughout the weekend.
Franchitti On What Made The ARX-01a Special
Dario Franchitti, who drove the XM Acura ARX-01a to multiple victories, offered a straightforward assessment of the car’s appeal: “The 2007 XM Acura ARX-01a made you feel like a hero, it made you feel like the best driver in the world, you just pushed harder and harder and it just kept coming back for more. It’s just a pleasure to drive — the 2007 XM Acura ARX-01a is a special car for anyone who was lucky enough to get to drive it, and you can’t say that for a lot of cars.”
HRC US president David Salters framed the program’s philosophy simply: “Classic race cars never die, their myth and aura just grow.” HRC’s position as the original builder — holding the IP, the engineering records, and the institutional knowledge — is the core argument for why these restorations carry more weight than what a third-party shop could deliver.
Memorabilia, Scale Models, And What’s Next For The Program
Beyond the cars themselves, the HRC display at The Quail is offering a range of collectibles. Genuine engine components from the McLaren MP4/5B driven by Gerhard Berger in the 1990 German Grand Prix are available — pistons, connecting rods, camshafts, valves, and a cam cover from the race-used RA100E Honda V10, each housed in a bespoke display case with an HRC certificate of authenticity. A jewelry collection crafted from smaller engine components, produced in collaboration with B.L.S. Co., Ltd. and Kofu silversmiths, is also featured. Premium 1:8 and 1:18 scale models of the Honda RA272 — the car that won Honda’s first Formula One victory at the 1965 Mexico Grand Prix — round out the offerings, produced in partnership with Amalgam Collection.
HRC says the Heritage Racing Program will expand to include historic Honda-powered IndyCar machines in future offerings. For now, full details on available cars are at heritage.honda.racing.
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