In 1982, the Federation Internationale du Sport Automobile introduced a new formula for the World Sportscar Championship, the top level of endurance racing. Forged by the fires of the economic turmoil and fuel crisis of the late 70s, Group C was brought forth to revitalize the struggling sport.

A more fuel consumption-conscious attitude was the central focus of the new regulations, as cars were restricted to 600 liters per 1000 kilometer event. Given the mandated 100L fuel tank, this gave each team five stops every race.

The FISA and ACO became so desperate for entries, NASCAR machines were allowed in 1976. The FISA and ACO became so desperate for entries, NASCAR machines were allowed in 1976.

At the same time, the fuel restrictions were meant to rein in the seemingly limitless power of turbocharged engines. The risk of running out would prevent drivers from simply turning up the boost anytime a competitor came close, and gave large naturally aspirated engines a fighting chance.

The potential for a varied palette of engine types competing on a relatively playing field worked to broaden the series' appeal to large manufacturers, most of which hadn't tackled turbo technology just yet. Attracting as many big brands as possible was essential for the WSC, as virtually all works teams had cancelled their racing activities due to the energy crises.

After a slow start in 1982, which saw Lancia still running an open-top Group 6 prototype, Group C swiftly became everything its creators hoped it would be. One after another, leading names of the automotive industry joined the grid. By 1989, Porsche, Lancia, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin, Nissan, Jaguar, BMW, Ford and Mazda were all involved in the WSC in some capacity.

One name conspicuously missing from that list however, was Honda. While its three main rivals were taking the fight to the European establishment, the Japanese firm kept its focus on trying to become a winning force in Formula One. With Williams and Nelson Piquet, both titles were secured in 1986 and 1987. A switch to McLaren yielded even more success, culminating in the most dominant F1 car of all time: the MP4/4.

The MP4/4 cemented Honda's name in F1 history. The MP4/4 cemented Honda's name in F1 history.

Having mastered F1 to the point of domination, Honda's motorsport department started looking towards other challenges. Several meetings later the top brass had narrowed the potential projects down to two disciplines: CART/Indycar, as part of Honda's assault on the American market, and Group C, with the aim to become the first Japanese manufacturer to win the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A Le Mans victory would give Honda tons of positive publicity. A Le Mans victory would give Honda tons of positive publicity.

However, Honda lacked experience when it came to designing, building, running and developing a high-tech Le Mans racer. Especially on the chassis-side of things, the company could do with some help.

As Toyota had partnered with Dome, Nissan used chassis drawn up by Lola, and Mazda used renowned Formula One designer Nigel Stroud, there was no shame in seeking outside assistance.

Naturally, McLaren was approached to assist with the project. However, their response was less than enthusiastic. McLaren's boss Ron Dennis wasn't keen on diverting attention, manpower and money away from his core business. Furthermore, he didn't want McLaren to race and win at Le Mans while Honda took the credit as factory team.

Realizing this, Honda responded in the only language Dennis spoke fluently: money.In return of spearheading the Le Mans effort, Honda offered its F1-engines at a steep discount. In the event the McLaren-Honda Group C car would actually be able to win the 24 Hours, the engines would be completely free. With Dennis' interest piqued, the partnership was finalized in the winter of 1989.

Honda cleverly dealt with Dennis' infamously difficult character. Honda cleverly dealt with Dennis' infamously difficult character.

With the MP4/5 only being evolved into a B-spec for 1990, McLaren had some time and space left normally reserved for a creation of a brand new chassis. A crack team of seven engineers was put on the Le Mans project, overseen by technical director Neil Oatley.

Using a leftover MP4/4 tub as a base, the team created a conventional carbon fiber/kevlar monocoque wide enough to qualify as a sports prototype, which were required to seat two people, in theory. A disused longitudinal Wiesmann/McLaren 6-speed manual transmission was also fitted, complete with suspension.

However, McLaren didn't exactly have an engine capable of completing a 24 hour race lying around, let alone winning it. The 3.5L RA100-E V10 used in the MP4/5B was a real jewel of an engine, but it was unlikely to last the distance at full chat.

Honda granted McLaren access to its prototype sportscar engine. Honda granted McLaren access to its prototype sportscar engine.

Relaying this information to Honda, Ron Dennis was pleased to hear the auto maker would give him access to a prototype engine intended for their ground-breaking sportscar. The 3.0L C30A V6 produced 270 horsepower on its own, but was intended to be modified fairly easily with an eye to Japan's burgeoning tuner scene.

Using the C30A block, McLaren worked with Honda engineers to create a world beating race engine. A swath of parts from the F1 program was incorporated, including a set of turbochargers normally reserved for the 2.5 bar boost-restricted RA168-E 1.5L V6 engine found in the MP4/4.

The C30A was taken apart and rebuilt for the Le Mans racer. The C30A was taken apart and rebuilt for the Le Mans racer.

With boost even further brought down to 1.3 bar, strengthened internals and displacement stretched to 4.0L, the resulting C40RAT was capable of 663 horsepower at 6500 rpm, and 750 Nm at 4500 rpm.

This compared favorably to cars like the Porsche 962, which provided only 620 horsepower and 600 Nm in race trim. The larger capacity was deemed necessary to ensure reliability, allowing the engine to produce impressive figures without straining itself too much at high revs.

McLaren's F1 drivers were hastily attached to the project. McLaren's F1 drivers were hastily attached to the project.

However, the new powerplant did suffer some teething troubles. Pop-off valve failures led to three prototypes of the engine overboosting several times, with catastrophic failures as a result. Heat management also proved to be an issue, and the team worked round the clock to remedy the problems.

Three weeks later the engines were sorted, and the first complete chassis was assembled. Because both McLaren and Honda had little experience with Group C aerodynamics, and there was little time to finish the car within Mclaren's tight schedule, Ron Dennis decided to base the bodywork on Mazda's 787 chassis, combined with elements of the 962's longtail bodywork.

Senna's good relationship with Honda was exploited to the fullest. Senna's good relationship with Honda was exploited to the fullest.

Honda driver Toshio Suzuki was slated to carry out the first secretive test at Honda's Suzuka Circuit, but he was joined by two unexpected guests. Ron Dennis had spotted a gap in the testing schedule for the MP4/5B, and decided to send his drivers Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger over to appease Honda's executives.

Reportedly he also hoped their starpower would distract from the car's derivative and rather rushed looks. Being involved with the development of the New Sports eXperimental sportscar, Senna's involvement was also a great PR opportunity due to the HA-3R's NSX-derived engine.

Senna (left) during a driver change, Nurburgring 1984. Senna (left) during a driver change, Nurburgring 1984.

In fact, Ayrton's interest had been sparked by the project as well. Just as his Formula One career took off in 1984, he had taken part in the first 1000 Kilometer race on the shortened Nurburgring. Senna had been given a wildcard after comfortably winning a Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 exhibition race at the track's opening.

In the process, he had beaten prominent F1 drivers Carlos Reutemann, Alain Prost, John Watson, and Jacques Laffite plus World Champions Niki Lauda, Jack Brabham, Nelson Piquet, Jody Scheckter, Phil Hill, Keke Rosberg and James Hunt. The victory proved so popular it earned him a spot in Joest Racing's Porsche 956. Alongside Stefan Johansson and Henri Pescarolo, he finished 8th overall.

Senna had fond memories of his experience at the Nurburgring, and was eager to return to sportscar racing with a McLaren-Honda as good as the Porsche he drove that day. The prospect of winning the famous 24H with such a car seemed tremendously exciting to him.

Though Gerhard Berger felt less involved with the strange car, he did his best to contribute, hearkening back to his experiences racing Group A touring cars for BMW in endurance races.

The underbody design caused problems for the Honda. The underbody design caused problems for the Honda.

However, neither driver would find much joy from driving the HA-3R. On the twists and turns of Suzuka, the men found the car very difficult to drive. Like any Group C design, the Honda incorporated venturi tunnels in its underbody, generating ground effect

Unfortunately, this technology had been banned in Formula One since the end of the 1982 season. Because of this, no one at McLaren had much experience designing such chassis. In the end this gave the HA-3R very unpredictable handling, as the center of the low pressure area under the car would violently shift from font to back during acceleration and braking.

Martini sponsorship was envisioned for the Group C machine. Martini sponsorship was envisioned for the Group C machine.

Bumps in the road surface unsettled the car to a large degree as well, as McLaren had set up the suspension incredibly harshly. This had been done to maintain the low pressure area under the car by keeping the body level to the road surface, but they'd clearly gone much too far.

[the ha-3r] drove like a badly loaded flatbed truck. absolutely terrible car. gerhard berger.

Years of working with flat bottomed machines had evidently pushed McLaren into the same common traps found in the ground effect era. Though feedback on the engine was generally positive, Senna and Berger had no real chance to enjoy its performance as a result of the unruly handling.

With the test considered a failure, Honda executives decided to pull the project and refocus on a more careful approach to entering the American CART series. Ron Dennis was relieved to be rid of the distraction, and went back to leading his dominant F1 team. Likewise, Ayrton Senna never entertained the idea of racing at Le Mans ever again.

After its embarrassing showing at Suzuka, the HA-3R was locked away in a dusty corner of a Honda storage facility. There it remained for ten years, until wealthy collector Yoshimoto Nagata managed to persuade Honda to sell it to him.

Nagata had the car refurbished by Honda, and fitted with some amenities including a passenger seat, a heater, carpeting, insulation and an Alpine stereo. Following the modifications, he applied the car for registration. To his shock, the car was denied.

Government officials reasoned the car was too low and wide, which supposedly posed a safety risk in busy Tokyo traffic. Having earned a vast fortune registering in the tens of millions through his real estate business, Nagata-san thought himself above the law.

A newspaper article detailing Nagata-san's antics with the Honda HA-3R. A newspaper article detailing Nagata-san's antics with the Honda HA-3R.

Reasoning no fine would be expensive enough to hurt him, he started using the unique Honda for casual commuting. Naturally, this reckless behavior did not go unnoticed. After handing him a series of verbal reprimands and fines over several weeks, the Tokyo police had had enough.

Two squad cars and a tow truck were sent to Nagat-san's house with the order to impound his exotic outlaw racer. However, Yoshimoto had seen them coming, and had already hopped into his Honda. A wild chase followed.

Finally extracting the maximum performance out of the big twin turbo V6, Nagata-san was suddenly faced with the HA-3R's evil handling. After hitting a bump, the car twitched left and then right, clipping a telephone pole with its right rear wheel and spinning off into a nearby house.

Though Yoshimoto Nagata survived with minimal injuries, the car was completely destroyed. Its remains were promptly crushed in public, setting an example to those who thought to be able to escape the law.

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY, UNEQUIVOCALLY, DEFINITELY, UNABASHEDLY A FAKE STORY

APRIL FOOLS

The Honda HA-3R does exist, but it was never even close to running at Le Mans. It was created by a man apparently known as "Slipper Niki", and based on a tiny 660cc, three cylinder, 38 horsepower Honda Acty kei-truck. Impressive, really.