The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2013
Honda turns Senna's 1989 telemetry into light and sound on the real Suzuka track
Honda replayed Senna's 1989 record lap from its telemetry as light and sound on Suzuka — and won Japan's Media Arts Festival Grand Prize.
Honda
What it had to solve
Honda's 'dots' project explored the relationship between cars and people through data. Senna's 1989 world-fastest lap at Suzuka existed only as telemetry and memory, and Honda wanted people to feel it rather than read about it.
How it works
In the 1989 F1 Japanese Grand Prix qualifying, Ayrton Senna set what was then the world's fastest lap at Suzuka in a McLaren Honda MP4/5, at 1:38.041. Honda engineers recorded his driving — throttle opening, engine RPM and speed changes — and the data sat in the company's history.
In 2013, Honda's 'dots' project, which explores the rich relationship between cars and people through data, turned that record into an experience. The team reconstructed and analyzed the lap data, recreated the engine sound with recordings of the actual MP4/5, and installed speakers and LED lights along the real 5,807-meter Suzuka circuit so Senna's driving line was replayed as light and sound.
The idea did not stop at the installation: a WebGL 3D view recreated the lap online so anyone could watch it from any angle, and an iPhone app let drivers enjoy the MP4/5's engine sound synced to their own driving.
The film and making-of were published on the 'dots lab by internavi' website, and the work took the Entertainment Division Grand Prize at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2013, winning over 669 entries in the division.
Why it lands
- It replaced pictures of the past with an embodied experience: you hear and see the lap happen on the actual track, not a simulation of it.
- It used first-party engineering data as the creative material — an authenticity no outside agency could imitate.
- The restraint — no car, no driver, only light and sound — made the memory more powerful, not less.
- One idea spanned film, installation, 3D web and an app, giving the data multiple lives.
What it did
Published on the 'dots lab by internavi' site, the project won the Entertainment Division Grand Prize at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival (2013), beating 669 entries in the division, and produced a film, 3D web experience and app.
What you can take
Data does not have to be visualized to be felt: translating telemetry into a physical, time-based experience on the real track made a 24-year-old lap emotionally present instead of merely archived.
Since then
After the Grand Prize, the work remained published on the 'dots lab by internavi' site, and Honda continued to treat it as part of its ongoing dots data project. The case became a reference point for data-driven experiential brand content in Japan, and the app kept the MP4/5's engine sound available to drivers long after the installation was dismantled.
Sources
- インターナビのWebサイトとアプリにF1関連コンテンツを追加
- 「Sound of Honda／Ayrton Senna 1989」が文化庁メディア芸術祭エンターテインメント部門大賞に決定
- Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989 — 17th Entertainment Division Grand Prize
- ホンダ、アイルトン・セナの鈴鹿最速ラップを音と光で楽しめるムービーを公開
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