Often, when automakers integrate fun Easter eggs inside their new cars, they like to shout it from the rooftops for everyone to hear. Honda takes a different approach and keeps its hidden features, well, hidden. So hidden, in fact, that when a group of Honda designers came up with a unique little design touch inside the center console of the the redesigned, 10th-generation Honda Civic, they didn’t even tell Honda’s own public-relations department about it at first.
To find the buried treasure, you’ll first have to locate a 2016 or 2017 Honda Civic sedan or coupe in EX trim or above—like our long-term 2016 Civic Touring sedan, for instance. (The U.K.-built Civic hatchback is left out of the fun.) Then you have to start digging in the center console until you find the rubber spill mat at the bottom. Remove the mat, turn it over, and you’ll find an embossed picture on the underside with one of four impeccably detailed designs celebrating Honda’s racing and engineering history.
Design #1: Honda RA106 F1 Car, Honda S800, Honda RC213V Motorcycle, HondaJet
Honda’s long and illustrious motorsports history is on full display in this design. The Formula 1 car is the RA106 car driven by Jenson Button in 2006, when the stand-alone Honda team returned to F1 for the first time since 1968. The pictured Honda S800 sports car won the GT-1 class in an endurance race at Japan’s Suzuka circuit in 1968. With MotoGP champion Marc Márquez at the helm, the Honda RC213V motorcycle rounds out the image, along with the HondaJet private plane that’s part of all four image collections.
Design #2: Honda RC166 Motorcycle, McLaren Honda MP4/4, HondaJet
You can’t talk about Honda motorsports without mentioning racing legend Ayrton Senna, who is featured in this design driving his McLaren Honda MP4/4 race car. A Honda RC166 motorcycle is also part of the picture, ridden by Jim Redman, a six-time Grand Prix world champion.
Design #3: Honda NS500 Motorcycle, Asimo, HondaJet
There’s not a single car pictured in this design, as Honda’s famous Asimo robot features prominently. It’s joined by an NS500 motorcycle ridden by Freddie Spencer, who won the 1983 world championship with this bike.
Design #4: Curtiss Special Race Car, Honda RA272 Race Car, HondaJet
The race cars pictured in the last illustration reach a bit further back into Honda’s history. The older car, in fact, comes from the 1920s, long before the Honda Motor Company was established in 1948. The Curtiss Special race car is important because of its connection with the company’s founder, Soichiro Honda. As riding mechanic for the car in 1924, Honda, with driver Shinichi Sakakibara, won first place in the Fifth Japan Motorcar Championship. The more recent #11 Formula 1 car pictured here is the RA272, Honda’s first F1 race winner, which took the Mexico GP crown in 1965 with driver Richie Ginther behind the wheel.
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