TOKYO, Japan, December 5, 2013 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced that the "Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989" was honored with the Grand Prize for the Entertainment Division of the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival. "Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989" is a set of contents including a short film and 3-dimensional CG which enable the audience to experience the driving of Ayrton Senna on the McLaren-Honda MP4/5 which was reproduced based on the recorded data of then fastest lap at Suzuka Circuit set by Senna in the qualifying for the FIA^*1 Formula One (F1) World Championship Japan Grand Prix in 1989.

The "Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989" was produced as part of the "dots"^*2 project through which Honda studies how people enjoy relationships with automobiles. Honda analyzed behavior of the engine and accelerator based on the driving data, including changes in the accelerator position, engine speed and vehicle speed, recorded during the qualifying for the F1 Japan Grand Prix in 1989. The engine sound of then fastest lap at Suzuka Circuit was reproduced and recorded with the actual F1 machine, the McLaren-Honda MP4/5. The recorded engine sound was evolved into the following three contents.

＜A short film of the reproduced lap and a making-of-the-documentary film＞
This short film features a reproduced Senna's driving trajectory by sound and light with a number of speakers and LED lights set at Suzuka Circuit. A making-of documentary film named the "Project Movie" was also created.

＜3D-View＞
The 3D-View is a web content made of 3-dimensional CG which enables users to experience Senna's engine sound and driving trajectory from various points of view.

＜iPhone^*3 app "Sound of Honda"＞
This iPhone app enables users to enjoy driving while synchronizing the sound of the McLaren-Honda MP4/5 with their own vehicles.

The "Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989" is available at the "dots by internavi" section of the Internavi website. (URL: http://www.honda.co.jp/internavi-dots/dots-lab/senna1989/)

The Japan Media Arts Festival is taken place for the purpose of promoting the creation and evolution of media arts. During the festival, outstanding works in the four divisions namely Art, Entertainment, Animation and Manga are awarded, and award-winning works are exhibited for the general public. For this year's 17th Japan Media Arts Festival, a total of 669 works were submitted for the Entertainment Division.