Did you notice today’s Ayrton Senna Google Doodle? The graphic honors the Brazilian Formula One Legend on what would have been his 54th birthday. Almost 20 years ago Senna suffered fatal injuries at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix where his life was cut short at the age of 34.

Senna rose to fame piloting the Honda powered McLaren MP4 to three Formula One World Championships, and it was because of that connection, Honda engineers were able to tap into his racing expertise to help improve NSX, forever imprinting his legacy onto the car.

“In February of 1989, right around the same time the demonstration car was dropping jaws with its svelte, mid-engined looks, a gaggle of Honda engineers were waiting with polite expectation to hear a positive verdict on one of the company’s most ambitious projects ever. It was called the New Sportscar Experimental, and the engineers were confident that the newly-minted Formula 1 champion driving their creation could not fail to be impressed. The team had just completed an entire month at the Suzuka Circuit, and considered their all-aluminum machine to be as forged and honed as a katana. They were about to be disappointed.” Brendan McAleer, Road & Track

Read the rest of this feature from Road & Track: How Ayrton Senna made the Acura NSX exceptional.

[Source: Road & Track]