I’m not shy about loaning out my cars, and I can confidently say that the 253,000-plus miles on my 2013 Acura ILX — even though I’m the original owner — have been logged by more than a few dozen people. After all, that car is my designated “rental” for friends and family when they need wheels.
Even the Acura Division of American Honda has borrowed cars from me a few times. My 1992 NSX was featured in a photoshoot when the latest NSX Type S came out about five years ago. On that occasion, Acura had my car transported to the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) racetrack in Austin, Texas. The media captured there (including the below photo) went on to be used in marketing and promotional materials.
This time, Acura asked to borrow the car for activities surrounding the 2026 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix race held at Circuit Gilles Villenueve in Montreal over the weekend of May 24. An enclosed transport truck picked up the car about two weeks before the event, and it started its 2,540-mile trek from Phoenix to Montreal.
The next thing I knew, a couple of weeks later, Acura Public Relations lead Andrew Quillin sent me a link to an Instagram post by Honda Racing Global that showed my car with Formula 1 race driver Lance Stroll.
Here’s a link to a video that Acura produced which was was shared on the Instagram channels for @hondaracing_us, @acura, @hondaracingglobal, @acuracanada, and @hondaracingf1. At the time of this writing, the spot has received over 13,000 likes and 1,300 shares.
Currently competing for the Aston Martin Aramco team, Stroll made his F1 debut in 2017 and has achieved career highlights such as three podium finishes and one pole position at the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix. Lance is the son of billionaire fashion and automotive businessman Lawrence Stroll, who owns the Aston Martin Formula 1 team. Pictured with Lance in this article’s lead image is the Acura 40th Anniversary first-generation Integra, another early NSX in black, and a newer Integra Type S.
The Grand Prix race itself took place on Sunday, May 24 and my NSX was returned to me via enclosed transport within a few days afterward. Aside from 36 additional miles on the odometer and a little brake dust on the wheels, it looked like it had never left.
Oh — and Stroll had signed my dashboard at my request!
I’m honored that I was able to toss the keys to an F1 driver so he could add a few spirited miles! (Err, kilometers, since it happened in Canada.)
