Honda’s recreation of Ayrton Senna’s record-setting lap at Suzuka Circuit has won the Grand Prize at the 17th annual Japan Media Arts Festival. The multimedia project, titled “Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989″ combines a film, interactive website, and smartphone app to give users the experience of witnessing the legendary driver’s achievement 24 years ago.

Senna’s qualifying lap of 1:38:041 was, at the time, a new record for one of the most difficult circuits on the Formula 1 roster. The McLaren-Honda MP4/5 that he drove was a dominant force in F1 as well, winning 16 races and 23 pole positions in the two years it was in service.

The recreation took telemetry data from Senna’s McLaren-Honda MP4/5, including changes in throttle position, engine and vehicle speed during his run. The sound of the car’s wailing naturally-aspirated 3.5-liter V10 was then recorded with the actual car, currently part of Honda’s Collection Hall, and played over an array of speakers placed around Suzuka Circuit.

Watch the video below, or see it on Honda’s interactive website. Or, download the iPhone app that allows you to sync the sound of Senna’s MP4/5 while driving your own car.

A new report suggests Land Rover will launch a pickup variant of the next-generation Defender in 2017.

Scheduled to bow after the five- and seven-seater variants arrive in showrooms worldwide, the pickup will be positioned considerably higher on the market than the current Defender in order to take on well-appointed trucks like the Volkswagen Amarok. Land Rover is keeping its lips sealed about the truck, but rumors indicate it will take the form of a five-seater crew cab with a relatively long bed.

Offered with either a gasoline- or a diesel-burning engine, the Defender will boast best-in-class off-road capacity thanks in part to a permanent all-wheel drive system. A manual transmission will likely come standard on base models while an automatic will equip more expensive trim levels.

If the rumor proves true, look for more details about the Defender pickup to emerge next year. All versions of the next Defender will likely cross the Atlantic and join the company’s U.S. lineup.

The end of an icon
Land Rover has confirmed it will axe the Defender at the end of 2015 due to strict safety and emissions regulations that will come into effect throughout Europe. While it is technically possible to fit a more efficient engine in the Defender’s engine bay, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the truck to stay in compliance with Europe’s ever-stricter safety norms because its basic design precedes the Cold War.

A report coming out of Uruguay indicates Automóviles Lamborghini Latinoamérica (ALL) is gearing up to open a large production, service and storage facility in a business park located in Montevideo, the country’s capital. Based in Mexico, ALL is an independently-owned company that was granted the rights to use the Lamborghini name in the 1990s through a series of complex international agreements between the various firms that have owned the storied Italian brand throughout the years.