Temple of Speed - exhibition at the Jim Clark Motorsport Museum

Scottish racing legend Jim Clark - captured by Joe Honda - was also known as the ‘Flying Scotsman.’

The photography of Joe Honda (Nobuyuki Jozuka), Asia’s ‘father’ of motorsport photography, brings to life the behind the scenes at the inaugural Indy 200 exhibition race at the Fuji Speedway International circuit in October 1966.  

Joe Honda had always been fascinated by speed and the Indy style race was an opportunity to get close to the reality of motor racing. We go from behind the scenes at a race briefing, visiting the pits with mechanics working on the cars, shots from the race to its conclusion capturing Jackie Stewart with the winners trophy.

The Jim Clark Motorsport Museum is located in Duns, a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland.

Although he did not take part in the end Jim Clark dominates the event in Joe Honda’s lens. Jim Clark and Lotus were the reigning Formula One world champions. Jim is seen talking with fellow drivers and mechanics, and also his team owner and friend Colin Chapman. It also inspired Joe Honda to move to Europe in 1967 where he started a lifetime covering motorsport across the world, the first photographer from Asia to do so. Emiko Jozuka, Joe’s daughter said “I’m genuinely grateful to the Jim Clark Motorsport Museum for the opportunity to share these historical and rare images with a broader public.”

Organisation: The Jim Clark Motorsport Museum, the Jim Clark Trust, Live Borders and the Joe Honda Archive
Support: The Japan Society of Scotland, the Consulate General of Japan in Edinburgh and Shashin Kosha 
More information on the Japan Consulate’s speech can be found here. The exhibition page can be found on Live Border’s website.
Exhibition dates: March to November, 2024
Location: The Jim Clark Motorsport Museum, Duns, Scotland
Press coverage via CNN: Japan’s Indy 200: Remembering the first time IndyCars raced at Fuji Speedway

Exhibition: Joe Honda - Temple of Speed — FCCHK (March 1 to 31, 2021)

When 26-year-old Joe Honda went to document Asia's first IndyCar race in 1966, he never expected it would change the course of his life. But a chance encounter with Scottish driver Jackie Stewart triggered his resolve to venture abroad to document the people, culture and technology at the heart of the global motorsport scene.

The American Indianapolis 500 is known as the "greatest spectacle in racing." Organizers of the Indy 200 in Japan wanted to promote it as the embodiment of a new kind of avant-garde art form that fused color, sound and speed. To the Japanese cognoscenti, showcasing the first international Indy event in Asia heralded their country's arrival as an industrial power.

In partnership with award-winning Tokyo photography atelier Shashin Kosha, this exhibition at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong (March 1 to 31, 2021) brings to life memories of motorsport's golden age. It also casts a spotlight on a race that shaped Joe's career and the art of motorsport photography. 

Joe Honda’s work showcased on the FCCHK Club’s Van Es Wall, named in memory of the legendary Vietnam War photographer Hugh Van Es.

In March 1967, with just $500, two cameras and only a few words of English, Joe embarked on a journey to Europe. He shipped his Toyota Corolla (which he later drove around Europe) ahead of him, hopped on a Soviet sea liner, and never looked back.

Born in 1939 in Tokyo, Joe graduated from Nihon University's Department of Fine Art. He trained with Yuji Hayata, a photographer to the Showa stars, before going freelance. In 1967, Joe became the regional representative of the International Racing Press Association (IRPA). He has exhibited in major art galleries such as the Nikon and Canon Salons in Tokyo and published extensively on Formula One and the automotive industry.

Over a prolific career spanning close to five decades, Joe captured iconic shots of Formula One stars such as Jim Clark and Ayrton Senna and every type of motorsport. 

His archive of over 300,000 35 mm negatives spans the grit and glamour of motor racing's golden years through its evolution into a techno­lo­gical arms race funded by big business. But the cars were only ever one part of a larger human narrative he wanted to tell. His images range from the visceral to the purely functional, immortalizing the raw experiences, developments and memories of the interna­tional world of motorsport through one artist's perspective.

Arrangements: The exhibition space is open to the public between Monday and Sunday from 10am-12noon and 3pm-5pm daily. Details on how to access the venue can be found here.