Honda's decision to place the NSX under the Acura banner in the States is, in some ways, a beneficial one. It now means Acura has a genuine headline-grabbing halo model, and it makes sense for a forward-thinking supercar that was engineered and assembled in Ohio to be sold through a USA-associated brand. One underappreciated benefit of this market prioritisation, though, is that we got first dibs on the NSX - as our colleagues in Europe know all too well.

Though the big name motoring magazines from across the pond were invited to the Acura NSX's official launch earlier in the year, a vast majority of the road testers on the other side of the pond have had to be incredibly patient (which can't have been easy, in the light of all the praise the NSX was getting in many of those 'First Drive' articles). As perhaps a reward for being so forbearing, Honda laid on quite a cool product intro event for the new NSX. Not only would the hybrid Honda be launched at Portugal's mighty Autodromo do Estoril, but on hand was none other than Fernando Alonso; the two-time F1 World Champion currently driving for the McLaren-Honda F1 Team, and widely considered by many to be one of the world's top active racing drivers.

We'd love to say we've seen first hand how a Fernando Alonso fares when he's behind the wheel of a car with a fully functional Honda hybrid powertrain, but we sadly can't, as the event was only open to members of the Spanish motoring press.

Furthermore, the onboard video clips from the passenger rides suggests being hurled around Estoril in the shotgun seat of a Honda NSX is quite the experience to be had. Factor in the perks of popping your Honda NSX cherry at one of Europe's greatest race tracks, and it now seems to be the case that it's our turn to be incredibly jealous of our colleagues on the wrong side of the Atlantic!