Fernando Alonso hearts the new NSX

Last week at Detroit, Ford stole everyone's thunder by unveiling the new GT, and promptly said ‘thank you and good night' to the world's carmakers.

Honda however, was quietly showing off its final, final production version of the new NSX; a car that, as we showed you here, has been teased for nigh on the last nine and a bit years.

Was it worth the wait? We'll find out soon enough. Whatever the outcome, it appears that incoming McLaren-Honda driver - and double Formula One world champion - Fernando Alonso, is quite keen on the new hybrid V6 supercar.

Speaking on Twitter, Mr Alonso said: "You still don't know, but one day we will be together," ending the sentence with a succession of emojis we simply cannot repeat.

Of course, Alonso pairing up with the NSX would make another connection reaching back into history: that of his hero Ayrton Senna, himself a huge fan of Honda's first generation supercar.

Speaking of which, we've dug out a video of that car - in ‘R' guise - blitzing a mighty fine path around the Nürburgring, which you can view above. When we last spoke to Honda, the appetite to roll out a hardcore NSX-R version of the new car was there.

It'd have to be pretty bloody special to replicate this one. How about that Fernando?