For a few minutes we thought we'd imagined it, then Chris Sylt telephoned to ask if we had seen it, clearly, it had been for real.

At 19.30 last night, just after the first episode of The Simpsons double-header on Sky1, a familiar tune could be heard on the TV in the background as the Pitpass team put the finishing touches to another news story.

The sound was turned up, and to accompany that familiar tune was a TV advert we hadn't seen for a couple of years and, under the circumstances, didn't expect to see again.

Anyway, we watched and waited for 'that bit' of the commercial thinking 'will they have edited it out or not', and sure enough the full un-edited ad was shown in all its glory.

To the strains of Andy Williams singing The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha, a bearded man wearing a crash helmet and overalls steps out of a caravan and climbs upon a moped and rides off into the distance, singing.

As the song reaches its climax we see the man driving/riding a series of vehicles, until finally there it is, the RA271 (?), followed, moments later, by the RA106.

In view of how Honda's F1 dream ended, we thought, like Chris Sylt, that the F1 section would be stealthily edited out, but it remains, reinforcing the widespread belief that the Japanese manufacturers rich legacy has been somewhat tarnished.

Indeed, the impossible dream.

Let's hope Ross and the guys at Brackley can succeed where Honda didn't and don't end up tilting at windmills.

To see Honda's Impossible Dream advert, click here