Mugen Motorsports

Mugen Motorsports (M-TEC Co., Ltd) (無限) is a Japanese company. It was formed in 1973 by Hirotoshi Honda and Masao Kimura. Hirotoshi Honda is the son of Honda Motor Company founder Soichiro Honda. Mugen is an engine tuner (performance improvement) and parts builder. They are closely linked with Honda. Mugen has never been owned by Honda. Mugen means "Without Limit", or "Unlimited". It is common to placed word "Power" after Mugen to say "Unlimited Power".

The company tunes and races Honda vehicles in the Super GT championship. They also sell parts to amateur racers. Mugen was involved in Formula 3000 championships in 1990 and 1991. This led Mugen to join Formula One. They supplied engines from 1992 to 2000. They also supplied the only engines for Formula Nippon from 1996 until 2005.

Mugen Racing

Single-seaters

In 1986, Formula 3000 was introduced into Japan. Mugen joined with Honda to build an F3000 engine. It was introduced in the 1987 season and leased to 14 teams. In 1988, Mugen won four of the top five places in the Japanese F3000 championship. In 1989, Mugen entered European F3000 with the MF308 engine. They won the championship with Jean Alesi driving a Reynard. The same year the company produced its own prototype 3.5 L V8 Formula One engine, codenamed MF350.

In 1988, Mugen started tuning Honda engines for use in Formula Three. They won the Japanese series with Akihiko Nakaya, and in 1990 expanded to Europe. Mugen won its first Formula Three championships in Europe. They took the French title with Eric Hélary, and the British crown with Mika Häkkinen. They also won the title in 1991 with Rubens Barrichello.

Formula One

In 1991, Mugen built Honda V10 engines for Tyrrell. In 1992 the engine was renamed to Mugen MF351H. The engine was used by the Footwork team in 1992 and 1993.

In 1994, Mugen moved to Team Lotus with the new Lotus 109. The team was underfunded and the 109 chassis was late arriving. The car and its engine was scored a single point. At the end of the year, Lotus closed down.

Mugen switched to the Ligier team in 1995. In 1996 Mugen won its first Formula One race. The 3.0 L engine, codenamed MF301H, won at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix with Olivier Panis driving.

Ligier was taken over by Alain Prost in 1997, and renamed Prost Grand Prix. When Prost changed Peugeot engines in 1998, Mugen reached a two-year agreement with Jordan Grand Prix. The 1998 season saw a 1-2 finish at Spa-Francorchamps with Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher.

In 1999, Heinz-Harald Frentzen won twice and Jorden finished the constuctors championship in third place. In 2000, the Honda Motor Company announced that it would be returning for Formula One. Honda would supply its own engines in 2000 with British American Racing. At the end of the 2000 season, Mugen pulled out of F1.

Sportscar racing

In 1998, Mugen entered sports car racing. They built several NSX race cars. In 2000, the Mugen/Dome team was champion.

In 2001, in the JGTC, the Mugen NSX won two races. In June, the company announced the a new 4.0 L V8. The MF408S was built for the main prototype class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and American Le Mans Series.

Vehicles

Mugen has built concept Honda vehicles. Some models are sold in Japanese domestic market.

List of Mugen vehicles

Honda city turbo I and II
1984 Mugen Honda CR-X
2004 Honda Fit Dynamite
2005 Honda Legend Max
2006 Honda Fit Spec.D
2006 Honda Civic Dominator
the Road to Racing Concept (Honda Civic-based) (2007)
Open-Top Pure Sports Concept (Honda S2000-based) (2007)
Mugen Courage LC70 (Japan Le Mans Challenge LMP-1) (2007)
Mugen S2000 (2008)
Honda Fit F154SC (2008)^[1]
Mugen RR Experimental Spec. (Honda Civic Type R-based) (2008)
Honda Civic 5D MUGEN^[2]^[3]
Honda NSX Mugen RR (2009)
Honda Civic Mugen RR Advanced Concept (2009)
Honda Accord Mugen 24sc (2009)
Honda Odyssey Mugen (2009)
2005 Subaru Legacy GT Silver with Gold Rims

Production vehicles

Civic Mugen Si
Civic Mugen RR
CR-Z Mugen
Prelude Mugen

Complete Formula One results

As an engine supplier

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine(s)	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
1992	Footwork Arrows	Footwork FA13	Mugen Honda MF-351H 3.5 L V10	G		RSA	MEX	BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS		6	7th
					Michele Alboreto	10	13	6	5	5	7	7	7	7	9	7	Ret	7	6	15	Ret
					Aguri Suzuki	8	DNQ	Ret	7	10	11	DNQ	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	10	8	8
1993	Footwork Arrows	Footwork FA13B Footwork FA14	Mugen Honda MF-351 HB 3.5 L V10	G		RSA	BRA	EUR	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS		4	9th
					Derek Warwick	7	9	Ret	Ret	13	Ret	16	13	6	17	4	Ret	Ret	15	14	10
					Aguri Suzuki	Ret	Ret	Ret	9	10	Ret	13	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	7
1994	Team Lotus	Lotus 107C Lotus 109	Mugen Honda MF-351 HC 3.5 L V10 Mugen Honda MF-351 HD 3.5 L V10	G		BRA	PAC	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	JPN	AUS		0	–
					Johnny Herbert	7	7	10	Ret	Ret	8	7	11	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	13
					Pedro Lamy	10	8	ret	11
					Alessandro Zanardi					9	15	Ret	Ret	Ret	13		Ret		16	13	Ret
					Philippe Adams											Ret		16
					Éric Bernard														18
					Mika Salo															10	Ret
1995	Equipe Ligier	Ligier JS41	Mugen Honda MF-301 3.0 L V10	G		BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	PAC	JPN	AUS	24	5th
					Martin Brundle				9	Ret	10	4	Ret		Ret	3	Ret	8	7			Ret
					Aguri Suzuki	8	Ret	11						6						Ret	DNS
					Olivier Panis	Ret	7	9	6	Ret	4	8	4	Ret	6	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	5	2
1996	Equipe Ligier	Ligier JS43	Mugen Honda MF-301 HA 3.0 L V10	G		AUS	BRA	ARG	EUR	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN		15	6th
					Olivier Panis	7	6	8	Ret	Ret	1	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	7	5	Ret	Ret	10	7
					Pedro Diniz	10	8	Ret	10	7	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	Ret
1997	Prost Grand Prix	Prost JS45	Mugen Honda MF-301 HB 3.0 L V10	B		AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	AUT	LUX	JPN	EUR	21	6th
					Olivier Panis	5	3	Ret	8	4	2	11								6	Ret	7
					Jarno Trulli								10	8	4	7	15	10	Ret
					Shinji Nakano	7	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	11	7	6	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	10
1998	Jordan Grand Prix	Jordan 198	Mugen Honda MF-301 HC 3.0 L V10	G		AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	LUX	JPN		34	4th
					Damon Hill	8	DSQ	8	10	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	4	4	1	6	9	4
					Ralf Schumacher	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	11	Ret	Ret	16	6	5	6	9	2	3	Ret	Ret
1999	Jordan Grand Prix	Jordan 199	Mugen Honda MF-301 HD 3.0 L V10	B		AUS	BRA	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	EUR	MAL	JPN		61	3rd
					Damon Hill	Ret	Ret	4	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	5	8	Ret	6	6	10	Ret	Ret	Ret
					Heinz-Harald Frentzen	2	3	Ret	4	Ret	11	1	4	4	3	4	3	1	Ret	6	4
2000	Jordan Grand Prix	Jordan EJ10 Jordan EJ10B	Mugen Honda MF-301 HE 3.0 L V10	B		AUS	BRA	SMR	GBR	ESP	EUR	MON	CAN	FRA	AUT	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN	MAL	17	6th
					Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Ret	3	Ret	17	6	Ret	10	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	6	6	Ret	3	Ret	Ret
					Jarno Trulli	Ret	4	15	6	12	Ret	Ret	6	6	Ret	9	7	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	12

Pole position in Bold.
Fastest lap in Italics.

Key
Colour	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Green	Blue	Purple	Red	Black	White	Light blue
Result	Winner	2nd place	3rd place	Points finish	Non-points finish	Did not finish (Ret)	Did not qualify (DNQ)	Disqualified (DSQ)	Did not start (DNS)	Practiced only (PO)
Result	Winner	2nd place	3rd place	Points finish	Non-classified finish (NC)	Did not finish (Ret)	Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)	Disqualified (DSQ)	Race cancelled (C)	Friday test driver (TD) (starting in 2003)

Blank	Did not practice (DNP)	Excluded (EX)	Did not arrive (DNA)	Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

Formula One statistics

Year	Team	GPs	Wins	Points	WCC
1992	Footwork-Mugen Honda	16	0	6	7th
1993	Footwork-Mugen Honda	16	0	4	9th
1994	Lotus-Mugen Honda	16	0	0	–
1995	Ligier-Mugen Honda	17	0	24	5th
1996	Ligier-Mugen Honda	16	1	15	6th
1997	Prost-Mugen Honda	17	0	21	6th
1998	Jordan-Mugen Honda	16	1	34	4th
1999	Jordan-Mugen Honda	16	2	61	3rd
2000	Jordan-Mugen Honda	17	0	17	6th

References

↑ Lavrinc, Damon (2008-01-17). "2008 Tokyo Auto Salon: Honda Fit F154SC concept by Mugen". autoblog.com. AOL Inc. Retrieved 2011-08-02.
↑ Tan, Paul (2008-09-03). "Honda Civic 5D MUGEN Concept". paultan.org. Driven Media Sdn Bhd. Retrieved 2011-08-02.
↑ "Honda Civic 5D MUGEN (Concept Model)". mugen-power.com. M-TEC Co. 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-01-18. Retrieved 2011-08-02.

Other websites

[1] Lavrinc, Damon (2008-01-17). "2008 Tokyo Auto Salon: Honda Fit F154SC concept by Mugen". autoblog.com. AOL Inc. Retrieved 2011-08-02.

[2] Tan, Paul (2008-09-03). "Honda Civic 5D MUGEN Concept". paultan.org. Driven Media Sdn Bhd. Retrieved 2011-08-02.

[3] "Honda Civic 5D MUGEN (Concept Model)". mugen-power.com. M-TEC Co. 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-01-18. Retrieved 2011-08-02.

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