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

 
Mugen supplied Honda-derived engines to the Jordan Formula One team between 1998 and 2000.

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

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)
Non-classified finish (NC) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) 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

Mugen Motorsports Media

References

  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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