Mugen Motorsports

Mugen Motorsports (M-TEC Co., Ltd) () 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 Helary, and the British crown with Mika Hakkinen. 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)
Mugen RR Experimental Spec. (Honda Civic Type R-based) (2008)
Honda Civic 5D MUGEN
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.)
Pole position in Bold.
Fastest lap in Italics.