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 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 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.) 
 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  RSA MEX BRA ESP SMR MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR JPN AUS67th  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 FA13BFootwork FA14 Mugen Honda MF-351 HB 3.5 L V10  RSA BRA EUR SMR ESP MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR JPN AUS49th  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 107CLotus 109 Mugen Honda MF-351 HC 3.5 L V10Mugen Honda MF-351 HD 3.5 L V10  BRA PAC SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR EUR JPN AUS0–  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  BRA ARG SMR ESP MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR EUR PAC JPN AUS245th  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  AUS BRA ARG EUR SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR JPN156th  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  AUS BRA ARG SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA AUT LUX JPN EUR216th  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  AUS BRA ARG SMR ESP MON CAN FRA GBR AUT GER HUN BEL ITA LUX JPN 344th  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  AUS BRA SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR AUT GER HUN BEL ITA EUR MAL JPN 613rd  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 EJ10Jordan EJ10B Mugen Honda MF-301 HE 3.0 L V10  AUS BRA SMR GBR ESP EUR MON CAN FRA AUT GER HUN BEL ITA USA JPN MAL176th  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.

 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 613rd 2000 Jordan-Mugen Honda 17 0 17 6th

 References 

 Other websites 

Mugen Official Site
 Forum Community for Mugen Enthusiasts and Owners 
Mugen authorised agent for United States of America 
Mugen authorised agent for New Zealand and Pacific Islands
2009 Civic Type R Mugen Championship White available in the UK 

Category:Formula One engine manufacturers