Mugen Motorsports


Mugen Motorsports is a Japanese company formed in 1973 by Hirotoshi Honda, the son of Honda Motor Company founder Soichiro Honda, and Masao Kimura. Mugen, meaning "Without Limit", "Unlimited" or "Vast", is an engine tuner and parts manufacturer that manufactures OEM parts such as body kits and sports exhausts for Honda Motor Company. Despite the family connections, however, Mugen is not, and has never been, owned by Honda Motor Company; Mugen owner Hirotoshi Honda has been the biggest shareholder in Honda since his father's death in 1991.
The company tunes and races Honda vehicles in the Super GT championship, and, additionally, sells aftermarket parts to amateur enthusiasts. It was part of partnerships that won the Formula 3000 championship in 1990 and 1991, and that eventually led to Mugen's involvement in Formula One, from 1992 to 2000, and up to 2005 was the exclusive supplier of Formula Nippon engines.

Corporate history

The company has a strong racing heritage, as Hirotoshi Honda began building his own racing car in a workshop at his father's house, shortly before he graduated from Nihon University in 1965. Masao Kimura is a veteran racer with more than 50 victories in Honda sports cars and single-seaters and worked for Honda R&D and then Honda Racing Service before helping Hirotoshi Honda establish Mugen.
In 1973, Mugen started its operations and initially offered special parts of motocross bikes. As Honda expanded its vehicle lineup, Mugen's product range also expanded. The company started specializing in tuning Honda engines. Beginning with the 1200 cc Honda Civic engine, it went on to develop, and now designs and builds, both two-stroke and four-stroke engines, manufacturing many of the major components itself.
Mugen ultimately intends to build its own road cars and the first step towards this was the creation of bodykits for the Honda Ballade CR-X in 1984. Since then, the company has produced a number of body kits for Honda machinery, culminating with the Mugen NSX prototype in 1992.
Following Hirotoshi Honda's tax evasion allegation in late 2003, Mugen was restructured in early 2004 with the establishment of M-TEC. The new company retained the right to use the Mugen trademark and its headquarters in Asaka, Saitama, in the northern suburbs of Tokyo close to the Honda R&D facility at Wako. Although it is a legally separate entity, M-TEC kept Mugen's existing staff and is headed by former Mugen board member Shin Nagaosa, who was the engineering division manager at Mugen and been involved with running Mugen's NSX racing program.

Mugen Racing

Single-seaters

Working with Honda, Mugen has gradually expanded its sporting involvement to all levels of the sport. In 1986, Formula 3000 was introduced into Japan and Mugen joined forces with Honda to build an F3000 engine. It was introduced in the 1987 season and leased to 14 teams. The following year, Mugen won four of the top five places in the Japanese F3000 championship. In 1989, Mugen entered European F3000 with the MF308 engine and won the championship with Jean Alesi, driving an Eddie Jordan Racing Reynard. The same year the company produced its own prototype 3.5L V8 Formula One engine, codenamed MF350.
In 1988, Mugen started tuning Honda engines for use in Formula Three, winning the Japanese series with Akihiko Nakaya, and in 1990 expanded their business to Europe. The same year, Mugen won its first Formula Three championships in Europe, taking the French title with Éric Hélary, and the British crown with Mika Häkkinen at the wheel of a West Surrey Racing Ralt, which repeated the title in 1991 with Rubens Barrichello.
As F3000 became a spec-series in Europe starting in 1996 with the Lola-Judd combo, the Japanese series responded by making Mugen the sole supplier to the Japanese championship, now redubbed Formula Nippon. M-TEC lost the supply contract for the 2006 season, with the rules changing to allow Toyota associate TOM'S to join Mugen as engine supplier.
Mugen continues to enjoy success in the Formula Three circuit with its tuned 2.0 L Honda engines, having won 9 titles in Asia since 1988, as well as 19 titles in Europe, and 13 in Latin America.
As of 2017, Mugen Formula engines still enjoy use and success across the various European hillclimb championships, employed in former Formula chassis and dedicated hillclimb prototypes.

Formula One

In 1991 Mugen prepared Honda V10 engines for Tyrrell but the following year these engines were renamed Mugen MF351H and were transferred to the Footwork team, with drivers Aguri Suzuki and Michele Alboreto.
At the end of 1992 Honda pulled out of Formula One due to the global recession, despite this however Mugen continued participation in Formula One from 1993 onwards using Tuned Honda engines.
In 1993, Mugen remained affiliated with Footwork and created a B version of the MF351H, used by Aguri Suzuki and Derek Warwick.
at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, on display.
At the end of the year, Mugen switched to Team Lotus with plans for a new Lotus 109. The team - with drivers Johnny Herbert and Pedro Lamy - was underfunded and the 109 chassis was late arriving. The Mugen engine, codenamed ZA5C, was not able to show its full potential, the team consequently failed to score a single World Championship point during 1994 despite coming close on 3 occasions, this was the only season in which Mugen engines did not score a World Championship point during their time in Formula One.
After Lotus closed at the end of the year, Mugen switched to the Ligier team, which was then being run for Flavio Briatore by Tom Walkinshaw, with drivers Olivier Panis, Martin Brundle and Aguri Suzuki. The 3.0 L engine, conforming to the new regulations, was codenamed MF301H. The 1995 season was promising with points being scored at 9 races and the team securing 2 podiums, one courtesy of Martin Brundle finishing 3rd at the Belgian Grand Prix and the other by Olivier Panis finishing 2nd at the Australian Grand Prix, the team secured 24 points and finished a respectable 5th in the Constructors Championship, The following season with Ligier resulted in Mugen's first Formula One victory as well as Ligier's last ever Formula One victory at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix with Panis at the wheel, despite this unexpected success the Mugen powered Ligier car was only able to score 3 more points finishes during the rest of the season two 6th-place finishes from Pedro Diniz and one 5th-place finish from Panis, the team suffered 17 retirements during 1996.
Ligier was taken over by Alain Prost in 1997, and the newly named Prost Grand Prix ran MF301H-B engines with Jarno Trulli leading the Austrian Grand Prix before suffering engine failure, the Prost team managed two Podium finishes during the 1997 season at Brazil and Spain, they scored points in 8 races over the season securing a final total of 21 points and a 6th-place finish in the Constructors Championship
With Prost establishing a relationship with Peugeot and switching to them from 1998 onwards, Mugen looked for a new partner and reached a two-year agreement with Jordan Grand Prix for which Mugen produced the MF301H-C engine. The first half of the 1998 season was an absolute disaster, it was so bad that at one point the owner of Mugen or Honda met with Eddie Jordan and his team during the 1998 Monaco Grand Prix to find out why up until then the team had failed to score a single World Championship point, the relationship continued, at Silverstone the team scored their first World Championship point of the season courtesy of a 6th-place finish from Ralf Schumacher, from Britain onwards the team scored further points finishes at the next 3 races, it was not until Spa-Francorchamps, when Jordan's fortunes changed for the better, the drivers Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher scored a 1-2 finish securing Jordan's first ever Formula One victory and their only 1-2 finish during their existence. The team would score points on 2 further occasions with Ralf Achieving a 3rd-place finish at the Italian Grand Prix.
The 1999 season resulted in further success with Heinz-Harald Frentzen winning twice in France and Italy, however due to better performances from Mclaren and Ferrari the Mugen powered Jordan cars were unable to challenge for both championships, sometime during the 1999 season the Honda Motor Company announced that it would be returning with its own engines from 2000 onwards with British American Racing. As a result, due to Honda's return Mugen chose to pull out of F1 at the end of the 2000 season which left Honda to supply the engines to Jordan as well from 2001 onwards.
It is Unknown whether despite using the Honda name between 1991 and 2000 that Mugen were possibly funded by Honda themselves during this time period, Mugen's success in the late 1990s led to Honda's Formula One return in 2000, between 1991 and 2000 Mugen engines won 4 races, 1 with Ligier in 1996 and 3 with Jordan, 1 in 1998 and 2 in 1999. Mugen managed 16 Podium finishes during their time in Formula One and scored a grand total of 182 points with the various teams that they were associated with.

Sportscar racing

In 1998, Mugen built four NSX models, two for the Mugen/Dome partnership, one for Team Kunimitsu and one for Nakajima Racing. The cars were fast but unreliable at first, until the Nakajima NSX scored the car's first win at the fourth round in Fuji. This was followed by three more wins, which led to a second place championship finish for Tom Coronel and Kouji Yamanishi. In 1999, the Honda took three more wins, one of those with the Mugen/Dome team of Juichi Wakisaka and Katsutomo Kaneishi scoring a victory at the opening round in Suzuka and finishing the third best team in the championship. In 2000, the Mugen/Dome team was champion with Ryo Michigami, but the car's performance was limited by regulation changes and Michigami reached the title without a single win. Still, Honda won four races, one of them by the second Mugen/Dome car.
In 2001, Mugen concentrated once more in the JGTC, the NSX winning two races, and finishing second and third in the series. More importantly, in June, the company announced development of a new 4.0 L V8, dubbed MF408S, for the main prototype class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and American Le Mans Series. At the time, Mugen acknowledged that international sportscar racing was a new category for them. The concept of the MF408S was high power, compact size, durability and reliability. Mugen chose a 4.0 L Naturally aspirated engine because they felt through their experience in Formula Three that restrictor size was key to performance. The idea was to save fuel with a smaller displacement engine, since, theoretically, restrictor size will bring power in any engine to a similar level. The main engines in use at the time were producing around 600 hp, including the turbocharged Audi and Cadillac, as well as the larger displacement BMW and the Roush-prepared Ford. Mugen excluded a turbo as this necessitated use of intercoolers to extract maximum performance, which added to the weight and reduced performance.
2002 was a good year for Mugen at the track. The Mugen-prepared NSXs won five rounds, with the Mugen/Dome team winning two races outright, which gave them the Team's championship title. The debut of the MF408S was in a Panoz chassis in the 2002 Sebring 12 Hours, first round of ALMS.
In 2004, M-TEC decided to drop down to GT300 and help train Japanese drivers for GT500 speeds. By grabbing promising drivers early in their careers, M-TEC would then be able to mold them and have definite access to future champions. M-TEC driver, Hiroyuki Yagi, was sourced from the Integra Series. Giving the drivers experience was more important than developing the car to take the championship. To this end, M-TEC simply detuned the car for the GT300 class without optimizing it for the new power level. Winning the GT300 series by one point over the ARTA Garaiya was simply an unintended bonus for a dedicated, championship-level team.
Breaking into the United States is another goal for the M-TEC team and the Mugen name. Currently, the authorized dealer of Mugen parts in the US is King Motorsports. Team director Junichi Kumakura thought racing the NSX in the United States was a great way to promote the company in a previously unvisited environment. When asked what else M-TEC would like to accomplish in America with the golden NSX, competing at Sebring and Daytona were marked as attractive goals.

MF408S Engine Technical Specifications

Engine Name: MF458S

Isle of Man TT Races

Mugen have become the dominant force in electrically powered motorcycles competing at the Isle of Man TT Races. In the eight years since their introduction into the TT Zero, the average speed of the Mugen Shinden around the Snaefell Mountain Course has increased from in 2012 to in 2019. By 2019, Mugen has won five TT Zero races using its Shinden bikes.
;2012
Making their competitive debut at the 2012 Isle of Man TT, John McGuinness took the Mugen Shinden Ni to second place behind the MotoCzysz of Michael Rutter at an average speed of 109.527 mph.
;2013
At the 2013 TT Mugen again finished runners up to MotoCzysz, with Rutter and McGuinness repeating the previous year's result.
;2014
Mugen's development has continued at subsequent races in the TT Zero Category. Fielding two machines at the 2014 Isle of Man TT, John McGuinness secured their maiden victory ahead of teammate Bruce Anstey who took second place on the other Shinden San.
;2015
At the 2015 TT McGuinness and Anstey again took the first two spots on the rostrum.
;2016
Mugen continued their dominance in the TT Zero class at the Isle of Man TT Races in 2016, when Bruce Anstey took the honours, although their other machine, ridden by John McGuinness, retired during the one lap event.
;2017
Anstey and Guy Martin came first and second respectively, both riding Mugen machines.
;2018
The Mugen motorcycles achieved first and third place with Michael Rutter and Lee Johnston respectively, split by Daley Mathison riding for the University of Nottingham. Rutter broke the 120 mph barrier to set a new lap record of.
2019
With Shinden Hachi, Mugen achieved their sixth consecutive victory with Michael Rutter again increasing the lap record average speed to 121.91 mph. John McGuinness followed his team-mate home to complete a 1-2 finish for the team.

Vehicles

M-Tec has also built concept Honda vehicles, using the company's own performance parts. Some models are also sold in Japanese domestic market.

List of Mugen vehicles

Complete Formula One results

YearEntrantChassisEngineDrivers1234567891011121314151617PointsWCC
Footwork Mugen HondaFootwork FA13MF-351H 3.5 V10RSAMEXBRAESPSMRMONCANFRAGBRGERHUNBELITAPORJPNAUS67th
Footwork Mugen HondaFootwork FA13MF-351H 3.5 V10 Michele Alboreto1013655777797Ret7615Ret67th
Footwork Mugen HondaFootwork FA13MF-351H 3.5 V10 Aguri Suzuki8DNQRet71011DNQRet12RetRet9Ret108867th
Footwork Mugen HondaFootwork FA13B
Footwork FA14		MF-351 HB 3.5 V10RSABRAEURSMRESPMONCANFRAGBRGERHUNBELITAPORJPNAUS49th
Footwork Mugen HondaFootwork FA13B
Footwork FA14		MF-351 HB 3.5 V10 Derek Warwick79RetRet13Ret16136174RetRet15141049th
Footwork Mugen HondaFootwork FA13B
Footwork FA14		MF-351 HB 3.5 V10 Aguri SuzukiRetRetRet910Ret1312RetRetRetRetRetRetRet749th
Team LotusLotus 107CMF-351 HC 3.5 V10
MF-351 HD 3.5 V10		BRAPACSMRMONESPCANFRAGBRGERHUNBELITAPOREURJPNAUS0NC
Team LotusLotus 107CMF-351 HC 3.5 V10
MF-351 HD 3.5 V10		 Pedro Lamy108Ret110NC
Team LotusLotus 107CMF-351 HC 3.5 V10
MF-351 HD 3.5 V10		 Alessandro Zanardi9150NC
Team LotusLotus 107CMF-351 HC 3.5 V10
MF-351 HD 3.5 V10		 Johnny Herbert7710Ret0NC
Team LotusLotus 109MF-351 HC 3.5 V10
MF-351 HD 3.5 V10		 Johnny HerbertRet8711RetRet12Ret130NC
Team LotusLotus 109MF-351 HC 3.5 V10
MF-351 HD 3.5 V10		 Alessandro Zanardi1613Ret0NC
Team LotusLotus 109MF-351 HC 3.5 V10
MF-351 HD 3.5 V10		 Alessandro ZanardiRetRetRet13Ret0NC
Team LotusLotus 109MF-351 HC 3.5 V10
MF-351 HD 3.5 V10		 Philippe AdamsRet160NC
Team LotusLotus 109MF-351 HC 3.5 V10
MF-351 HD 3.5 V10		 Éric Bernard180NC
Team LotusLotus 109MF-351 HC 3.5 V10
MF-351 HD 3.5 V10		 Mika Salo10Ret0NC
Ligier Gitanes BlondesLigier JS41MF-301 3.0 V10BRAARGSMRESPMONCANFRAGBRGERHUNBELITAPOREURPACJPNAUS245th
Ligier Gitanes BlondesLigier JS41MF-301 3.0 V10 Martin Brundle9Ret104RetRet3Ret87Ret245th
Ligier Gitanes BlondesLigier JS41MF-301 3.0 V10 Aguri Suzuki8Ret116RetDNS245th
Ligier Gitanes BlondesLigier JS41MF-301 3.0 V10 Olivier PanisRet796Ret484Ret69RetRetRet852245th
Ligier Gauloises BlondesLigier JS43MF-301 HA 3.0 V10AUSBRAARGEURSMRMONESPCANFRAGBRGERHUNBELITAPORJPN156th
Ligier Gauloises BlondesLigier JS43MF-301 HA 3.0 V10 Olivier Panis768RetRet1RetRet7Ret75RetRet107156th
Ligier Gauloises BlondesLigier JS43MF-301 HA 3.0 V10 Pedro Diniz108Ret107Ret6RetRetRetRetRetRet6RetRet156th
1997Prost Gauloises BlondesProst JS45MF-301 HB 3.0 V10AUSBRAARGSMRMONESPCANFRAGBRGERHUNBELITAAUTLUXJPNEUR216th
1997Prost Gauloises BlondesProst JS45MF-301 HB 3.0 V10 Olivier Panis53Ret842116Ret7216th
1997Prost Gauloises BlondesProst JS45MF-301 HB 3.0 V10 Jarno Trulli108471510Ret216th
1997Prost Gauloises BlondesProst JS45MF-301 HB 3.0 V10 Shinji Nakano714RetRetRetRet6Ret1176Ret11RetRetRet10216th
1998Benson and Hedges JordanJordan 198MF-301 HC 3.0 V10AUSBRAARGSMRESPMONCANFRAGBRAUTGERHUNBELITALUXJPN344th
1998Benson and Hedges JordanJordan 198MF-301 HC 3.0 V10 Damon Hill8DSQ810Ret8RetRetRet7441694344th
1998Benson and Hedges JordanJordan 198MF-301 HC 3.0 V10 Ralf SchumacherRetRetRet711RetRet16656923RetRet344th
1999Benson and Hedges JordanJordan 199MF-301 HD 3.0 V10AUSBRASMRMONESPCANFRAGBRAUTGERHUNBELITAEURMALJPN613rd
1999Benson and Hedges JordanJordan 199MF-301 HD 3.0 V10 Damon HillRetRet4Ret7RetRet58Ret6610RetRetRet613rd
1999Benson and Hedges JordanJordan 199MF-301 HD 3.0 V1023Ret4Ret111443431Ret64613rd
2000Benson and Hedges JordanJordan EJ10
Jordan EJ10B		MF-301 HE 3.0 V10AUSBRASMRGBRESPEURMONCANFRAAUTGERHUNBELITAUSAJPNMAL176th
2000Benson and Hedges JordanJordan EJ10
Jordan EJ10B		MF-301 HE 3.0 V10 Heinz-Harald FrentzenRet3Ret176Ret10Ret7RetRet66Ret3RetRet176th
2000Benson and Hedges JordanJordan EJ10
Jordan EJ10B		MF-301 HE 3.0 V10 Jarno TrulliRet415612RetRet66Ret97RetRetRet1312176th