NOVEMBER 16, 2001

Mugen to enter sportscar racing

MUGEN has announced plans to build an engine for sports car racing in 2002. The company will produce a new 4-liter V8 which the company hopes to be able to sell to a number of different competing teams. The company says there is no plan for any factory support for one team.

The announcement is significant given that Mugen is still highly active in Formula 3 and can only be seen as an attempt by the company to increase revenues following Honda's decision to take over the supply of F1 engines to Jordan this season. It was expected that Mugen would be back in F1 in 2003 looking after the Honda engines for either Jordan or British American Racing but the decision to go sportscar racing with a new project would seem to suggest otherwise.

This is either good news or very bad news for Jordan or BAR. It could mean that Honda is not planning to fob one team off to Mugen in 2003. One the other hand it may mean that Honda is going to concentrate all its efforts on one team and drop the other one completely.

Print News Story