JULY 10, 2000
The future of Mugen in Formula 1
MUGEN, the Honda Family-owned engine company which has close links with the Honda Motor Company, has been tuning Honda engines for competition and for high performance road cars since the early 1970s.
Ligier was taken over by Alain Prost and the team used Mugens until the current deal with Peugeot began in 1998 when the relationship between Mugen and Jordan began. This has resulted in three wins: the first for Damon Hill in Belgium that year and two for Heinz-Harald Frentzen in France and Italy in 1999.
The return of Honda in an official capacity has complicated matters as many of the Mugen F1 engineers have joined the Honda program but Jordan is about to unveil an all-new Mugen V10 in Austria. It was thought that this engine would be available to customers next year but no deal is yet in place and Mugen may have to withdraw from F1 as it does not have the money to supply engines free of charge.