Take your pick: big or small Mugen go kart?
Mugen was very instrumental in exposing young Japanese drivers to motorsports with a very active young driver program. The Mugen "Playing Kart" was the first step of that program. Here is the Mugen "Playing Kart" assembly line at Mugen in 1999.
We are thrilled to have our 2012 summer Dyno Day appear in the latest issue of Honda Tuning Magazine!
For those of you that are image-imparied, here's the text from the mention:
EVENTS
June 2, 2012 - Wisconsin
King describes its event as part meet, part dyno-battle, part show, part barbecue, and part awesome. Everything you could possibly want in a summer afternoon with fellow Honda enthusiasts could be found at King's yearly shindig. And that includes detailed dyno analysis for spectators and competitors to view, detail demonstration, live music, food, a raffle, promos, and assorted free goodies, as well as a special guest in the form of Mugen's CR-Z RR.
If you're anywhere near the King facility in Wisconsin, you need to make next year's event a prioirty!
Awesome photos by Noggs Photography. You can find us in the Winter (Dec 2012/Jan 2013) issue of Honda Tuning. LIKE the King Motorsports Facebook page to be the first to know when Dyno Day 2013 is scheduled!
Here are a few pics of one of our favorite partnerships and race car builds -- the King Motorsports / Moser Racing ITR's at the 2000 Molson Grand Prix Motorola Cup race in Toronto. Toronto was a racing venue we always looked forward to! The photo above includes Robert Moser, Rich Hays and Joe Moser.
Below are the #63 and #64 Type-R's on a qualifying lap.
Here's a YouTube video shared by Joe Moser, who said: "
If you worked on the Mugen/Honda F1 engine team in the late 90's, you would have had some unique apparel to set you apart. Here are some of the items from the "Honda Collection" you would have been sporting!
First off, your noggin would be snugly tucked into this black ball cap with embroidered logos and sharp white bill trim.
When the boss comes to visit, your tie has the Mugen colors with MUGEN and HONDA typed black-on-black.
And to plant you to the ground, your feet hug the asphalt in these special edition black kicks with white trim and stitching.
And when it's time to drive home in your own Honda, your keys have this special key holder!
The Mugen "Special Tool Set" is a lesser-known product from Mugen back in the day -- not many were sold. This kit features over 20 pieces, including combination wrenches, sockets, extensions, screwdrivers and lug wrench. Many pieces have a stamped or printed Mugen logo and folded up neatly inside a tidy carry case. We dig the color-coded screwdrivers -- red for phillips-head, blue for flathead.
Here is a classic from the archives. These humble and concise paragraphs summarize Mugen's origins (and is even written in first-person). The MF-318 was the first true Mugen engine. Designed in 1973 and based on the Civic 1200 block, this engine was extremely successful in both open and closed wheel catagories.
Here is the transcribed text:
MUGEN'S BEGINNINGS
In 1973 Hirotoshi Honda decided to start his own race engine manufacturing company with Masao Kimura. This sparked an interest in racing from a few people in Honda's Research & Development group. Working with Hirotoshi and without pay, we formed Mugen. We all had one thought in mind; to be involved in racing and to manufacture the best race car engines. Our first project was an engine based on a Honda 1200cc Civic engine. We either modified or completely remade everything on the engine, including casting the main bearing caps on the oilpan, in order to add stiffness to the engine, which is required for a Formula race car engine.
The engine was bored out to 1300cc and was entered in the Formula FJ 1300 Racing Series. The engine was very successful, the car won its first race. The success also sparked Honda to return to racing and new Mugen and Honda work side-by-side in many racing projects. Mugen has grown and is involved in manufacturing the highest quality racing and performance parts.
Engine Design Specifications:
Name: Mugen MF-318
Type of Engine: In-line 4 OHC 8-Valve
Displacement: 1273cc
Bore x Stroke: 73 x 76 mm
Compression Ratio: 11.0 : 1
Horsepower: 135 ps/8000rpm
Torque: 12.8kg-m/6500rpm
Carburetion: Keihin CR-35mm Carb
Ignition: From Honda Motorcycle
More goodies from the archives! Here's Mugen's BB4 Prelude, based on Honda's fourth generation coupe. You don't see these Mugen parts from the '90s very often today.
Here is the promotional card we printed up years ago, describing our #64 King Motorsports / Mugen RSX World Challenge RSX.
Here's the back of the card with driver info and build specs (Right-click to see it full size).
KMS/Mugen RSX World Challenge RSX at Sears Point in 2003- What a great race series this was....
The KMS/Mugen WC RSX used custom fabricated Alcon brake caliper and rotors- front and rear. The chassis was seam welded and suspension pickup points altered for best geometry. Moton triple adjustable shocks controlled wheel motion. Trick from top to bottom!
Here's what our "home" looked like during a typical World Challenge weekend. Oh-do we ever miss setting up that awning :)
Our Mugen built K20 World Challenge race engine on the dyno at Mugen in Japan. While we were running this engine on the dyno, the Mugen JGTC NSX engine was being prepared to run on the dyno cell adjacent to to ours and next to that a Mugen F3000 engine was being run on dyno cell specific to that series. Quite an experience to have all that technology everywhere you look!
We had to share Mel Diego's 2003 Mugen EP3- Love it!!! Thanks Nosilla Yo for this pics! See the full write up of his incredible build over at Honda Tuning!
The interior of Mel's EP3. Nicely done!
One of our favorite parts of Mel's EP3 build is the Stack dash....
Mugen EP3 Civic aero body parts are still available (except for the radiator grill)!
http://www.kingmotorsports.com/e-DM_ProductsPerSecAndCategory.aspx?CatID=241&SecID=276
After the 1984 SCCA race season we turned our attention to the IMSA Radial Sedan series. This is our RS Prelude pictured at Daytona in 1985. Champion Spark Plug sponsored this series. Champion ran full page ads promoting the series. They featured our car under the heading "World's fastest Prelude" which was very cool. Gotta find that ad........