2008 HONDA CIVIC MUGEN TYPE RR MAKES 260-HP AT "TOKYO AUTO SALON"

The "Tokyo Auto Salon" is not a place where people can get a drive-in hairdo, but, held annually, is sort of Japan's version of the SEMA Show, held each November in Las Vegas, albeit about 10%, if even that, of SEMA's size. It focuses on the automotive aftermarket in Japan and elsewhere, and has become a pretty reliable predictor of what might be shown, in some small part, at the next SEMA Show, or pop-up in enthusiast magazines worldwide. This "Civic Mugen Type RR", made by Mugen, a Japan-based high-performance and appearance specialist, is fairly typical of Mugen's work, if any car which looks and goes like this one can be called "typical". Tuners worldwide look to both the Tokyo Auto Salon and Mugen for what "the next big thing" in tuner cars just might be.

This Type RR from Mugen  features carbon fibre replacement pieces on many of the body panels, if not all of them (specific information on this car, especially in English, was very sketchy, even on the Web) and 260 horsepower and 173 lb.-ft. of torque. Getting all that out of a 2.0 liter Inline-4 is no easy trick.

"Mugen" is one of those words that, if you're speaking with someone about cars and use it in a sentence, and they recognize the name, then both people know that the other  might really know what they're talking about. The Japanese word "mugen" translates into English as "without limit" or "unlimited power", so it's appropriate that what started out in 1973 as a Honda "tuning" shop, founded by Hirotoshi Honda, son of Honda founder Soichiro Honda, should now be known worldwide, in many different forms of racing.

Many people assume that Mugen is owned wholly or in part by "dad's company", but it has always been a company totally separate from Honda Motor Corporation, but naturally has very close ties with Honda. Since his father's death in 1991, Hirotoshi Honda has been the major shareholder in Honda Motors, adding to the confusion about "Who owns Mugen?"; Honda generally disdains taking on partners of any kind, so Mugen remains independent of the car- and engine-making business.

Now, if someone says "Mugen", you won't say "Gesundheit!" to them, because now, you're "in the know".

Quick story about Soichiro Honda: When he came to the US to see the then-new and still palatial American Honda headquarters campus in Torrance, CA, when Mr. Honda walked into the lobby for the first time, he went to the reception desk and asked the woman working there for a visitor's pass. A bunch of American Honda execs tried to steer him away as he was filling out the company's Visitor's Log and getting his pass and asked him why he was doing that. "This is American Honda," he said, "and here, I am a visitor". Talk about humility!

Mugen also tunes and races Honda vehicles in the Super GT championship, and sells aftermarket parts to  we "amateur enthusiasts" around the world, by catalog and of course through the Web. Mugen parts can also be found at some auto parts stores in the US which specialize in the small, quick "tuner cars" which come from the US, Asia and Europe. There are many online discussion groups dedicated to Mugen parts and their care and feeding ... and price. Mugen was also a part of partnerships that won the Formula 3000 championship in 1990 and 1991, and that led to Mugen's involvement in F1 from 1992 to 1999, and up to 2005 Mugen the exclusive engine supplier to Formula Nippon, a Japan-based "spec" road racing series.