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<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">21/11/2001</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Mugen develop sportscar engine</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">New V8 for customer cars</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">The new Mugen V8,normally-aspirated sports car racing engine saw its first on-track testing this week at Japan's SUGO circuit.<BR> Former American Le Mans Series driver Hiroki Katoh was at the wheel of a Dome S101M Prototype race car equipped with the Mugen powerplant in the test, which covered 66 laps. Katoh drove for Panoz Motor Sports in the 2000 season of the ALMS.<BR> <BR> "I know V8 vibration, but I could not feel unusual vibration," said Katoh,who said that the engine had plenty of torque. "The engine is a baby and today was its first run on a circuit. I was driving easy, but it was very powerful and reliable."<BR> <BR> Mugen project leader Satoshi Katsumata was also pleased with the first test, which was conducted in sunny but cold conditions. <BR> "The first test was very, very successful," he said. "The MF408S was running in the test bench just two months ago. I am very happy."<BR> <BR> Mugen, which has a long history of building racing engines for motorcycles,Formula 3000 and Formula One, is building its first sports car racing engines for customer use in 2002. The company is negotiating with several racing teams about using its engines.<BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>