The Mitsubishi Mirage may be a spiritual successor to the nimble, no-nonsense CRX, but why buy a new street car when you can get a factory-prepped Mugen CRX racecar instead? Being street legal is overrated, bro.
The CRX is an awesome little beast in any trim. It's a formidable opponent in competitions like the One Lap of America and other series that value an excellent handling, lightweight car.
The combination of Honda, Mugen and King Motorsports prepped eight CRX racecars in 1990 at the behest of Soichiro Honda, who wanted a Honda presence in the Sports Car Club of America's GT3 class.
Per the seller:
This car, is No. 2 of 8 built by a collaboration between Honda , Mugen, and King Motorsports ( now Jim Dentici Motorsports Group ), when Soichiro Honda decided Honda needed a presence in SCCA racing in America. Two Mugen engineers were sent to live in the U.S. to develop the engine and drive train. ( The head engineer was Tenji Sakai, who would later be in charge of Honda's F1 engine program ) These cars were built with the best of everything, the engine is MUGEN from valve cover to dry-sump pan, and the gearbox is Acura with a beautifully polished set of MUGEN close-ration gears. 1990 cost was $ 40,000 dollars, not including the drive trains furnished by Honda at an approximate cost of $ 35,000 each. They won the SCCA National Championship in either GT-3 or GTL in 1989, 1990,1991, 1992, 1993, 2006, 2007, and 2013. Seven still exist, 5 in the US, 2 overseas, 1 destroyed. One unique feature is opening doors, allowing easier entrance and exit, a rarity in a GT class car.
This is a 3 owner car, raced in 14 races only by the first owner ( have the logbook ), never driven by the second, and present owners only one track day in 2003 ( Beaver Run ) ,and the parade/touring laps at the 2012 Mitty at Road Atlanta. All the other 6 still race, but have been continuously modified over the years till the present day. This car is the only totally original one left.
While this car could be Vintage raced , or brought up to current standards by JDMG to be nationally competitive, it is big piece of Honda Racing history , it is probably too valuable, and should be in a collection.
Getting it ready for a testing or a track day would require only a new set of slicks and fuel.
I absolutely disagree that it belongs in a museum, rather, it deserves to be raced for the sake of Honda fans everywhere.
Photos of the car as it raced.
Sure, you could probably pick up an end-of-model-year-special Mirage for $12K this time of year and giggle heartily at making Mitsubishi's most inexpensive offering tripod all around a road course. That's not a bad option, to be honest...if you're boring and practical.
Or you can pick up a piece of history, do minimal work to get it legal to race again, and have a rare and wonderful factory Honda vintage racer. The seller claims it's the only one of the seven remaining cars that hasn't been extensively modified over the years. Call it irresponsible if you want, but I'd argue just the opposite. It's our responsibility as racing geeks to keep great historic racers running. Do it for history. Do it for America.
And most of all, do it for all the nineties kids who think a CRX looks way more awesome with huge box fender flares.
Ultra-rare Honda factory racecar is for sale here. You know what to do.
(All photos belong to listing owner.)