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In modern racing cars, MR is the usual configuration and is usually synonymous with "rear engine". Due to its favorable weight dynamics, this layout is heavily employed in Formula racing cars (such as F1s ). This configuration was also common in very small engined 1950 s Microcar s, in which the engines didn't take up much space. Because of successes in racing, the MR platform has been popular for road going sports cars despite the inherent challenges of design, maintenance and lack of cargo space. The Stunning Auto Union Grand Prix cars of the 1930's were the first successful MR racers and were decades before their time, although MR Miller Specials raced a few times at Indianapolis between 1939 and 1947. In 1953 Porsche premiered the tiny and altogether new MR 550 Spyder and in a year it was notoriously winning in the smaller sports and endurance race car classes against much larger cars- a sign of greater things to come. The 718 followed similarly in 1958. But it was not until the 1960's that MR Reappeared In Grand Prix (todays ' Formula 1 ') races in the form of the Cooper - Climax (1959), coinciding or soon followed by cars from BRM and Lotus . Ferrari and Porsche soon made Gran Prix MR attempts with less initial success. Dan Gurney brought MR back to Indianapolis in 1963 via Lotus and in a year it was the clear trend, becoming the first mid-engined design to win there in 1965. In 1964 Jim Hall created his MR Chaparrals , pushing certain innovations which have never been duplicated, and over the next several years were probably the fastest road racing cars of any type. The Chaparrals continued in the fantastic, unrestricted Can-Am series from 1966-1974 where all cars were MR. Ford , all but ignoring Can-Am racing in its own country, took advantage of somewhat uncompetitive Le Mans racing to introduce the MR GT40 which not only won, but more importantly dominated Ferrari at Le Mans from 1966-1969. In turn, by 1973 Le Mans and Can-Am were both so dominated by Porsche's Blistering MR 917's (leading ultimately to the 936 and 956/962 ), the fate of Sports Prototypes as MR was sealed and Ferrari lost interest in Le Mans until the 1980's. The skyrocketing speeds and power of the 917 era necessitated restrictions which permanently ended unlimited road racing. Examples of early road cars using the MR layout included Zündapp Janus (1957), De Tomaso Vallelunga (1965), Lotus Europa (1966), Lamborghini Miura (1966), Ford GT40 (1966), Ferrari Ferrari Dino 206/246 (1968), Porsche 914 (1969) and De Tomaso Pantera (1971). Its space-inefficiency means that it is mainly used in Sports Car s, for example the Porsche Boxster and Cayman , Toyota MR2 , Pontiac Fiero , Honda NSX , Lotus Elise , MGF , and Supercar s such as the Pagani Zonda , recent Porsche Carrera s, Ferrari Enzo , Lamborghinis , McLaren F1 , Ford GT , etc. See the List Of MR Cars for a complete list. The Zündapp Janus is perhaps unique, in that it is literally mid-engined and nearly symmetrical with passengers on both ends of the engine. REFERENCES
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