Dome (constructor)

, literally "child's dream", is a Japanese racing car constructor involved mainly in open-wheel and sports car racing.

, literally "child's dream", is a Japanese racing car constructor involved mainly in open-wheel and sports car racing.

History

Early years

prototype]] at the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans.]] In 1965, Minoru Hayashi built his first racing car, a rebodied Honda S600 coupe. Belonging to Tojiro Ukiya, it was called the "Karasu" (crow in Japanese), due to its shape. Built on a small budget and in a short time, the Karasu emphasized weight reduction and aerodynamics using FRP materials. The car went on to win its debut race at the Suzuka Clubman Race, despite Hayashi having no experience in racecar construction. In 1966 he went on to build the "Macransa", a more extensively modified Honda S800, to compete at the Japanese Grand Prix. This was followed by the "Kusabi" three years later, which was a Formula Junior racing car, and the "Panic" in 1971. In 1975 at Takaragaike, Kyoto, Hayashi formed Dome with the intention to manufacture cars with small production runs, using racing machines to develop the technology. Three years after the company's formation in 1978, the company produced its first concept car designed for road use, the Nissan L28-powered , designed to be world’s lowest-riding sports car, with its height set at . The Zero made its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show the same year. For the following year, Dome produced a production version of the Zero called the Zero P2, which was exhibited at the Chicago Auto Show and Los Angeles Auto Expo. The car was refused type approval by the Japanese government, however, and was unable to go into production.

Formula One

Late in 1995, Tadashi Sasaki, joined Dome and that autumn the company announced its plan to enter F1 with a car designed by Akiyoshi Uko called the Dome F105, using a Minardi transmission and hydraulic system. Marco Apicella was installed as test driver in 1996 and the test driving duties were later taken over by Shinji Nakano and Naoki Hattori. The planned 1997 World Championship effort came to nothing and the follow-up car, the Dome F106, never materialised due to lack of sponsorship and Mugen's refusal to supply engines. The Concorde Agreement also delayed the start for the team. By 1999, all development work would fold after Honda's involvement with British American Racing.

Recent projects

In 1999 Dome established Dome Cars Ltd. in the United Kingdom and the Dome Tunnel in Maihara, Shiga Prefecture, which was originally intended for F1 construction. The company also focused its effort in the Japanese GT Championship, which they had been since 1996 and also competing as a team as well as building the Honda NSX for other factory supported teams. They also worked on the aerodynamics on the JTCC Honda Accord. In 2001, DOME Carbon Magic was formed in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, specifically for carbon composite development and manufacture. It continued to build and race the Honda NSX in the recently renamed Super GT series, with Takata as the main sponsor. Dome also upgraded their Dome S101 Le Mans prototype chassis to meet new regulations for 2007. The new car has been dubbed the S101.5. These S101s were supplied to Racing for Holland. In 2008, Dome introduced a closed-cockpit prototype called the S102 for the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) class and entered in the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans after an absence of 22 years. In February 2012, Dome announced that it will enter an updated S102 in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. The updated car, designated the S102.5, will be powered by a 3.4L Judd V8. In a departure for Dome, the team will self-fund race operations, rather than lease their car to a separately funded race team. Dome allied with Pescarolo for race operations until the latter dissolved, and have instructed its team to focus development on outright speed over one lap, rather than on reliability or endurance pace for a 24-hour race. In 2014, Dome left Super GT as a team entrant to focus on the construction of the Mother Chassis platform for the GT300 class; the team was reported to return in 2017, but did not materialize in favor of entering a Honda Civic TCR in the Super Taikyu Series.

Models

Racecars

Prototype road cars

References

External links

Dome official website Dome official website 8W feature on DOME F1 project GrandPrix.com profile 2006 Super GT profile 2012 LeMans Announcement

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1370963150 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.