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| Industry | Motorsport |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1975 |
| Founder | Minoru Hayashi |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Hiroshi Fushida (President) Shigeo Takebayashi (Managing Director) |
| Website | www.dome.co.jp |
Dome Co. Ltd (株式会社童夢,Kabushiki Gaisha Dōmu), literally "child's dream", is a Japanese racing car constructor involved mainly inopen-wheel andsports car racing.
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In 1965, Minoru Hayashi built his first racing car, a rebodiedHonda 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 usingFRP 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 modifiedHonda S800, to compete at theJapanese Grand Prix.[1] This was followed by the "Kusabi" three years later, which was aFormula Junior racing car, and the "Panic" in 1971.[2]
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, theNissan L28-poweredDome Zero (童夢-零,Dōmu Zero), designed to be world’s lowest-riding sports car, with its height set at 980 mm (38.6 in). The Zero made its public debut at theGeneva Motor Show the same year.[3] For the following year, Dome produced a production version of the Zero called the Zero P2, which was exhibited at theChicago Auto Show andLos Angeles Auto Expo. The car was refused type approval by the Japanese government, however, and was unable to go into production.[4]
Dome entered the 1980s as a sportscar constructor designing and building the Group C spec ToyotaTOM'S cars to compete in the All Japan SuperSilhouette Championship, and later theAll Japan Sports Prototype Championship, andWorld Sportscar Championship until the end of the 1980s. Dome's vehicles included theCelica C and prototypes from the83C through to the88C.[5][6][7][8]
Minoru Hayashi would also assist his cousin Masakazu Hayashi (of the Hayashi aluminum wheel company) establish his own formula car manufacturing concern. After producing cars for Japan's Formula Junior 1600 category for 10 years, their first Formula 3 car was the Hayashi 803Formula Three car, designed by the two cousins. It was followed by the Hayashi 320 in 1981 designed by Masao Ono, who had also designed the 1976Kojima F1 car. Osamu Nakako won theAll-Japan Formula Three Championship title driving a Hayashi 320. A 320 was also modified for theFormula Atlantic category and won theMacau Grand Prix driven by AmericanBob Earl. A further development, the 321, saw action briefly in Japan and England. Ono then switched to Dome to work on the sportscar designs, and Hayashi Racing switched toRalt chassis to win the Japanese F3 title with Kengo Nakamoto.
In 1984, the follow-up Hayashi 322 was a success and helped Shuji Hyodo to win that year's Japanese F3 championship. In 1985, the Hayashi 330 won a single Japanese F3 race, but finishes were good enough to place driver Shuji Hyodo third in season-end standing. A development of the 322, the 331, appeared in a handful of Japanese F3 races in 1986 without success and disappeared quietly. A downturn in the aluminum wheel business is credited in causing Hayashi to abandon racing.
In 1988, Dome would return to production car design, establishing a design studio called Jiotto Design to design cars with its own quarter-scalewind tunnel. The studio produced theJiotto Caspitasupercar, which never went into production due to the recession.
Dome continued to compete withJan Lammers, Keiji Matsumoto,Ross Cheever andThomas Danielsson, driving until 1992, whenMarco Apicella was signed to drive the new Dome-Mugen F103, taking the title in 1994. The Formula 3000 program continued until 1998 withShinji Nakano,Katsumi Yamamoto andJuichi Wakisaka but without much success.
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 theDome F105, using aMinardi transmission and hydraulic system.Marco Apicella was installed as test driver in 1996 and the test driving duties were later taken over byShinji Nakano andNaoki 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 andMugen's refusal to supply engines. TheConcorde Agreement also delayed the start for the team. By 1999, all development work would fold after Honda's involvement withBritish American Racing.
In 1999 Dome established Dome Cars Ltd. in theUnited Kingdom and the Dome Tunnel inMaihara,Shiga Prefecture, which was originally intended for F1 construction. The company also focused its effort in theJapanese GT Championship, which they had been since 1996 and also competing as a team as well as building theHonda NSX for other factory supported teams. They also worked on the aerodynamics on theJTCCHonda Accord.
In 2001, DOME Carbon Magic was formed inMishima,Shizuoka Prefecture, specifically for carbon composite development and manufacture. It continued to build and race theHonda NSX in the recently renamed Super GT series, withTakata as the main sponsor.
Dome also upgraded theirDome S101Le Mans prototype chassis to meet new regulations for 2007. The new car has been dubbed the S101.5. These S101s were supplied toRacing for Holland. In 2008, Dome introduced a closed-cockpit prototype called theS102 for the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) class and entered in the2008 24 Hours of Le Mans after an absence of22 years.
In February 2012, Dome announced that it will enter an updatedS102 in the2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. The updated car, designated the S102.5, will be powered by a 3.4LJudd 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 withPescarolo 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.[citation needed]
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 theSuper Taikyu Series.[9]
| Year | Car | Image | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Dome RC82 | .jpg) | Group C |
| 1983 | Dome RC83 | Group C | |
| 1984 | Dome 84C | Group C | |
| 1985 | Dome 85C |  | Group C |
| 1986 | Dome 86C | Group C | |
| 1996 | Dome F105 |  | Formula One (unraced) |
| 2001 | Dome S101 |  | LMP900 LMP1 |
| 2008 | Dome S102 |  | LMP1 |
| 2015 | Dome F110 |  | Formula 4 |
| Strakka-Dome S103 |  | LMP2 |
| Year Produced | Car | Image | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Dome Zero |  | Concept car Sports car |
| 1979 | Dome Zero P2 |  | Concept car Sports car |
| 1989 | Jiotto Caspita (Mk. I) |  | Concept car Sports car |
| 1990 | Jiotto Caspita (Mk. II) | _JIOTTO_CASPITA.JPG) | Concept car Sports car |
