Feb.02.2012 We will compete in Le Mans 24 Hours in 2012

DOME

DOME

DOME



DOME
S102 2008
DOME
S102 2008
DOME
S102 2008


DOME
Minoru Hayashi

DOME
Hiroshi Fushida

DOME
Hiroshi Yuchi



Back in 2008, with our magnificent ambition and full of hope for a huge success, we invested obviously the largest budget in the history of Dome, which was still nothing compared to the budget Audi or some big names had, into the Dome S102 development programme and competed in the 24-hour race.  Sadly, though, it was impossible to keep the ambition and the hope going forward after the race, and therefore the Dome S102 had to live in idleness for a few years.
The Dome S102 displayed in the reception hall in our HQ has never been talkative, but every time I saw her, who I believe has got world-class performance, left with no heart as if it was an exuvia, I asked myself a question with the obvious answer, “why does she have to be held captive here?”  Although I had always felt a sense of discomfort to see her sleeping there, three years quickly passed with no mercy.
Some of you could have got wondering why she had not had any chance to come back to competition.  I would disclose the reason in future, but the main point today is not about it.  The thing which has turned out to be obvious after the three-year boredom is the boring days were more than enough for the Dome S102 and us.  It is not our duty or obligation to compete in Le Mans 24 Hours.  We have no reason why we challenge the race.  There is no necessity for us to go to France.  We don’t have plenty of spare money, either.  All the above are absolutely correct but are not enough to stop us from going crazy about her.

Dome is a racecar constructor.  Therefore our pride is in our technology used to develop racecars but not in race operation.  For that reason we often worked together with race teams specialised in sports car racing such as RFH.
Some non-Japanese teams did contact us and asked us if we can lease the Dome S102 in the last three years.  We also received some very interesting offer for 2012 season again.  We would have been more than happy to make a contract with one of them if we hadn’t had the bad memories in the past.  As mentioned in the article “Graduation from Le Mans”, all the relationships with the race teams in the past ended up with unpleasant financial dispute.  As I never want another problem happening again, I have decided to fund the whole 2012 programme with Dome’s own money.

There are still several components here and there on the Dome S102 we would like to update before the first test to be honest, but this time we have decided to limit design period and use most of the time and budget for developing and setting-up the car by running as many tests as possible.  We have learnt from the previous challenges in which we suffered from lack of testing due to the too long design phase, and every race finished before we found the limit of our racecars.  We will keep the new policy even after this year’s race and will find the ultimate performance of Dome S102 by the end of this year.
We have to admit delivery of some important components has already delayed in the current design / manufacturing phase, which started last December.  Because of the delay, we are now expecting even the worst case – i.e., not only postponing the scheduled shakedown but no update on the car in the delayed shakedown - but we are still working hard to get the car ready by the scheduled shakedown in mid March.

What we have already fixed are the engine supplied by Judd, the tyres supplied by Michelin, the director Hiroshi Fushida, and the chief engineer Hiroshi Yuchi.  We are very close to decide a driver, but another driver is still under discussion among us, and we are still negotiating with some drivers for the last race seat.  Our policy on the race drivers has been concrete, though, which is “two non-Japanese drivers + one Japanese driver”.
We entrust race operation to the French squad, Pescarolo, this year. The audiences will see a Dome S102.5 occupying one of the two grids Pescarolo has got, but what is actually happening is Dome outsources the race operation to Pescarolo.

As I always speak out, Dome is not interested in or proud of strategy or techniques to manage the 24-hour long race because we are a racecar constructor.  Le Mans 24 Hours is an endurance race indeed, but what Dome aims is the speed in the qualifying sessions in which the true performance of the racecars is tested.  Incidents that could happen during the 24 hours, such as being collected by the car in front, engine blow, and puncture, are as out of control as natural disaster for a racecar constructor. For that reason our pride will never be hurt by a bad result due to such incidents during the 24 hours.  Following the policy of ours, we have asked Pescarolo to cancel the 24 hour test Pescarolo had originally planned but have asked to have as many short tests as possible during which we will develop and set-up the car.  I am pretty certain the guys in the French squad are shocked to know how we prepare for the 24-hour race, though...

That’s how we have ended up with the very egoistic programme for the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours.  The detail of the Dome S102.5 and the team structure will be disclosed in a column or news by Hidenori Suzuki (Sportscar-racing) soon.  I hope you would read it through, too.

Minoru Hayashi


TEAM MANAGEMENT  
PESCAROLO TEAM  
Team Principal Henri Pescarolo
Technical Director Claude Galopin
Chief Track Engineer Ricardo Divila
Chief Mechanic Thierry Demazeau
Press Officer Madie Pescarolo
Contacts Pescarolo Team
  Technoparc des 24 Heures-72100
Le Mans
  E-mail contact@pescarolo.com
  Tel.    +33(0)2-43-21-13-10
  Fax.   +33(0)2-43-21-13-37
  URL   www.pescarolo.com
   
DOME STAFF  
Team Principal Minoru Hayashi
Technical Director Hiroshi Fushida
Chief Engineer Hiroshi Yuchi
Contacts DOME CO.,LTD.
  215-1,Miyoshi,Maibara, Shiga,Japan 521-0023
  E-mail  dome@dome.co.jp
  Tel.    Tel.(81)-0749-54-1414
  Fax.   Tel.(81)-0749-54-3250
  URL  www.dome.co.jp

DRIVER  
  Nicolas Minassian
  Sebastien Bourdais
  Seiji Ara

RACE  
FIA World Endurance
Championship
WEC 6 Heures de
Spa-Francorchamps / Belgique
May.05
24 Heures du Mans
Circuit des 24 Heures / France
Jun.16 & 17

SPONSOR  
We will not seek any sponsors. All of the logo except the technical sponsors pasted on the illustration is the sponsors which belong to Pescarolo Team

DOME S-102 SPECIFICATIONS
DIMENSION LENGTH 4650mm
WIDETH 1995mm
HEIGHT 1025mm
WHEELBASE 2900mm
FR.TREAD 1640mm
RR.TREAD 1600mm
FR.OVERHANG 1000mm
RR.OVERHANG 750mm
FR.RIDEHEIGHT 55mm
RR.RIDEHEIGHT 65mm
     
WEIGHT DRY 830kg
WET 900kg
FR. 48%
RR. 52%
BALLAST 50kg
G.C HEIGHT 300mm
     
ENGINE MAKER JUDD
TYPE DB 3.4L V8
  90DEG-V8-NA
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM EFI EURO12
LENGTH 516mm
WIDETH 633mm
HEIGHT 397mm
WEIGHT 118kg
     
GEARBOX MAKER XTRAC
TYPE 529+Integrated
Bellhousing
NO.of SPEED SQ-6speed
WEIGHT 65kg
INPUT HEIGHT  92mm
DIFF C.HEIGHT  135mm
     
CLUTCH MAKER AP
TYPE 5.5” C/C 4PLATE PULL
RELEASE SYSTEM DOME+AP
     
MONOCOQUE MAKER DOME CARBON MAGIC
TYPE FULL COMPOSITE MONOCOQUE
     
BODYWORK MAKER DOME CARBON MAGIC
TYPE CFRP
     
FR.SUSPENSION TYPE DOUBLE WISHBONE
  PUSH ROD
  TWIN DAMPER + COIL SPRING
     
RR.SUSPENSION TYPE DOUBLE WISHBONE
  PUSH ROD
  TWIN DAMPER + COIL SPRING
     
DAMPER MAKER DOME
   
     
STRG.CONTROL GEARBOX MAKER DOME
STEERING WHEEL DOME
     
SHIFT CONTROL   ZYTEK
   
     
BRAKE CALIPER MAKER ALCON
ROTOR BREMBO
PAD BREMBO
     
AXLE UPRIGHT PANKL
FR.BEARING PANKL
RR.BEARING PANKL
WHEELNUT PANKL
     
WHEEL MAKER RAYS
TYPE FORGED MAGNESIUM
FR.WEIGHT 9.0kg
RR.WEIGHT 9.0kg
     
TYRE MAKER MICHELIN
     
SAFETY DEVICE SAFETY HARNESS TAKATA 6POINT
FIRE EXTINGUISHER FEV
 HEAD REST DOME
REAR VIEW MIRROR DOME
SEAT DOME