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In 1965 Minoru Hayashi, the president of DOME, built his first racing car, the KARASU, based on the HONDA S600. This can be said to be the beginning of the history of DOME, which means, when written in Japanese characters, "a child's dream." Ten years later in 1975 the DOME project was started. The aim was to set up the manufacture of small production sports cars based on the technology accumulated while developing racing cars. In 1978 DOME's first super sports car, the DOME-ZERO, was completed and launched at the 48th Geneva Motor Show. This car immediately became the highlight of the show, spreading the name of the previously unknown oriental carozzeria around the world. In this same year DOME was officially registered as a company, and built its headquarters in Takaragaike, Kyoto, to begin full-fledged operations. Our efforts to gain Japanese homologation for the DOME-ZERO and the production prototype P2 were discouraged by bureaucratic barriers for reasons other than legal stipulations. While concentrating on efforts to obtain overseas homologation, DOME had the opportunity to participate in the Le Mans 24-hour race. As DOME staff members were all "racing mad," being a challenger at Le Mans was a tremendously exciting prospect. As a result, we entered cars in the Le Mans for the following eight years. During this time other automobile manufacturers and related companies became increasingly interested in DOME's vehicle development technology. The initial consignments were mostly display cars for motor shows, but the range of work gradually began to include actual design and engineering as well. In 1983 DOME began to enter cars in domestic races. The TOYOTA GROUP C CAR, which we had been developing since 1982, competed successfully with a host of other cars, including Porsche. DOME's good results made the Japanese endurance racing scene all the more exciting. From 1986 we decided that the ultimate goal was to participate in the F1 Grand Prix and accordingly, our attention was directed to formula races. While we continued to participate in the All Japan F3000 Championship, we started development of our own F3000 chassis, which was intended as a simulation model for an F1 machine. In 1991 after various prototypes and experiments, we started racing in the F3000 championships with our own DOME car. Meanwhile, the range of consignment work from automobile manufacturers, which was at the outset mostly the fabrication of display cars for motor shows, expanded to include new model planning, designing, prototype development and production engineering. Along with business expansion, we moved our headquarters and provided it with a full line of facilities in 1987. The long awaited 25% wind tunnel was also completed and the environment for research and development improved dramatically. Such developments enabled us to develop the super sports car CASPITA, a solar powered car for an electricity company, and development of an EV car. The wind tunnel facility, which was developed at DOME, earned enormous praise, thus bringing in contracts to build wind tunnels. In 1991 we expanded our headquarters to include a new building complete with exceptional facilities for development, such as an NC modeling facility and a CFRP processing oven. In 1994 after our fourth challenge with our own chassis, we were able to win the All Japan F3000 Championship and immediately started development of the first wholly Japanese F1 prototype. Testing began right after completion of the car in 1996. At the same time we became involved in the development of racing cars for HONDA: from 1995 we were in charge of aerodynamics for the JTCC ACCORD and from 1996 we started development of the NSX JGTC chassis and achieved good results with both. In 1998 we were contracted by HONDA to develop a formula car for an oval course and a small-sized formula car for a racing school. This small formula car became the first mass production racing car for DOME, opening the door into yet another new area of business. Because a limit was reached at around that time in the growth of the domestic race industry, DOME established DOME Cars Limited in Britain in December 1999 in order to become active in Europe, the home of auto racing. We participated in the racing car show Autosport International held in Birmingham as the first Japanese racing car constructor. Our products became a focus of attention at the show. In this same year, we constructed the DOME Tunnel in Maihara, Shiga Prefecture, a 50% scale wind tunnel experiment facility essential for an F1 constructor. Moreover, in 2001, we established DOME Carbon Magic Co., Ltd. in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, for carbon composite development and manufacture. To become the world's leading racing constructor, DOME is accelerating its progress in engineering abilities and facilities. DOME Co., Ltd. carries out car styling, design, development and racing activities on a small scale but actively under its own policies and methodology without being constrained by precedent, thus receiving attention as a unique and distinctive company in the ever-evolving automotive industry. |
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