#9 CREATION CA07 - #14 & #29 DOME S101.5

June 7, 2007 - The all-British Creation Autosportif racing team, based in Bicester, was founded in 2003 by Mike Jankowski and Ian Bickerton. That year the team entered a Lister Storm in the FIA GT series. For 2004 they built an "own" car, the DBA 03S. As chassis they used the one Reynard made in 2000 as the very ultimate chassis to win Le Mans in the LM P675 class. Unfortunately the car came late, too late to avoid the firms bankrupt. So Bickerton could buy an original chassis from Paul Shakespeare. Motor was the 3.4-litre Zytek ZB348. The new car (in fact a Zytek) realised two poles and two third places. In 2005 several aerodynamically improvements were made being successful since the car qualified at the five LMS rounds in the top-3 (with a pole at Silverstone) and finished at three occasions on the podium. At the last round of the AMLS Creation caused a stir by realising the pole at Laguna Seca. In 2006, however, the team had a major problem since their car was no longer legal. So one decided to designing a new body, meeting the changed ACO rules, by using the same LM P675 chassis. The new car - called Creation CA06-001H - was thus a hybrid version (which ACO still allowed until the end of the season). The CA06 finished twice at the podium of LMS rounds and realised a 3-4 at the two last AMLS rounds. A second built car realised a second place at the Donington 1000-kms.
For 2007 Ian Bickerton had a serious problem, since ACO didn't allow any more hybrid cars. This time there was no "easy" fix. With the help of KWM Motorsport, Creation's Ian Smith set about designing a brand new car for 2007; the first real Creation. The new CA07 carbon monocoque chassis sports the mandatory twin roll hoops, but still uses a lot of the running gear found on the DBA and Creation hybrid. The engine is the latest version of the ultra-light 640 bhp Judd engine, which now displacing 5.5 litre and mated to a Ricardo gearbox (just as on the Zytek 07S). The 2006 bodywork has been carried over with slight modifications to suit the new tub.
The introduction of the new racer was postponed several times, because the team was busy readying the two CA06/Hs for American customers. One of those cars is raced this season without great successes by Intersport Racing (having done no better than a 7th and 9th place at the five first rounds of the AMLS).  As the 2007 Le Mans drew near, it became clear that the trademark blue and yellow livery would be abandoned in favour of an art-car design by famous artist Mark Olson. He came up with a concept called "The Children of Le Mans"; each of the seven countries the car could race at in 2007 is depicted by a child like portrait. The car itself is painted a very deep blue and the portraits are accompanied by pictures of stars and of the moon.

RESULTS 2007 - The new Creation CA07 finally made its public debut during the official Le Mans test day early in June of 2007. It was quick straight from the box and clocked times that were very competitive with the other petrol powered LMP1 cars. 2007 drivers are Jamie Campbell-Walter and Felipe Ortiz. At Le Mans Shinji Nakano joins the pairing. At the Le Mans Test Day he realised 3'34"398, good for a ninth place, just behind the Zytek 07S from which the Creation remains still a copy.

LMP1
engine: Judd GV5.5 72 degree 640 bhp (torque 657 Nm) , no turbo
engine weight: 123 kg
turbochargers: no turbos, naturally aspired
Valvetrain: 4 valves per cylinder DOHC
gearbox: Ricardo 6 speed sequential
fuel capacity: 90 litres
weight: 925 kg 
tyres: Dunlop

DOME S101.5

Having been successful during the first years of the new century, the Dome S101 became obsolete. In Japan they had plans to make an entirely new car, but when ACO announced that up from 2010 no open LMP1 cars will be still allowed, the firm decided to revisit its initial plans. Instead of making a new car they decided to use as many of the existing parts of the 2006 hybrid S101 and fit them on a new tub made according to the LMP1 regulations with double roll-hoops. Fittingly dubbed the S101.5, the 'new' Dome has been handed to the Racing for Holland to race in the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a semi-Works team. The S101.5 is now equipped with the ultra-light 5.5-litre Judd engine, good for 640bhp. An LMP2 version has been equipped  with the highly unreliable 3.4-litre Mecachrome/Mader engine and will be entered at Le Mans by T2M Motorsport.

RESULTS 2007 - Driven by an all-Dutch line-up, the S101.5 debuted in the Monza 1000 km. Some technical issues in the race, dropped the black racer down to 25th, after qualifying 7th. New problems at the Valencia 1000-kms where the LMP1 qualified only as 16th and was retired before mid-race. At the Le Mans Test Day, however, Jan Lammers realised the 7th time. The LMP2 Dome seems to be a disaster, having finished last at the Valencia 1000-kms and last at the Le Mans Test Day. [JPVR]

LMP1
engine Dome S101.5 Judd: 9Judd GV5.5 72 degree 640 bhp (torque 657 Nm) , no turbo
engine weight Zytek 07S: 123 kg
turbochargers: no turbos, naturally aspired
Valvetrain: 4 valves per cylinder DOHC
gearbox: 6 speed sequential
fuel capacity: 90 litres
weight: 925 kg 
tyres: Michelin

LMP2
engine Dome S101.5 Mader/90 degree V8 Mecachrome/Mader 3,398cc  500 bhp at
   9,500 rpm (torque N/A)
engine weight: 150 kg
turbochargers: no turbos, naturally aspiredi
Valvetrain: 4 valves per cylinder DOHC
gearbox: 6 speed sequential
fuel capacity: 90 litres
weight: 775 kg 
tyres: Michelin