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.

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

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