A little history
Dome long remained a small Japanese outfit without any noticeable achievement on the motorsports’ international stage. Early attempts at Le Mans went nowhere, except being laughed at for the car's utmost ugliness, though I don’t necessarily concur. An announcement of a Formula One Dome in the mid-Nineties also proved a little over-ambitious. Success finally came at the turn of the millennium with the S101, a spyder built for endurance racing. Though Dome couldn’t do much against money-laden teams such as Audi, the S101 provided an efficient machine to many private teams. When other competitors designed new cars to meet the new regulations introduced in 2007, Dome judged that its S101 had still enough potential that it only needed an update, and it became the revised S101.5. Nevertheless, Dome introduced the S102 closed racer in 2008, following the present trend in endurance racing.
About the models
Model: Dome S101 - Judd
Year: 2002
Event: 2002 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Jan Lammers, Tom Coronel and Val Hillebrand (finished 8th)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.11 of its Les Plus Belles Voitures des 24 Heures du Mans press series
Acquired: brand new, in January 2004, in Souillac, France
This Dome was possibly my very first Le Mans car. It sports the highly original “Racing for Holland” livery: the Dutch team, unable to find a single big sponsor to finance its endeavour into endurance races, sold small chequered areas to many companies – ironically one of them was bought by Ixo’s rival Ebbro. The model car itself is well done considering reproducing such an intricate decoration had to be a difficult job. I’d give 14/20.
Model: Dome S101 - Mugen
Year: 2003
Event: 2003 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Masahiro Kondo, Ukyo Katayama and Ryo Fukuda (finished 13th)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.62 of its Les Plus Belles Voitures des 24 Heures du Mans press series
Acquired: brand new, in May 2006, in Souillac, France
Same mould, different decoration. Worth 13/20.
Model: Dome S101 - Judd
Year: 2003
Event: 2003 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Felipe Ortiz, Beppe Gabbiani and Tristan Gommendy (retired)
Maker: Ebbro
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Ebbro
Acquired: brand new, in January 2007, in Hong Kong, S.A.R.
Ebbro’s rendition of the “Racing for Holland” Dome is virtually equal to the Ixo in terms of quality, but its main advantage comes from its removable engine cover. Unfortunately the Japanese maker only forgot to provide instructions as to how operate it, which is quite arduous – if you know of a simple way, please answer this post, I may have missed something. I’d grant a 15/20 to this pleasant model.
Dome long remained a small Japanese outfit without any noticeable achievement on the motorsports’ international stage. Early attempts at Le Mans went nowhere, except being laughed at for the car's utmost ugliness, though I don’t necessarily concur. An announcement of a Formula One Dome in the mid-Nineties also proved a little over-ambitious. Success finally came at the turn of the millennium with the S101, a spyder built for endurance racing. Though Dome couldn’t do much against money-laden teams such as Audi, the S101 provided an efficient machine to many private teams. When other competitors designed new cars to meet the new regulations introduced in 2007, Dome judged that its S101 had still enough potential that it only needed an update, and it became the revised S101.5. Nevertheless, Dome introduced the S102 closed racer in 2008, following the present trend in endurance racing.
About the models
Model: Dome S101 - Judd
Year: 2002
Event: 2002 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Jan Lammers, Tom Coronel and Val Hillebrand (finished 8th)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.11 of its Les Plus Belles Voitures des 24 Heures du Mans press series
Acquired: brand new, in January 2004, in Souillac, France
This Dome was possibly my very first Le Mans car. It sports the highly original “Racing for Holland” livery: the Dutch team, unable to find a single big sponsor to finance its endeavour into endurance races, sold small chequered areas to many companies – ironically one of them was bought by Ixo’s rival Ebbro. The model car itself is well done considering reproducing such an intricate decoration had to be a difficult job. I’d give 14/20.
Model: Dome S101 - Mugen
Year: 2003
Event: 2003 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Masahiro Kondo, Ukyo Katayama and Ryo Fukuda (finished 13th)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.62 of its Les Plus Belles Voitures des 24 Heures du Mans press series
Acquired: brand new, in May 2006, in Souillac, France
Same mould, different decoration. Worth 13/20.
Model: Dome S101 - Judd
Year: 2003
Event: 2003 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Felipe Ortiz, Beppe Gabbiani and Tristan Gommendy (retired)
Maker: Ebbro
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Ebbro
Acquired: brand new, in January 2007, in Hong Kong, S.A.R.
Ebbro’s rendition of the “Racing for Holland” Dome is virtually equal to the Ixo in terms of quality, but its main advantage comes from its removable engine cover. Unfortunately the Japanese maker only forgot to provide instructions as to how operate it, which is quite arduous – if you know of a simple way, please answer this post, I may have missed something. I’d grant a 15/20 to this pleasant model.
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