The All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship or JGTC which was founded by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) in 1994, replaced the defunct All Japan Sports Prototype Championship for Group C cars and the Japanese Touring Car Championship for Group A touring cars.
In recent years the series has been divided into two categories, GT500 and GT300. The figures refer to the maximum permitted power output in bhp for each class, and this is regulated through the use of air intake restrictors which the cars must have. In addition to restricting horsepower, successful cars gain weight penalties to prevent the domination of the championship by any one team. Weight penalties are added to the cars if in the previous race they finished 1st, and also to cars which put in the fastest lap or gained pole position in the preceding race. Hence, if a team does well for the first few races of the year, they suffer a weight penalty which drops them down the order for the next few races. This form of handicapping does not appeal to most racing purists but the reason for it is to keep the competition close and to make it difficult for just one team to dominate (which can make for a boring show for the spectators).
Cars in the GT300 group tend to be quite similar to their road going equivalents (the category has recently been dominated by cars such as the Porsche 911 GT3) while the faster GT500 cars can often be highly modified when compared to the street versions on which they are supposed to be based. In this sense the GT500 category is similar to the old Group 5 rules for racing in that the cars retain the basic shape of the road car but are otherwise specialised racing machines. This race prepared Honda NSX for example has the same roofline and doors as the road going 350Z, but it has widened and re-shaped wings and wheelarches. It also has a large rear wing which is essential for most modern race cars in order to provide the necessary grip required for high speed cornering, and a periscope like air intake for the engine behind the drivers compartment.
Dome have been active in sportscar racing since the company president Minoru Hayashi built his first racing car based on a Honda S600 in 1965. From the late 70s and into the Group C era in the 1980s, Dome campaigned both it's own cars and later Toyota Group C cars at Le Mans, but never managed to win the famous French race. The team has been active in F3000 open wheel racing. There have even been a number of road going cars built by the company including the wedge shaped Dome-Zero from 1978 and the 1988 Jiotto Caspita. The later car was planned for production but the business case for making it did not work out thanks to a global recession at the time of it's planned introduction.
Dome apparently when written in Japanese characters means "a Child's dream".
In 2003 they campaigned a Honda NSX in the JGTC driven by the Japanese/French driver pairing of Ryo Michigami and Sebastien Philippe. The main sponsor was the car safety equipment firm Takata. Takata manufacture airbags, seatbelts, child seats and racing harnesses among other products and the safety belts on this NSX were made by the main sponsor. On the roof is painted a five point quick release buckle with five seatbelts radiating out from it.
The Takata Dome NSX managed to win one race in 2003, the 5th round at the Fuji Speedway. It's next best result in the 8 round 2003 season was a 2nd place in the final race at Suzuka. Michigami and Philippe finished in 7th place overall in the GT500 championship.
The road going Honda NSX has a 3.2 litre V6 engine mounted in a mid-engined/rear wheel drive chassis, but I'm not sure how closely related the engine in this car is to the standard cars powerplant. This is because like all of AUTOart's JGTC models, this model of the Takata Dome NSX is a "sealed" model. This means that the doors, the rear hatch and the bonnet do no open, and while it does have good interior detailing (which is hard to see through the small windows) it does not have an engine at all. AUTOart justify their sealed model range by claiming that it allows them to rapidly release models a short time after they raced as it takes less time to produce them without openings. However, most collectors I know (including myself) would be quite happy to wait an additional six months or so and get a model that opens (just like even the most basic budget model does for the most part in 2006!). It certainly is a well make model of a superb looking race car, but I do wish it opened up! The truth I feel behind the new sealed line up of racing cars from AUTOart is that they are cheaper to make hence it was a decision based on trying to get more money for less product.
As I'm in the middle of a house move (as of August/September 2006) all my models are in storage hence I'm not able to accurately rate this model for this review. To do so properly I like to have the model to hand so I can inspect it properly in order to give it a fair rating. Once our house move is complete I aim to get my models out of storage ASAP and add a full rating of this model to this review.
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