Cars That Never Raced

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Bottom post of the previous page:

The Super 2000 Skoda Octavia intended for the 2003 European Touring Car Championship.

[Everso Biggyballies]

I would be telling porkies if I said this car never raced.... it did. But it only did a less than handful of races in Japan with a target of taking on the LM24. Dome itself are no stranger to Le Mans, but the Dome RC83, fitted with a 4 litre version of the Cosworth DFL engine went to Le Mans in 1984 but sadly crashed so heavily in practice it had to be withdrawn. The following year it had been replaced by the Dome RC84C . So it never raced at Le Mans as was its mission.

I probably could have got away with posting it in the weird cars thread given the rear end view of the car.










This video here shows it at Le Mans in 1984, obviously pre its crash. @MonteCristo check out the onboard here of the old pre chicanes Mulsanne Straight in all its glory.

Certainly fairly quick car in a straight line. Gets to nigh on 300kph and then slips it into top gear.

[Everso Biggyballies]

I realised after posting about the almost unraced Dome RC83 Sports car that is later years (1996) they planned to enter F1.... they built and tested a car, the Dome F105, even had alleged sponsorship for it. but it never materialised. Test drivers were Marco Apicella, Naoki Hattori and Shinji Nakano.

Their best lap time on Suzuka was 1:46.270 more than 7 seconds slower then the Pole Time.

At the start of 1995 Tadashi Sasaki, the team manager of Minardi had joined Dome and that autumn the company revealed its plan to enter F1 to the media.

Akiyoshi Uko was to be the chief designer of the Dome F105 and had in fact started work on the design of the new car in August. Sasaki had organized a deal for Dome to buy a semi-automatic gearbox and associated hydraulic system from his old employers. That transmission was developed by Xtrac and centred on a magnesium cased, six speed unit that also appeared in the 1994 Simtek.
Power was to come from a 1995 specification Mugen-Honda V10.

Ultimately they were a gunner team, gunner join in 1996, gunner be 1997, then 1998 but it seems a lack of funding was the stumbling block. Ultimately the trusty F105 was rendered obsolete by changes in F1 regs.

There were always rumours tying them to being a proposed Honda F1 venture but of course that ultimately went the way of BAR and their taking over of the Tyrrell entry.

Dome then focussed its attention on Japanese racing series.

This is the RF105 that as mentioned was tested extensively and never really got further than that.










A bit of video footage of it testing. As I mentioned it had a Mugen V10 so if nothing else sounded the full Monty.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Ferrari 637 Indycar from 1986.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Audi built a V6 Evolution prototype of their already-successful 80 Quattro. It never raced.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

The Peugeot 905 Evo 2 "Supercopter", intended for the World Sportscar Championship until that series collapsed after the 1992 Season. The car was then intended to race in the 1993 Le Mans 24 Hours but remained on the sidelines as its predecessor went on to achieve a 1-2-3.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Did anyone ever know Minardi built an F3000 car? The M3085, entered three rounds of the 1986 International F3000 Season but never qualified.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Did anyone ever know Minardi built an F3000 car? The M3085, entered three rounds of the 1986 International F3000 Season but never qualified.

FWIW Minardi, much later in the piece, (in the pre season F1 tests of 2003) ran their PS01 car with Justin Wilson at the wheel at Valencia on UK made Avon F3000 tyres while negotiations with Bridgestone about a supply deal for 2003 continued. Minardi had cut its ties to Michelin before they had inked a deal with Bridgestone so were left with no F1 tyre deal in place and no tyres to use.

Stoddart was running around trying to secure some F1 tyres but improvised in the end. All rather obvious though as the F3000 tyres were full slicks whereas the F1 tyres were the grooved ones.

Found this pic of the Minardi on Avon Tyres at that pre season test.




Edit: Found this quote from Stoddart of the day taken from the Minardi Test Notes

Stoddart mentions of hopes for F1 tyres for Jos to drive on the following. day. I know that didnt happen either and Jos ran on the Avon slicks as well.

Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Minardi:

"Given the circumstances of driving a Minardi PS01 chassis, in which he (Justin Wilson) is not entirely comfortable, and running on tyres not intended for Formula One, we were all extremely impressed by Justin's performance today. His best lap, of 1 min 17 secs, set late this afternoon, was only three seconds off the pace of many of the new cars testing here today. It has given us something to smile about after a difficult start to this week's test. Regarding the tyre situation, I sincerely hope that Bridgestone will choose to honour its contractual obligations under the terms of the 2003 Formula One Sporting Regulations and supply the team with tyres for Jos's test tomorrow."

"I also want to take this opportunity to thank Avon for its support and for supplying us with some incredibly interesting tyres. Considering they were never intended for Formula One levels of performance, they have done an exceptional job today."


Driver: Justin Wilson (GB)
Chassis allocated: Minardi PS01-04
Laps completed: 50 (200km)
Fastest lap: 1 min 17.00 secs

Stoddard post test:

"After three-and-a-half months of trying to negotiate an agreement, I think the situation can best be summed up by the fact that, not once during this time, despite repeated attempts, have I been able either to arrange a meeting, or even to speak with the Bridgestone Director of Motorsport, Hiroshi Yasukawa.

"I simply cannot believe that a company of Bridgestone's standing could treat any customer in this way. Unfortunately, because of Bridgestone's total lack of communication and cooperation over this matter, we have wasted two valuable days of pre-season testing here in Valencia - something that, in the current climate, Minardi could ill afford to do."

[Nononsensecapeesh]

This Ford Mondeo Super Tourer, entered in the 1999 British Touring Car Championship as a privateer entry, got as far as testing but never raced.

Did not know this. Who was the driver?

Gareth Howell but not the one who later had an on-off stint with Team Dynamics.

This Gareth Howell also intended to run this Ford Sierra Sapphire in the 1993 British Touring Car Championship but, once again, the car never raced.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

The Monte Carlo 001 entered the Imola round of the 1986 International Formula 3000 season with Fulvio Ballabio at the wheel and was by far the slowest of the 36 entrants. 3 minutes, 4.8 seconds was the best the car could do, 1 minute 11.5 seconds off even the pace of the Dollop Racing Marches that were the 2nd and 3rd slowest, the car was never seen again.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

The Honda RA099 F1 prototype, got as far as testing, mainly in the hands of Jos Verstappen (funny how he only ever tested Honda-powered F1 cars but never actually raced one yet his son won his first title in a Honda-powered car) but canned after Harvey Postlethwaite passed away and Honda instead returned as an engine supplier with BAR.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

The Interscope-Porsche 940 indycar.