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Dome personnel at Minardi (1997)?

ThunderboltSeven
in ForzaMinardi.com Forum
I was wondering if one of the old-timers here could confirm or deny this...

I recall this very vaguely, since this was when I was just becoming a hardcore F1 fan (thank you internet). Dome, who is best known for running Honda's factory NSX program in the Japan Super GT series (formerly JGTC), had announced plans to enter F1 with their own car in March 1996.

They have an entertaining chronicle of how things eventually fell apart on their website, and while reading through it today, I noticed that the author, one Mr. Tadashi Sasaki, refers to himself as the "Minardi manager". Later on, during a meeting with Malik Ado Ibrahim in 1997 (who, if you will recall, bought into Arrows in '99, unveiled that stupid t-minus thing on the cars' sidepods, and then disappeared from sight), Sasaki says, "I thought I could promote Minardi if he was keen on racing team that much but he wanted to be England-based."

If this was 1997, that's when Ukyo Katayama was paired with Jarno Trulli and Tarso Marques; the car also sported Mild Seven sponsorship that year. Did we have a Japanese manager, too? Does anyone remember anything about this?

Comments

  • FactyCrab
    yes, you are right. he's gcm's friend...i met sasaki san in the f.nippon circuit in '00.

    he then reappeared in minardi after stoddart took over and was seen quite often with rupert manwaring...after rupert left for lola he also disappeared and lola dome f3 project surfaced.
  • MCSF
    Cool - learn something damn near everyday here at FM.com. Good eye TB7. Somebody needs to write the definitive GCM book.
  • Clown
    ^ If you need any research, I can go through his garbarge for you :D
  • ThunderboltSeven
    he then reappeared in minardi after stoddart took over and was seen quite often with rupert manwaring
    This makes sense. In the story of how Dome's F105 never saw the light of day, Sasaki mentions that a consortium of investors, including European Aviation, were going to fund the program. He also talks a lot about Manwaring in regards to Honda's aborted factory F1 project.
  • Brooksey
    Nice looking car of theirs.

    image
  • yokosuna
    Very nice thread. Emmo is right again, Salvo wadda yer waiting to write a GCM book?
  • Joblo
    At the start of 1995 Tadashi Sasaki, the team manager of Minardi, joined Dome and that autumn the company announced its plan to enter F1. Akiyoshi Uko designed the Dome F105 and Sasaki organized a deal for Dome to buy the Minardi semi-automatic gearbox and its hydraulic system.
  • forzaminardi
    Somebody needs to write the definitive GCM book.
    have been thinking about it more than once...
  • MCSF
    I have thought that of all the Minardi fans I know of it would be either you or Salvo to do the job - maybe a collaboration. The fellow who did the first book about the team is the most logical to continue with the saga but i have no idea what stage his life is in - the door is open people...

    HOWEVER, the only real problem is that the GCM story is FAR from over and a book might be premature unless it is in the form of a trilogy.
  • forzaminardi
    not really, you could do something like 20 years of minardi in f1 but that would definitely need an "access all areas"
  • yokosuna
    Maybe you can work together with Salvo RJ
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