Creation Aim-07 Chassis 1 Creation
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CREATION AIM-07 CHASSIS 1 CREATION he star of the Creation Autosportif squad shone second race in prototypes. brightly for a few short years in the mid-2000s. Buoyed by its successes, the plucky privateer began The team named after the Pillars of Creation developing a car that had started out as the still-born Tstar-forming nebula discovered by the Hubble Space Reynard 02S. Eventually Creation would become Telescope was an almost-constant thorn in the side of a constructor in its own right with the design and Audi on both sides of the Atlantic. development of the Creation CA07S for the 2007 Creation, set up by British-based American Mike season. Jankowski ahead of the 2003 season, expanded from Creation had found itself racing against another the GT arena into the prototype ranks for 2004 with privateer in Zytek Engineering with a car as near the purchase of the identical to the DBA4 DBA4 LMP675 03S. Creation had chassis with which purchased the one- 1990 Le Mans off Reynard, which 24 Hours victor had first raced as John Nielsen’s RN the IRM 02S at the Motorsport team had Road Atlanta Petit been a race winner Le Mans enduro in in the FIA Sportscar 2002, but the rights to Championship the the design has been previous season. bought from the ashes The new team with of Reynard by British a fan of astrology at engine specialist its helm was able to Zytek, which was now challenge the might expanding into chassis of Audi in the new construction for the Le Mans Endurance first time. Series with its lightweight Zytek-powered contender. Creation saw the drawbacks in trying to go up The team immediately made its mark, notching against the same chassis and engine combination run up a podium with Nicolas Minassian and Jamie a works team. That resulted in Jankowski and team Campbell-Walter behind the two Audi R8 LMP1s run manager Ian Bickerton choosing to swap to the Judd by the Veloqx team — and ahead of the Team Goh GV5 V8 engine for 2005. example that had just triumphed at Le Mans — at the More against-the-odds results followed for Creation. Nurburgring 1000Km in July. It was only the team’s There were poles for Minassian and a near-miss for the Frenchman and long-time team-mate Campbell- had emerged from Reynard’s Brackley factory five years Walter on home ground in the Silverstone 1000Km in before. Zytek had also been developing its machine August. A late safety-car and a minor gearbox glitch and built a new chassis for 2007. Line up the bare contrived to keep them off the top step of the podium monocoques of a Zytek 07S and a Creation CA07, and in a rain-affected race. They were just over six-seconds it would take an expert to tell them apart. behind the winning ORECA Audi shared by Allan The new car, initially powered by the 5.5-litre Judd McNish and Stephane Ortelli at the chequered flag. V10, hit the track in the run-up to the Le Mans Test A team that had existed for barely three seasons was Day in June 2007. It completed more than 1500km at on its way to becoming a constructor. A landscape Snetterton, Donington Park and then Magny-Cours of constant rules before ending up evolution in the mid- ninth in the times as 2000s accelerated that the fourth best petrol- progression. What powered prototype became the Creation in the hands of Jamie CA07 was effectively Campbell-Walter. developed in two Creation fielded a stages. single car with a The first step line-up now led by was to adapt the Campbell-Walter after original Reynard Minassian, his name chassis to the latest in sportscar racing aerodynamic rules, made with Creation, at the same time as had been picked up fitting a Judd V10 to by the factory Peugeot create a pukka LMP1 squad to race its car. The updates were new 908 HDi FAP undertaken by the turbodiesel. KW Motorsport organisation headed by Kieron Salter, Creation was still a force in the prototype ranks, who had been project manager at Reynard on the 02S. though the goal-posts were moving with the arrival of He still owned the original Reynard windtunnel model, the mega-million turbodiesel projects from Audi and which was brought into play to create a new LMP1 Peugeot. Creation, though, was still punching above its contender. weight among the petrol-powered independents. There The Creation CA06/H was born and more successes were a string of top-six results in the LMS, culminating followed in what was now known simply as the Le in a first podium for the CA07 in the Mil Milhas round Mans Series from 2006. There was a second place for at Interlagos in Brazil at the end of the year. Minassian, ex-Formula 1 driver Beppe Gabbiani and There was a new engine in the back of the CA07 for Filipe Ortiz at the Nurburgring 1000Km and another 2008. Japanese automotive development company AIM giant-killing pole position at Petit Le Mans against the had commissioned a wide-angle version of the Judd new Audi R10 TDI turbodiesels over in North America. V10 and linked up with Creation to field two cars in Creation also entered a second car for the first time the LMS. The team continued its run of top-six finishes in 2006 — and it was built up around a Zytek-built with the new combination, scoring a fourth at Monza monocoque! The team purchased the Zytek 04S raced and a sixth at Silverstone. by the British Jota Sport in the LMES in 2004-05 and Creation downscaled its assault for 2009 as the world turned it into a CA06/H. financial crisis hit. There was a single-car assault, now The road map of regulation changes meant Creation with the Judd engine again, at Le Mans, but the team’s had to build its own monocoque for 2007. KW star was waning. Development of the CA07 continued, Motorsport and ex-Reynard man Salter were again but the team would not grace an international sportscar employed to continue a natural path of development grid again before finally closing its doors. for the team. “We were the little guys, so it was fun to go up against There was an all-new monocoque and the LMP1-size Audi and give them a bit of trouble on a fairly regular wheels and tyres (the CA06/H had retained the smaller basis,” recalls Campbell-Walter. “I remember after LMP675 rims), but the heritage of the CA07 was clear. Nic put it on pole one time in the American Le Mans The suspension geometry owed much to the original Series, Dr Wolfgang Ullrich asking us what our budget 02S design on the principe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix was. When we told him, he said ‘that’s’ probably half it. our catering budget’.” And the new tub clearly had its roots in the one that AIM-07 CHASSIS 01 he first definitive car built by Creation through a lack of parts to keep the brand new car Autosportif, CA07 chassis #001, racked up out on track. no fewer than four top-six finishes in the Creation bounced back from a torrid debut for TLe Mans Series and scored the team’s final podium the CA07 with fifth place on the car’s first race in finish. It raced for two seasons, was powered by the LMS at the Nurburgring in July. Campbell- two different engines and contested the Le Mans 24 Walter, Nakano and Ortiz claimed fifth in the Hours on two occasions. German 1000km event, only losing fourth in the The new car, initially powered by the 5.5-litre closing stages. Judd V10, hit The Spa the track in the race yielded a run-up to the Le retirement, though Mans Test Day Campbell-Walter in June 2007. It qualified seventh completed more and ran as high than 1000km at as third early on, Snetterton and matching the pace then Donington of the best petrol- Park before powered P1 cars. ending up ninth The Creation was in the times as still fifth, despite the fourth best a puncture, when petrol-powered Nakano collided prototype in the with a GT2 class hands of Jamie Campbell-Walter. Porsche. Campbell-Walter, who was teamed with Shinji Creation Autosportif regained its moment at Nakano and Filipe Ortiz, followed that up with Silverstone in September. Campbell-Walter and 10th on the grid for the race two weeks later, but Ortiz, who were now joined by Hiroki Kurosawa a series of offs, including one in the night at the in place of Nakano, took fourth position, the best Porsche Curves, ate into the team’s supply of spares result of the CA07 so far. The team returned to its for the new car. It eventually had to be retired happy hunting ground at Road Atlanta in October and came away with fifth place in the Petit Le Mans 1000-mile race as the second LMP1 car home, despite starting from the back. The 2007 LMS season concluded in November with the Mil Milhas event at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil. Campbell-Walter and Ortiz had a new team mate in Stuart Hall. The car qualified third and finished in that position behind the two Peugeot turbodiesels. A second CA07 came on stream for the 2008 season when the team began its association with Japanese automotive development company AIM, which supplied a new wide-angle version of the Judd V10.