Le Mans Series

Creation tests CA06/H-001 at Donington

© Creation

In cold and wintry conditions, the beautiful, electric-blue Creation CA06/H yesterday ran for the first time at the Donington circuit, England. Present at the shakedown test were Creation regulars Nicolas Minassian and Jamie Campbell-Walter plus new 2006 driver signings, Felipe Ortiz and Beppe Gabbiani.
Team Principal, Ian Bickerton, looked on at his "baby" took to the track as proud as any new father. Formerly known as the Creation DBA4 03S, the British team has worked tirelessly and intensively over the winter months in order to change the car to a Hybrid specification and successfully accommodate the new Judd V10 engine.

At the end of the day, he was in a buoyant mood. "The test went very well indeed, and the car ran faultlessly all day. Nic did the majority of the driving - about 25-30 laps - but I have to say the weather was less than ideal for a first run. It snowed, it rained, it dried out and then it hailed! Nic said it was difficult to give truly representative feedback on the car with the weather being what it was, but he thinks it’s going to be awesome. The power from the new Judd 5-litre engine is fantastic and it feels very strong with lots of torque.
"It’s a real tribute to the whole team, our engineer Ian Smith, Ben Wood, Kieron Salter of KWM and Shaun Joyce of Moose Design that we’ve got to where we are today. There are only 7 full-time employees at Creation and a hell of a lot of 18-hour days have been put in to get the car finished. I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved with such limited resources."

With Campbell-Walter having today completed just 5 laps, and Gabbiani 3 laps, the team move onto Silverstone today to continue testing. They, together with Felipe Ortiz, will be anxious to fully experience the car which Minassian believes will be the team’s passport to success in 2006.

The team will next be present at the official pre-Le Mans Series test session at the HTTT Paul Ricard circuit on 26th/27th March - one of the few opportunities available to teams to carry out endurance testing before the 24 Hours of Le Mans.