Jiotto Caspita

The Jiotto Caspita is a prototype mid-engine sports car designed and manufactured by Dome in 1989.

The project would die out in 1993 due to the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble, which resulted in a lack of demand for sports cars.

Out of the three, a design having an integrated rear wing and large side air intakes was fully developed.

[1] The Caspita had a bonded aluminium and carbon fibre monocoque chassis made by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.

The construction technique involved sandwiching aluminium between layers of carbon fibre and curing them in an autoclave to create a rigid structure.

Accessed via two gull-wing doors, the Caspita's red-and-black interior was driver-focused and spartan in nature, with no air conditioning, cruise control, or other such driver amenities.

Like its Tokyo Motor Show contemporaries the Mitsubishi HSR-II and Isuzu 4200R, the Caspita employed advanced technology for the time, such as an electronically retractable rear wing and an electronically controlled adjustable suspension system which could raise the car by 2.3 in (58.4 mm).

1989 Jiotto Caspita (Mk. I) rear
1990 Jiotto Caspita (Mk. II) front
1990 Jiotto Caspita (Mk. II) rear