The Creation CA07 is an

Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le M ...

LMP1

race car Race, RACE or The Race may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

designed, developed and built by British manufacturer

Creation Autosportif Creation Autosportif, Ltd. was a sports car racing team based in Oxford, England. It was founded in 2003 by Ian Bickerton and Mike Jankowski and has raced in the FIA GT Championship, FFSA GT Championship, American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, ...

and KW Motorsport, for the

Le Mans Endurance Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

and the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

. A replacement to the

Creation CA06/H Creation or The Creation or Creations, may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Creation'' (1922 film), a British silent drama * ''Creation'' (unfinished film), 1931 * ''Creation'' (2009 film), about Charles Darwin Literature * ''Creation ...

, it was Creation's first all-new prototype.

Racing history

2007

The debut race for the car was at the

2007 24 Hours of Le Mans The 75th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''75e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a 24-hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars, which took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans, France, from 16 to 17 June 200 ...

. It was run by

with drivers,

Jamie Campbell-Walter Jamie Oliver Campbell-Walter is a British professional racing driver. He was born in Oban, Scotland on 16 December 1972. He won the FIA GT Championship in 2000 and took a World Endurance Championship title in 2013 as an Aston Martin Racing ...

Shinji Nakano Shinji Nakano (中野信治, born 1 April 1971) is a Japanese professional racing driver. His father, Tsuneharu, was also a racing driver. He competed in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship. Racing career Pre Formula One Career For ...

and Felipe Ortiz. They qualified tenth overall and fifth among petrol powered cars with a time of 3:36.279. After multiple accidents and spins, the car retired due to overheating issues. The team would run the car in the remaining four rounds of the

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...

. They finished in the points in all races they competed, with a best finish of third at the final round at

Interlagos Interlagos is a neighborhood located in the district of Socorro (district of São Paulo), Socorro in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Its name comes from the fact that the region is located between two large reservoirs, Guarapiranga and Billings ...

. Despite missing the first two rounds of the season, the team finished tied for fifth place in LMP1 team standings. Creation Autosportif also entered the car in final two races of the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

with drivers Jamie Campbell-Walter,

Christophe Tinseau Christophe Raymond Jean Tinseau (born 18 December 1969) is a French racing driver from Orléans. Tinseau began racing professionally in French Formula Renault in 1991. In 1992 he moved to French Formula Three and in 1993 he placed 4th in that c ...

and

Harold Primat Harold Primat (born 12 June 1975) is a French-born Swiss racing driver who previously competed in the Blancpain Endurance Series and other long-distance events such as the Bathurst 12 Hour and Nurburgring 24 Hours. Early career The nephew of ...

. The first race was the

Petit Le Mans Petit Le Mans (French language, French for ''Little Le Mans'') is a sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, United States. The race has been held for a durat ...

, where the car would finish fifth overall and second in class, 17 laps down. At the season finale at

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

, Campbell-Walter and Primat finished ninth overall and third in class, three laps down from the winning

Audi R10 TDI The Audi R10 TDI (Turbo Direct Injection) is a sports prototype designed and built by Audi in partnership with Dallara. Built to the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) regulations, the R10 was highly successful throughout its career; the R10 became th ...

2008

The car would again be entered into the

but two examples would be raced for the majority of the season due to a partnership between

Creation Creation or The Creation or Creations, may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Creation'' (1922 film), a British silent drama * ''Creation'' (unfinished film), 1931 * ''Creation'' (2009 film), about Charles Darwin Literature * ''Creation ...

and Japanese company AIM. A new engine was developed with funding from AIM resulting in a wider engine at 90°. One car was entered into the opening round at

Catalunya Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

with drivers

, Stuart Hall and Filipe Ortiz. After running well in the early stages of the race, the car suffered slipping clutch issues. This dropped them out of contention however, they did finish the race, albeit 33rd overall and 52 laps down. At the 1000 km of Monza, Jamie Campbell-Walter, driving the #14 CA07, suffered a massive accident during qualifying and was subsequently withdrawn from the race. For the #15, it would achieve the best finish of the season with a fourth overall position. Stuart Hall and Robbie Kerr finished ninth overall and sixth in class, nine laps down from the leader, at the 1000 km of Spa. For the

2008 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 76th Grand Prix of Endurance, taking place on 14–15 June 2008 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The test day was on June 1. The race was atten ...

, two cars were entered, one from Creation Autosportif and one from American customer team Autocon Motorsports. The #14 Creation entry utilized the AIM ( Judd) engine while the #23 Autocon Motorsports ran the Judd GV5.5 engine. Qualifying did not go well for both entrants. The #14 qualified in 21st with a best time of 3:35.994 while the #23 qualified 32nd with a best time of 3:47.695. The first car to run into problems was the #14, which had a broken wing support. Later on, with

Johnny Mowlem Johnny Mowlem (born 12 February 1969) is a professional British racing driver. During his career Mowlem was ranked amongst the best sports car/GT drivers in the world. Mowlem famously fell off his chair whilst commentating at the 2023 Le Mans ...

driving, the car suffered a puncture heading towards Indianapolis and hit the wall. Mowlem brought the car back to the pits to repair the front splitter and side of the car. After a quiet and trouble free night, the #23, driven by Chris McMurray had a puncture on the right rear on the

Mulsanne Mulsanne () is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire in north-western France. Population Motor racing The Circuit de la Sarthe, which is used in the sports car endurance race 24 Hours of Le Mans, features the l ...

. The #14 Creation Autosportif finished 24th overall, 11th in class and 65 laps down from the leader. The #23 Autocon Motorsports retired and classified 38th, completing 224 laps. The next race was the 1000 km of Nürburgring, where two cars were entered. The #15 finished eighth while the #14 finished 22nd. The final race of the Le Mans Series at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. The village is about south-southwest of Towcester and northeast of Brackley, both accessed via the A43 road, A43 main ...

saw the #14 retire and the #15 finish in sixth. Creation would again enter the final two races of the

. Two cars were brought for the

. In the third hour, the #888 entry driven by Dean Stiling, crashed at turn 1 and was eventually retired. Later on in the sixth hour, the sister #88 car retired due to gearbox issues. At the final race at

, the car finished 17th overall and fourth in class, just missing the podium.

2009

Financial difficulties due to the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

meant that the CA07 only ran in one race, the

. Changes to this car include revised rear bodywork and a change of engine to the Judd GV5.5. The #4 entry was driven by

Vanina Ickx Vanina Ickx (born 16 February 1975) is a Belgian racing driver. Career Ickx was born in Brussels on 16 February 1975. She is the daughter of racing driver Jacky Ickx and his first wife Catherine. Ickx started racing at a relatively late age, e ...

and

Romain Iannetta Romain Iannetta (born 27 November 1979 in Villecresnes) is a French racing driver who last competed in the GT4 European Series, driving the No. 77 Audi R8 LMS GT4 Evo for Full Motorsport. He also competes part-time in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Seri ...

. The car qualified 19th overall, with a time 3:35.960. In the final race the team finished 24th overall and 63 laps down.

Racing results

Complete Le Mans Series results

(key) Races in bold indicates

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

. Races in ''italics'' indicates fastest lap.

Complete American Le Mans Series results

(key) Races in bold indicates

. Races in ''italics'' indicates fastest lap.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

{{Reflist Le Mans Prototypes 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars Sports prototypes Creation vehicles