Dome planned to establish a European test base during the summer of 1996 and run at several European circuits on the calendar of the 1996 Formula One season, but this plan never came to fruition due to a shortage of funding. The team did, however, test at Suzuka shortly after the season-ending 1996 Japanese Grand Prix at the circuit. Hattori set a best time of 1:46.270, which was more than seven seconds slower than Jacques Villeneuve's pole position time of 1:38.909 set in the Williams FW18 chassis. It was also 0.3 seconds slower than the 107% cut-off mark for qualification, although journalist Sam Collins speculates that a faster time could have been set with a top-line driver.