The Ultima GTR, hails from the fertile race-car turf of Britain, the land where McLaren, Reynard, Williams, and Van Diemen build race cars that win with remarkable regularity. Lee Noble, a freelance car designer, designed and built the first Ultima in 1983 for a British kit-car racing series. It used many Renault parts, including a 270-horsepower V-6 engine mounted amidships. It was a success at the track, so Noble went on to sell 40 race cars before 1988, when he updated it. One of the 13 new models was purchased for about £20,000 by a civil engineer named Ted Marlow.
A weekend racer, Marlow did what most race-car owners do — he customized the Ultima to his liking. He swapped the V-6 for a 440-hp Chevy small-block V-8. In 1992, after four years of modifying and perfecting his car, Marlow, then 44, purchased Noble’s enterprise. His goal was to turn the Ultima into a civilized street car yet retain its prowess on the track. The project took 18 months. Marlow replaced the Renault parts with Ultima-specific units. He farmed out some bits and pieces but did most of the work himself. The brakes, for example, were designed by the well-known firm AP Racing. Since 1995, Marlow’s small factory in Hinckley, England, has turned out about 200 Ultimas.
The quickest accelerating and decelerating supercar of all time and multiple world speed record holder.
The exciting Ultima GTR road car is the result of over 25 years of extensive research and development and is a product that takes the Ultima marque to sensational levels of fit, finish and performance. The world renowned GTR really is a supercar in every sense of the word which has officially humbled every last mainstream car on the planet bar none. The GTR has been crowned as the quickest production car in the world, beating the likes of the Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari Enzo and McLaren F1 to a plethora of world speed acceleration and deceleration records.
The Ultima GTR has also been independently timed around the Top Gear test track and was found to be a blistering 6.2 seconds per lap faster than the £450,000 Ferrari Enzo and 4.0 seconds per lap faster than the £1.5million Bugatti Veyron SS, staggering the onlookers witnessing the remarkable feat!
Aerodynamic efficiency and balance has been of paramount importance on a car that is capable of over 200mph. Attention has centred around the length the rear of the car to help clean up the airflow and thus improve down force, whilst maintaining a short front and rear overhang has ensured that the Ultima performs perfectly on normal roads taking speed bumps and ferry ramps in it’s stride. These developments have been comprehensively tested at MIRA (the Motor Industry Research Association) where the group was so impressed by the results that it sought an Ultima GTR as the centrepiece for many exhibition appearances publicising the extensive facilities that they have available for car manufacturers.
The ultra clean look of the GTR and the faultless gel coat bodywork has not been achieved through luck, but rather by design. The production car feel of the Ultima is immediately apparent, from the specially moulded headlight housings and covers to the immaculate panel fit and lack of any external body catches. Huge wheels front and back fill the wheel arches declaring it’s performance potential while items such as the purpose-made electric wing mirrors combine to create the complete picture. The sensational appearance of the car has been applauded by designers and connoisseurs alike.