Anyone ever drive an Ultima? | FerrariChat

Anyone ever drive an Ultima?

Discussion in 'British' started by sjb509, Feb 9, 2004.

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  1. sjb509

    sjb509 Guest

    Has anyone ever driven or owned one of these? Both the GTR and the Can-Am would be fun track cars. The Can-Am would be about as close to a 4-wheel motorcycle as you can get, imo. Chevy V-8 would be low-maintenance, spares for the Porsche gearbox would be available. Dry weight of around 2000 pounds.

    While it is still a kit car (I think they refer to it as a "component" car), there is no donor Fiero or VW. Personally I've always hated the Fiero rebodied as a 355 type cars. The Ultima looks pretty cool and would probably have handling limits more than sufficient to get a driver into high-speed trouble. If think Maclaren used an Ultima chassis to test the BMW V12 while they were designing the F1.

    The main problem I would see is that for the price of finishing one of these, you could buy a nice TR or 328.
    www.ultimasports.co.uk/
     
  2. Matt LaMotte

    Matt LaMotte Formula 3

    Oct 30, 2002
    1,874
    I got a friend that is about to build one as soon as he sells his RX7. From what he tells me it should be a fun and fairly easy to build kit. I'll keep you posted as he builds it.
     
  3. 95spiderman

    95spiderman F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Nov 1, 2003
    15,057
    ny
    there are 2 coupes that get tracked often in northeast. i think they are super cool cars and the spyder would only be even nicer. problem is they are unrealistic for street use and probably cost between 75k to 100k when all said and done which is pretty expensive for a track toy.
     
  4. tvrfreak

    tvrfreak F1 Rookie
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    Mar 31, 2003
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    I have a couple of friends with Ultimas here. If you are willing to compromise a bit in easy of entry and egress, and limited rear visibility, then they are incredible rides. You are low, so SUVs shut out the sun (and other cars) but you can definitely go under tanker trailers and pull some other crazy moves. Very controllable at the limit, I am guessing because of the wide track, and very fast. Very loud too, even at low rpms.

    Yes, an Ultima chassis was used as the development mule for the first iterations of the McLaren F1. It allowed for a lot of different suspension setups and quick adjustments.

    I have a friend in England who's got a proper racing one--you need noise-cancelling headsets to ride in that car. Funny thing is, he gets kicked off racetracks for sound violations, but has not had a problem on the street. It's registered as a kit car...serious kit!
     
  5. Dale

    Dale F1 Veteran

    Oct 7, 2003
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    Dale Juan
    Been in a couple on race track(donington uk) V8's g/50 tran's,
    quite good if a little noisey harsh,but it was all rod end jointed,

    Dale.
     
  6. Johnny Bravo

    Johnny Bravo Formula Junior

    Jul 22, 2003
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    Ben
  7. CCarlisi

    CCarlisi Karting

    Nov 4, 2003
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    Christian
    #7 CCarlisi, Feb 10, 2004
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    There is a good Ultima chat section on the pistonheads forum (lots of owners).

    My biggest concern about the car is its safety. I know they did not go through the administratively onerous process of getting them certified in the US. Does anybody know if at least the bumpers/crumple zones are positioned at US-spec height? I'm not sure how fast the car in the picture below was going or what it hit, so I offer it as a conversation piece and nothing more.
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  8. adamr

    adamr Formula Junior

    Aug 16, 2002
    720
    Chicago
    Hi Matt, Anything new on your friend's Ultima? Apparently, there's a guy in the suburbs who drives his on the street - stoked my curiousity.

    Thanks,
    Adam
     
  9. WILLIAM H

    WILLIAM H Three Time F1 World Champ

    Nov 1, 2003
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    That thing is sick :)

    I have met the 2 guys who track Ultimas in the NE. The cost is silimair to a 512TR but the thing will give an F40 a serious challenge. Who cares about comfort ? Thats what your other car is for :) As long as you have an AC thats good enough for a track car.

    I wouldnt mind 1 in my garage
     
  10. MarkCollins

    MarkCollins F1 Rookie
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    Jul 2, 2002
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