Sports car fans... get your drool cups ready!

[paultvx]

http://www.ultimasports.co.uk/gtr/videos.html

and

http://www.ultima-gtr.info/movs/ultima-gtr.wmv

[Dallas4u]

Freakin amazing. I know I saw one of the kits he is talking about in the back of Automobile or Car and Driver. They even boast about it's 0-60 time (something like less than 4 seconds). The guys said it's street legal... yipes!

[paultvx]

Car and Driver had an article on it. It was a Ultima GTR fitted with a LS1 V8 (from C5 Corvette): 345 hp, OBD 2, stock GM fuel injection and management. The car weighed around 2300 lbs. 0-60 time was 3.3 seconds. A guy in California had an operation where he sold the rolling chasis for around $100k. For $40k more he'd fit the motor (of your choice) and the tranny (5 or 6 speed Porsche). The other engine option he offered was a built Chevy 350 (carb) with 500 some HP that can propel the car to the 200 mph mark. I think the guy's business has folded since. Ultima's UK site no longer has any mention of the guy (Mike Mullins) and is telling US customers to deal directly with them.

The Car & Driver article is here: http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=26&article_id=3430

Can you imagine taking one of these babies on the interstate? A Ultima GTR with a turbo'ed LS1....mmmmm yummy.

[Heraclid]

Wow... and RELATIVELY quite affordable considering the performance. :-)

[Joe_Black]

Nice looking stuff! But if you want extreme performance, classic looks AND affordability all in a domestically available package that does 0-60 in 3.6 seconds check this out...
http://www.factoryfive.com/table/ffrkits/coupe/quicktour/cbody/coupe002.jpg

These guys have the right idea and and took the time to put it together right with no hype and a lot of track time. Take these bad boys on the street OR strip and you're good to go! And the best part is there aren't any unusual or hard-to-find parts, it's all off-the-shelf type stuff.



Factory Five Racing - The Website (http://www.factoryfive.com)

[WyrreJ]

FWIW, there is a turnkey GTR up on ebay now, in the UK...

[paultvx]

Damn thread hijacker! :D

Daytona coupes are nothing compared to what the GTR is capable of. You're talking about a prototype class racer that is street legal because its registered as a kit car. In LeMans terms, it's like comparing a LMP900 class car to a GTS class car.

BTW, Superformance (from South Africa) have been trying to sell their own version for over a year now... one of the partners on the venture/design team built the original Daytona Coupe with Shelby. Now Shelby is trying to block the Superformance coupe by claiming trademark rights and intellectual property rights to the design... and the shape of the car. Recently, Superformance tried to bring a car into the states so they could show it at a car show, Shelby had US customs hold the car at the port of entry claiming trademark infringement. Becaues of this and recent warming of ties between Shelby and Ford... rumors are going around that Shelby will be offering one with Ford's help.

If I had the bucks... I'd rather have an Ultima GTR.

[Joe_Black]

Sorry Paul, didn't mean to steal your thunder! :mbrasd: LOL!

You should take a stroll through the Factory Five website, I think you would really appreciate the group there and how they're doing their thing. They really are more than just another snake-clone manufacturer and have a very positive outlook on impacting the marketplace and of making a good show on the track as well. Plus their performance figures are very imprssive, but should be given the power-to-weight ratio of the cars. I especially love the coupe that I pictured! It's been hanging on my shop's "wish list wall" since it was prototyped a few years ago.

I helped build a few replica cars and had an opportunity to co-drive a '54 Jaguar D-Type replica in the '95 La Carrera Panamericana down in Mexico. Wow! Over 150 racers and nothing allowed newer than 1954 models, which our car was so correct that it qualified. Less than half finished over the grueling six-day race, and we fortunately placed fifth in our class. Needless to say, this impressed upon me the value of good engineering when it comes to these types of cars. Especially when you have to make repairs in the middle of nowhere! Unfortunately, due to the performance of the replica, no matter how "correct", they were banned as a whole the following year. Can't say as I blame them, most replicas are almost always an improvement over an already great design.