Kit cars are popular amongst the hobbyist crowd, as they allow a person the satisfaction of building their own vehicle. Many times the cars that are offered as kits are based on vehicles that are no longer in production, or can be built using standard components available at the local scrap yard or auto shop. Kit cars are also one of the few remaining areas in the automotive business where vehicles are built with an exclusive focus on performance, with little compromise for comfort or luxury.
There is another facet of the kit car industry that is even more performance oriented. Since one of the principle barriers to inexpensive power in an automobile are the environmental restrictions imposed by government regulations, it can be difficult for small car companies to justify the cost of meeting these standards for a tiny production run. However, kit cars that are sold without engines are exempt from emissions testing, and can even be imported from other countries without much hassle. This is how
Ultima has managed to create a substantial following in both their native England and in the United States with their 2000
Ultima GTR kit car.
The
Ultima GTR is best described as a street-legal race car. The vehicle has no airbags, no trunk space and weighs only 2300 lbs – less than a new Miata. Combining with this low weight are the two engine options available, either a small-block
Chevrolet or a modern Corvette LS1 engine with either a
Porsche or Corvette transaxle. The LS1 makes 345 horsepower, which is a scary amount of motivation to provide such a lightweight chassis. Equipped with the LS1, the
Ultima GTR can hit 60 miles per hour in 3.3 seconds, reaching 100 miles per hour in only 8.4 – truly shocking numbers that will beat anything from a 911 Turbo to all vehicles currently being sold by
Ferrari. Top speed is a drag-limited 157 miles per hour, but since you get there in 26.3 seconds, it doesn’t feel like that much of a limitation.
On the outside, the
Ultima GTR is quite impressive looking, with high fenders and a sculpted, manta ray styling that is reminiscent of Le Mans cars of the late 60’s and 70’s. An optional wing towers over the rear deck, and three round taillights on each side frame the center grille of this rear-engine beast. Scissor-doors kick up to let you enter the deep cockpit, which is accessed by sliding across a wide door sill. High-mounted side mirrors let you see over the fenders and keep an eye on the vehicles behind you, which at this level of performance is almost everybody.
The price of admission into the world of
Ultima is not cheap. The kit itself, fully assembled, is over $100 000. Add in the fact that once you have imported the chassis you will have to pay another $40 000 more to have an engine installed, and it can almost seem like too much to pay for a kit car. However, whereas most kits owe much of their engineering and design to off the shelf components, the only non-
Ultima fabricated parts to be found in the GTR are the engine and transmission. The rest of the vehicle is the product of years of research, and the package is more comparable to a spec racer than a standard kit car.
Regardless of your politics regarding kits, the idea of being able to order a race car with exactly as many or as few options as you require is quite appealing to a certain demographic. You will certainly rarely encounter anyone else driving an
Ultima GTR on your way to the track, which is more than even a
Ferrari owner can say. Exclusivity has its price, and in this case, so does no holds barred performance.
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June 4, 2008, 7:00 am
