Ultima Sports Ltd. are a sports car manufacturer currently based in Hinckley,
Leicestershire, England. Founded in 1992 by Ted Marlow, Ultima manufacture the
components to construct cars derived, as road going versions, from the
Noble Motorsport Ltd. originated Ultima racing cars, which were designed by
Lee Noble who is more famous now for the models produced by Noble Automotive Ltd.
There are now 2 models in the current Ultima range; the GTR; and the convertible
Can-Am. Previous models have been the Sport and Spyder.
All models in the Ultima range have always been primarily supplied in component
form, that is Ultima produce the parts required for an owner/builder to construct
the car offsite, and this is the only way to receive such a vehicle in the USA
(including a 'rolling body' fully constructed minus engine and transmission).
However a few cars are manufactured onsite as "turnkey" models for the
European market.
The preferred engine supplier for Ultima is currently American Speed, a company
who specialise in re-engineering Chevrolet V8s for increased performance. It
was with a 640 hp (480 kW) version of the Chevrolet small block V8 built by
American Speed, that Richard Marlow was able to set a number of performance
records in an Ultima GTR during 2005, this combination now being dubbed the
Ultima GTR640.
In 2006 Ultima beat their own 0-100 mph-0 record set in the GTR640 with the
GTR720, again using an American Speed SBC engine but now with 720 hp (540 kW).
The new record shaved 0.4 seconds off the time completing the 0-100-0 dash in
9.4 seconds, a new world record for a production road car with street tyres
and exhaust...