Ultima Sports Ltd. is a

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

based in

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughbor ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

Ultima Sports was founded in 1992 by Ted Marlow and Richard Marlow.

Vehicles

The company manufactures and distributes the Ultima Evolution car. The current Evolution is available in two body styles:

coupe A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

and

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

. The Ultima Evolution Coupe and Ultima Evolution Convertible have body styles unchanged from the preceding

Ultima GTR The Ultima GTR is a super car manufactured by Ultima Sports Ltd of Hinckley, Leicestershire, England, and described by commentators as a ''supercar''. The car was available both in kit form and as a "turnkey" (i.e. assembled by the factory) ve ...

and Ultima Can-Am models respectively. Prior to the GTR and Can-Am models, the two models, produced were the Ultima Sport and Ultima Spyder. All models in the Ultima range have always been primarily supplied in component form. That is, Ultima produces the parts required for an owner/builder to construct the car off-site. This is the only way to receive such a vehicle in the USA (including a 'rolling body' fully constructed minus engine and transmission). However, cars are also manufactured onsite as "

turnkey A turnkey, a turnkey project, or a turnkey operation (also spelled turn-key) is a type of project that is constructed so that it can be sold to any buyer as a completed product. This is contrasted with build to order, where the constructor builds ...

" models for the European market. The first Ultima produced was the

Ultima Mk1 The Ultima Mk1 is a mid-engined concept kit car produced by Noble Motorsport Ltd in 1983 (the company later became Ultima Sports when Ted Marlow and Richard Marlow bought the rights in 1992). The Mk1 was intended to go into production, but before ...

produced in 1983 by Lee Noble of Noble Motorsports Ltd. The car was intended to go into production, but only one was produced because before any were sold, the Ultima Mk2 was introduced in 1989. The Mk2 is based on the Mk1 but features new suspension and better brakes. The car won many races and championships in smaller series, being driven by Lee Noble and Ted Marlow. It was featured on the covers of Kitcars and Specials magazine, Sports Car Monthly Magazine, and Autochromes Magazine. In total, Ultima Mk2s were produced . The Ultima Mk3 introduced in 1989, featured a new fiberglass body but was still powered by the same PRV V6. It was the last Ultima produced by Noble Motorsports Ltd. before Ted Marlow and Richard Marlow bought the rights to the car in 1992 and started Ultima Sports. The preferred engine supplier for Ultima is currently American Speed, a company that specializes in re-engineering Chevrolet V8s for increased performance. It was with a version of the

Chevrolet small-block V8 The Chevrolet small-block engine is a series of Gasoline engine, gasoline-powered, V8 engine, V-8 automobile internal combustion engine, engines, produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors between 1954 and 2003, using the same basic Cy ...

built by American Speed, that company director Richard Marlow was able to set performance records in an

during 2005, this combination was known as the Ultima GTR640. The latest Evolution variant is being marketed with an American Speed motor as the most powerful available from the factory. 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 of power. The new record reduced 0.4 seconds off the time completing 0–100–0 mph in 9.4 seconds, a new world record for a production road car with street-legal tires and exhaust. All tests were recorded on road-legal tires in controlled conditions using a standard Ultima GTR720 and verified by an official from Datron Technology (Guinness World Records timekeepers) using Microsat

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

equipment. The Ultima GTR720 has also recorded the quickest ever road-legal lap time around the Top Gear Test Track at 1 min 12.8 secs, albeit unofficially but with an independent timekeeper and GPS timing gear present. The vehicle was also driven to and from the test track on the public roads as proof of its road-going ability. The same Ultima GTR720 also recorded an even quicker Top Gear Test Track lap time of 1 min 9.9 secs but this time fitted with slick racing tires to eclipse the 1 min 10.7 secs lap time of Michael Schumacher in his $1.8 million Ferrari FXX track car. It has been suggested that with the substantial upgrades, the Ultima Evolution may go from 0–60 mph in 2.3 seconds, 0–100 mph in 4.9s, and 0–100 mph-0 in 8.8s.

References

External links

Ultima Sports Ltd

History of Ultima Sports Ltd
Motor vehicle manufacturers of England Sports car manufacturers Kit car manufacturers Companies based in Leicestershire Car brands {{motorvehicle-company-stub Ultima vehicles

History

Vehicles

See also

References

External links