Monday 7th July 2008

Ultima 'Ring Record Thwarted By Rain

Company director hits 220mph on the way home anyway

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An attempt by Ultima to break the Nurburgring road car lap record has been thwarted by rain. The small car company arrived at the circuit with a standard GTR720 road car and hoped to lap the ‘Ring in less than seven minutes.

The road tyred 231mph Ultima was to be driven by Sport Auto Magazine, who had exclusively booked the circuit for the attempt. 'Ring specialist and pro driver Tom Coronel was employed to pilot the car to the new record and was impressed with the pace that the Ultima GTR had to offer during his public testing of the car in dry weather conditions.

‘The Ultima GTR720 is the most powerful and by far the fastest road car I have ever driven,’ he said. ‘It’s an absolute missile and a huge buzz to drive! The guys at Ultima Sports have a product which is a very special machine indeed. The Ultima is an extremely well developed and sorted package. I am confident I can set a new lap record time of below 6mins 55secs for a lap as measured by Sport Auto Magazine in this car. I can’t imagine any other road car ever being able to compete with the overall performance envelope that the Ultima has to offer.’

Richard Marlow, director of Ultima Sports, added: ‘It was gutting to have had the GPS timing gear all fitted to our Ultima GTR720 with the track booked exclusively for two half hour sessions on Thursday 3rd July via Sport Auto Magazine, only for the track to be saturated by a torrential downpour, forcing us to abandon the actual lap record run.’

Ultima wanted to show that, unlike other car manufacturers, the vehicle was a true road car by driving it to and from the circuit. Marlow said he even clocked 220mph on the de-restricted Autobahn on the way home. The Ultima GTR720 is a fully road going car and is often used as a daily driver.

The car is equipped with e-marked road tyres and fitted with our standard production 720bhp Chevrolet V8 engine option built by our OE engine suppliers American Speed. A standard G50-03 transmission was used with a taller 5th gear ratio (the taller 5th gear ratio is now a new option on our pricelist at £540) to suit the prolonged 200mph plus requirement for a successful lap record of the Nurburgring in an Ultima.

Ultima is also holding its annual open day on Sunday August 3^rd and all are welcome with no booking necessary. From 10am all the cars will be on display at the Ultima Factory in Hinckley, Leicestershire.

[Erijaso]

You just know they will do it.

Can't wait to see the video.

G