Thursday 21st April 2005
Another record for Ultima
New skidpan statistic
The Ultima Factory yesterday has set another world beating statistic in its all-conquering Ultima GTR. The Ultima GTR logged a road car skidpad world record of 1.176g lateral grip around a 200ft diameter circle at the Chertsey test facility.
Ultima GTR
The skidpad is a well-known test, particularly common in the USA, and is regarded by many leading car manufacturers as the dyno of grip. The procedure to conduct the test accurately is to measure the lap time around a 200ft circle and then this data is converted into lateral acceleration. The fastest two laps in each direction are recorded, and the final score is the average of these four laps.
The Ultima GTR road car used for the successful record attempt was the factory’s recently completed standard production specification Ultima GTR640 demonstrator which was driven by Ultima directors, Ted and Richard Marlow, who both recorded virtually identical world beating lap times to each other.
The test was strictly conducted, overseen and verified by an official from Datron Technology who are acknowledged by the motoring press and the Guinness Book of Records as official timekeepers, using state of the art Microsat GPS equipment.
The Ultima GTR640 used for the successful world beating run was fully road legal, fitted with road tyres and was driven to and from the test venue
The Ultima's figure of 1.176 compares to figures of 1.07 for the Porsche 911 GT1, 1.01 for the Enzo and 0.99 for the Carrera GT. The humble Elise manages 0.98. Figures are from Road & Track Magazine.
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Pesmo
Original Poster
149 posts
108 months
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Pretty good going  But as we all know, there are road tyres and then there are road tyres. I suspect a Caterham and certainly a road legal Radical would better this if fitted with road legal Avon ACB10's.
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smele
1,250 posts
153 months
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Very imnpressive. I hope that more records mean more recognition for the Ultima and perhaps give it the supercar reputation that it deserves.
Right, better get myself one.
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gdr
539 posts
129 months
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Is that with Kumho V70a's on??
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stig
9,961 posts
153 months
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Blimey, there will be no more records to break at this rate  For anyone who thought Ultimas were only good in a straight line, well, stick that in your pipe
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sjoerd1980
13 posts
103 months
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Records are good of course  Just wondering though, how is this car set up ? I mean it is compared against porsches etc which are very streetable. Not trying to do away the performance, I like the ultima a lot, but trying to see things in perspective.
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bluesatin
2,998 posts
141 months
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As a point of referene my ultima (same dampers and springs as the Gmans) had a more compliant ride than my 968cs at soft damper settings (normal road use).
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G Man
3,994 posts
129 months
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Point of order, this was the factory GTR640 demo car
My car has been retired to stud ...
G Man
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kzrd
35 posts
122 months
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Great news.
Fantastic to see that the GTR640 not only out accelerates and brakes faster than every other 200mph plus supercar, it also has more outright cornering grip than all of them.
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Paul.B
3,414 posts
133 months
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When the 0-100-0 record was beaten out of sight people kept saying "....oh, I bet a such & such could beat that ...." and ".... I know of a car with X horse power that is way faster..."
But none have got hold of the nettle and done it. Now it has beaten this record, by a good margin, the doubters are at it again. Get a R500 or Radical with whatever tyres and go and have a go. You can't say it would be an expensive test! Drive around a bloody great circle. Maybe the set-up was firmed up? Maybe tyre pressures were lowered? Whould Porsche, Ferrari or Lotus engineers not have the savvie to do the same?
The car has set the record like G-mans set the 0-100-0 record. Good luck to all atempts to beat them. If they succeed they will have a bloody fast car or a very grippy one. Here you can have both.
Paul.B
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davefiddes
839 posts
129 months
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And afterwards they slackened off the dampers and drove home. Try that in a road legal Radical!
Top marks to Richard for driving round in circles to get the record. I was getting a bit sick just watching the video...
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cliveg
198 posts
113 months
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stig said:Blimey, there will be no more records to break at this rate
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 Furthest distance on a gallon of Optimax? Well done.
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andygtt
6,376 posts
133 months
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I seem to remember that cars like the enzo etc have their tyres specially developed for the car, is this cheating?
Also please show me a caterham or radical that can do 200+mph!
It accelerates, brakes AND goes round corners..... any questions?????
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Murdock
400 posts
102 months
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andygtt said:| It accelerates, brakes AND goes round corners..... any questions????? |
Most cars do  but seriously though, that's one hell of an achievement.
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beear
18 posts
100 months
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how about race track lap time?
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door
713 posts
107 months
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Are they available with a 6 week neck rehab' course!
Well done chaps.
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kzrd
35 posts
122 months
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errek72
538 posts
115 months
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I'd be the first to congratulate the people at Ultima who seem to be really going for it. Beating the Mclaren F1 in several key performence indicators is no small feat. But I wonder if the skidpad radius (here 100ft) has an effect on the numbers. The ones I find on the net differ somewhat of those seen here. Biggest difference being that the Alfa SZ is the record holder with 1.4g, as can be seen here (item 12) http://home.wxs.nl/~evdbeek/szinter.html , and here (next to 'gravitationskraft') www.alfaclub.de/Register/SZ%20RZ%20Register/Technik.htm Any thoughts anyone? >> Edited by errek72 on Friday 22 April 08:17
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Dan
1,068 posts
153 months
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Ok.. So realistically, how much would it cost to put a reasonable spec Ultima on the road?
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gdr
539 posts
129 months
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From photo it appears the demo car has Goodyear F1s (on front) at least. Can anyone confirm? Also has this car the rose jointed or bushed suspension?
edited to add: Have checked photos on factory site and seems car has rose joints and F1's front and rear. Even more impressive given the Goodyear tyres actually grip (a bit) in the wet too. Now they should try with the Kumho's for a comparison, these are still road legal but I guess even grippier in the dry.
>> Edited by gdr on Friday 22 April 09:11
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stig
9,961 posts
153 months
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Dan said:| Ok.. So realistically, how much would it cost to put a reasonable spec Ultima on the road? |
Always a tough one to answer, as it can vary hugely depending on how many of the 'options list' boxes you tick. Most of us end up ticking most of them I'd say with a minimum spec car, 35k. Realistically, 40-45k. >> Edited by stig on Friday 22 April 10:31
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