How well do Ultimas handle?

[deadscoob]

Have only ever seen a handful of Ultimas at trackdays and they've always been fairly quick, but that was relative to other cars on track at the time, which were fairly "normal".

I don't ever recall seeing one driven in anger.

So how well do they actually handle? Are we talking Noble, GT3RS, Caterham/Westfield, or somewhere in between?

[G Man]

I have raced Caterhams and would say a well set up road Ultima would live with a road Caterham through medium and long bends... nothing lives with a Caterham through quick S flicks.
On the brakes a Ultima on AP racing brakes is better definately, much more confident and strong !!
Then its the straight, you push the loud pedal stop at the end of the straight for a cup of tea and wait for the rest to catch up !!!

G Man

[stig]

I'd post a vid of me driving at Snett 'in anger' (not that I was angry), but it's dead at the mo? Will try to resurrect

[silversix]

I would think (and don't quote me on this) that given the setup etc they "should" be very similar to a Noble. if you look at the two chassis they aren't that different (waiting to be shot down here). If so, the Noble is fantastic on track. It's the power to weight where the Ultima really excels though. I still want one, or 200 extra BHP for the M400.

If you really want something to handle, buy a race car. I tried to keep up with a race elise at Donnington, and it just gradually pulled away from me, even though I had about 200BHP more.

[bigmack]

When compared with other cars on street tires, I found it pretty much walked away from everything in the corners! Of course I've done a few things to improve the handling though
I'd also point out that you need to consider the driver's abilities. Otherwise we're comparing apples to oranges.
Cheers!
-Mack

[stig]

stig said:

I'd post a vid of me driving at Snett 'in anger' (not that I was angry), but it's dead at the mo? Will try to resurrect

Vid is now back up on Pistonheads TV if you're interested:

www.pistonheads.tv/video.asp?id=750&nr=1