Gardner Douglas Vs Ultima. Who would win?

[Dreamspeed]

There’s a thread on this forum discussing the “bland” or “dull” state of the current Kitcar market, and what needs to be done to inject some new life and excitement into the industry.

I think most of us would know about various car rivals and manufacturers trying to out-do each other. This isn’t new, since the Mustang Vs. Camaro, or Subaru Impreza Vs. Mitsubishi EVO, or BMW M5 Vs. Audi RS6 Vs. Mercedes E63 AMG.

Now I don’t want to get into a discussion regarding the problem with the kitcar industry, (there’s already a thread on it) but I do think everyone likes a good “fight” and would you be interested in putting the two Giants of the UK kitcar world “in the ring”?

I’m talking about the Gardner Douglas GDT70moda Vs. the Ultima GTR.

Would you like these cars to go “head to head” at Santa pod, or Bruntingthorpe, or something else? Who do you think would win? What are the pros and cons of each car? Which would you put your money on, and how much would you bet?

If both these cars raced each other on the TopGear test track, would you watch it on YouTube? Which car would you get the Stig to drive? Who would drive the other; Tiff Needell?

Would such a “scrap” add new excitement to the Kitcar world, would it bring these cars out into the mainstream? I’m throwing it all out there, what are your thoughts?

[qdos]

Dreamspeed said:

Would such a “scrap” add new excitement to the Kitcar world, would it bring these cars out into the mainstream? I’m throwing it all out there, what are your thoughts?

No. The Kit Car scene is about a lot more than who can put the biggest V8 into a car and hare around a track. A bit like Top Gear, people are getting bored with 'oooh mine can go faster than yours' or 'mine cost more than yours' playground arguments.

Just look at how well MEV and RTR are doing with sales of the many cars they produce. I'm not saying it's not exciting going fast on a track I do it a fair bit and indeed have done so alongside an Ultima on several occasions in another kit ( often in front ), and against a whole load of production cars including Lambos and Ferraris Atoms and the inevitable Sevens too. But all this willy waving really is a turn off and just gets people muttering "Knobs"

What would bring the Kit Car scene into the main stream is people who have them being proud to say I built this and you can too.

[Paul Drawmer]

Dreamspeed said:

...I’m talking about the Gardner Douglas GDT70moda Vs. the Ultima GTR.

Would you like these cars to go “head to head” at Santa pod, or Bruntingthorpe, or something else? Who do you think would win? What are the pros and cons of each car? Which would you put your money on, and how much would you bet?

If both these cars raced each other on the TopGear test track, would you watch it on YouTube? Which car would you get the Stig to drive? Who would drive the other; Tiff Needell?

Would such a “scrap” add new excitement to the Kitcar world, would it bring these cars out into the mainstream? I’m throwing it all out there, what are your thoughts?

Both great cars, but with different aims.

As previous poster said it's ww really.

Do you have a car? - Just build yourself one and enjoy it.

Edited by Paul Drawmer on Tuesday 18th September 06:55

[chris7676]

Paul Drawmer said:

Both great cars, but with different aims.

What aims?
Both are lightweight very fast sportscars with a GM V8, no?
Otherwise agree drag races are boring, although track times not so

[Furyblade_Lee]

Chavtastic thread!!

[Dreamspeed]

I’m totally impartial, I just want to see if people who are in the kitcar world would be interested, or is this more for the “mainstream Piston header”? It’s only supposed to be a light hearted, tongue in cheek idea, let’s not take it too seriously.

I mean, if Jeremy Clarkson said “…And on tonight’s TopGear, the Stig will be putting the GDT70moda and the GTR through a series of challenges” would you think it would be entertaining TV or flick over to see if there was a program on Line dancing?

I would be interested if anyone reading this thread actually knows anything factual about either car and could perhaps suggest a possible outcome of such a match based on their knowledge.

I agree, both great cars, but I don’t quite understand the “different aims” reference . I’m just generalising, but I’d say they were pretty closely matched. As chris7676 points out, they are both lightweight very fast sports cars with V8’s; I’d add that they both have in-line mid-mounted engines, both are two seater, both have weather protection and use an inverted Porsche 911 gearbox. I also believe they both have AP racing brakes?

Chavtastic thread? Hmmm… Fifth Gear compare similarly matched cars all the time in their “shoot-out” feature. Is Fifth Gear “chavtastic”? Perhaps a question for another thread?

[JakeR]

All I have to add is that both cars are utterly fabulous. I would gladly have either if I had the cash/space/time. I'd love to see a constructive tv review of either/both.

[200Plus Club]

i own a GD T70 and would love to see something like this on TV purely cos you never see them featured on mainstream channels! how about the top gear track with the stig!

both are great cars and a great example of what can be achieved within the kit car industry. in all my trackdays with the GDT70 the only car i've ever had to move over for as i was holding him up a little was a race spec radical with a decent driver on board, and there wasnt a deal in it. most production sports cars you come across on track dont seem to handle or go as well!

[qdos]

A year ago we were going to do exactly this but 100% just for our own fun as a friend in a club we're part of has an Ultima. We had both on the track but sadly the Ultima made too much noise and was sent off, none the less we had fun anyways and a certain writer for one of the Kit Car mags saw over 150mph in our car, without setting off any noise alarms, fastest he'd been in any kit at that time. He also did some lap times that were well inside the top ten for the circuit too. Unofficially of course as it was all just for fun. Not at all bad for a 1.8litre 4 cylinder turbo

So here's a bit of willy wobbling showing a parked up Ultima at the end of some fun on the track with Adam at the wheel of a quieter car...
http://youtu.be/5BYd1yQmsvQ?t=8m48s

[Dreamspeed]

200Plus Club said:

i own a GD T70 and would love to see something like this on TV purely cos you never see them featured on mainstream channels! how about the top gear track with the stig!

both are great cars and a great example of what can be achieved within the kit car industry. in all my trackdays with the GDT70 the only car i've ever had to move over for as i was holding him up a little was a race spec radical with a decent driver on board, and there wasnt a deal in it. most production sports cars you come across on track dont seem to handle or go as well!

I agree, I to would like to see these cars move more into the mainstream, highlight to the world what could be done within the Kitcar scene, and try and save the unjustified poor stigma of a “kitcar”

The thing is most people have heard of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Aston Martin, Lotus, and TVR. Even the “new boys” such as Koenigsegg and Pagani are becoming familiar in the “school boy playground” but if you mention Gardner Douglas or Ultima people ask what are they? When you tell them they are kitcars, they aren’t interested and dismiss them.

This saddens me; I know there are some pretty poor cars on the kitcar market, and most people think ALL kitcars are poor. What I want to do is show people what could be done, show them a “shoot-out” on 5th Gear, or some track times on TopGear with the Stig, get the general public hooked, and then hit them with “Oh yeah, you can build this car at home”

I’m sorry if my OP didn’t quite come across in the way I intended, it’s not “chavvy” to compare two great cars together, in some sort of race.

I think it would be great for the industry as a whole, perhaps it would start a new “playground poster war” after young lads had seen them on TopGear. It used to be Lamborghini Countach vs. Ferrari Boxer. But it could be GDT70 vs. Ultima GTR.

I was very disappointed when TopGear showed the Lancia Stratos kitcar in a very poor light, this hurt ALL kitcars, so what we need is to try and show kitcars in a positive light, more exciting and perhaps get young people interested in building one themselves.

YouTube is a great start, but unfortunately there is very little on these cars, just snippets here and there. Perhaps owners/manufactures could do their own in-depth 30 minute review as a start. Get the ball rolling and have our own “shoot-out”?

Jason Plato did a test on the Westfield, which in all fairness was pretty poor at that price, so is it such a stretch to ask if they’ll do a GD vs. Ultima shoot out?