Meet the new and absolutely manic mid-engined Ultima RS 2020, an ultra fast yet affordable race car for the road, manufactured in the United Kingdom. The Ultima RS 2020 is made by a company called Ultima Sports, founded 1992 and based in Leicestershire. It is a typical small British car maker following the well-known recipe: build a simple and light chassis, add a big motor, and burn the world behind you.
The Ultima RS is the fastest road-legal Ultima so far. It has a glass reinforced plastic (GRP) body and a space-frame chassis, using 38mm x 1.5mm tubes. The doors open all the way to the roof, like in Le Mans race cars, an idea originally thought up to allow fast driver-changes during long-endurance races.
The motor is from America; a Chevrolet LT5 6.2 liter supercharged V8. This engine delivers 800 hp standard but Ultima tuned it up a little bit… to 1200 hp! The engine is mated to a Porsche six-speed manual gearbox. Dry wight is only 930 kilo and the RS 2020 is just 1125mm high. Therefore, speed is phenomenal. 0-60mph is gone in 2.3 seconds, 0-100 in 4.8, and 30 to 70 takes a barely believable 1.5 seconds. The quarter mile, so important for track days, is obliterated in 9.2 seconds. Top speed is 250 miles or 402 kilometers per hour.
Tires are Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2. This is a popular tire for fast cars. Other ‘users’ include Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG, and Porsche. Interestingly, Ultima uses the same size of brakes front and rear. Most car makers use larger brakes for the front wheels and smaller brakes for the rear wheels. The Ultima RS 2020 has 362mm x 32mm curved vane brake discs on every wheel, with 6-piston AP Racing calipers. The brake balance is fully adjustable between front and rear. With all that braking power the Ultima RS 2020 stops dead from 100 mph in 3.3 seconds. Finally, the hand-brake system is sourced from Brembo.
The Ultima RS 2020 will launch on international markets in summer for about $65.000. Speed was never so cheap. Naturally, Ultima is working on even faster versions. Next up is a track-only variant, weighing under 900 kilo and with even more horsepower.