The method of marketing a sportscar's performance performance is still – burn some rubber on Germany's Nurburgring circuit and get your name in the record books. Currently the title is unofficially held by the Corvette ZR1 with a time of 7min 26.4 seconds lying just ahead of the Pagani Zonda F and Nissan GT-R with times of 7min 27sec and 7min 29sec respectively. If estimates are to be believed, these production car records are likely to be blown out of the water by the road legal Ultima GTR720 with claims it is capable of doing a time of less than 7 minutes.
The British company recently drove the supercar to the circuit on which they had booked two exclusive half an hour sessions courtesy of Sport Auto Magazine. But the run was thwarted by the cruel intentions of mother nature leaving conditions less than adequate to achieve the feat. Ultima had employed the talents of Ring specialist and WTCC racing driver Tom Coronel who described the GTR720 as the fastest road car he had ever driven.
Coronel 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."
The Ultima GTR720 is powered by a 720bhp Chevrolet V8 engine sourced by OE engine suppliers American speed, it featured e-marked road legal tires and a standard G50-03 transmission. A slightly taller fifth gear ratio was altered on the car, which is available as an optional feature of the road legal model.
Performance figures show why the Brits can afford the luxury of such a bold claim. It accelerates from 0 to 60mph in just 2.6 seconds, 0-to 100mph in 5.3 seconds and 0 to 150mph in 11.8 seconds, each of these figures have been verified by official Guinness book of world records timekeepers Datron Technology who use incorruptible GPS timing gear to record the official road car world record times.
