Ultima sets Top Gear record!

[TheIntrepid]

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/1...rd-by/

So what do you do if you're Ultima, and you keep offering TopGear your car to drive around the track and they keep refusing?

Well.. you go do it yourself! Ultima got their own "Stig", and drove it around the same track that TopGear uses, and BEAT the fastest car on their board by a full 4.5 seconds.

Yes.. the Ultima GT-R is FASTER then the Koenigsegg by 4.5 seconds!!! holy cow.



Ultima, one of several dozen independent British sportscar companies and makers of the GTR, could only take so much rejection. The cottage automaker claims it offered its road-legal race-car to the producers at BBC's hit TV show Top Gear several times, only to be repeatedly refused. So Ultima took things into its own hands, brought its latest fire-breather to the same converted airstrip that TG uses for a test track, retained a Stig of its own, and undertook to beat the fastest lap on the track.

Aside from the occasional exception like the Renault F1 car, the current record holder on Top Gear's power-lap board is the Koenigsegg CCX (which Top Gear can't spell). After the Stig famously spun the Swedish supercar off the track, the designers mounted a new rear wing to keep the tail planted, and the CCX set a fastest lap of 1:17.6, which was enough to beat the Ferrari Enzo, Maserati MC12 and Pagani Zonda that previously sat atop the chart.

Ultima drove the GTR720 to the track in full road trim and set a fast lap of 1:12.8, which easily beat the Koenigsegg. In fact, Ultima claims that at that rate, the GTR would lap an Enzo every 12 laps. Dang. Shame it would also beat the Ferrari in an ugly contest, though. Ultima says another visit in the more powerful 800-hp version is in the works.

[the Teuton]

I've always liked the GTR and I'd like to see what would happen when you pit it against an equal engine Mosler MT900 Photon.

[Tave]

I think it looks badass from that angle, but I've also thought it ugly before.

[Raghavan]

I think it looks badass from that angle, but I've also thought it ugly before.

Me too. In some areas I tihnk it looks awesome but it looks goofy in other areas.
And why would Top Gear refuse to drive that??

[SVT666]

Me too. In some areas I tihnk it looks awesome but it looks goofy in other areas.
And why would Top Gear refuse to drive that??

Who knows.

[Galaxy]

What I find interesting about the first picture is the plane from Casino Royal. I wonder what it is now used for. It obviously will never fly again.

[Michael Estorol]

Me too. In some areas I tihnk it looks awesome but it looks goofy in other areas.
And why would Top Gear refuse to drive that??

They won't do laptimes in cars they regard as 'kits' - i.e anything which doesn't have type-approval, and is so bespoke (even
if factory-built) that no example could be called representative.

IIRC, Caterham practically begged them to put the stig in an R500 a few years ago without success, even though Mrs Clarkson owned a 7 at the time.

[AltinD]

What I find interesting about the first picture is the plane from Casino Royal. I wonder what it is now used for. It obviously will never fly again.

What?

First the plane on the first picture is a Boeing 747 and secondly: the plane in Casino Royal is an Airbus A380 that entered service this week with the first commercial flight by Singapore Airlines on the Singapore - Australia route.

[El Barto]

What?

First the plane on the first picture is a Boeing 747 and secondly: the plane in Casino Royal is an Airbus A380 that entered service this week with the first commercial flight by Singapore Airlines on the Singapore - Australia route.

Actually, the plane in the background is the "Skyfleet S570" from the movie, which is a modified 747.  They shot some scenes of the movie at Dunsford and the plane is still there. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-BDXJ
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/planes/q0297.shtml

[Rupert]

Snap.

So, how exact is this replica track? Maybe their own driver is better than the Stig. Obviously, the car is fast, but that's not that much time is the track is wrong or the Stig actually sucks.

[Panama_Chopster]

Here is the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbkRvhAzTpE

But yeah I remember the Westfield XTR being at the very top, don't know if they changed the rules after a while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE2EHo30jCE

And another video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iwBtoYbMQ0