When was the last time you went 196 mph in your home-built, street-based kit car? Or, maybe this is an easier question: When was the last time you went 194 in anything that stayed connected to the ground by four rubber tires? Jeff Schwartz, from Crystal Lake, Illinois, is one of the few who can answer the second question with a "yes," and probably the only one in the United States who can answer the first one in the affirmative.
Jeff built his own Ultima GTR a couple of years ago and has since put down more than 18,000 aggressive road miles in it, taking it to the Hot Rod Power Tour twice as well as logging an appearance at last year's KIT CAR Run & Gun event in St. Louis. It was at that last Run & Gun event that Jeff, who drove his Ultima the 380 miles (one-way) from his home in Crystal Lake to the event (and we mean drove, not drug around in a big box behind a diesel dually), then proceeded to put everybody back on their heels by winning the Top Dog award for street-driven vehicles.
Run & Gun is designed to pit drivers against three very different driving conditions to see how they and their rides perform. Jeff won all three of his street-based classes, but you don't just roll up to an event like the Run & Gun and expect to win without doing your homework, and Jeff really did his homework!.
It was while he was on the 2001 Hot Rod Power Tour that Schwartz saw his first Ultima: a factory car that had been brought from England to promote the car company in the U.S. Jeff was driving his 11-second '82 Fleetwood Brougham, but he liked what he saw in the Ultima. He then got a ride in the factory cruiser and was impressed by its performance.
In the final twist of fate, Jeff visited England on business a week later-a trip that took him within 100 miles of the Ultima factory, so he went for another look. They don't let you drive the cars, even if you're interested in buying one, so Jeff went for another ride and was sold. When he got home, he sold a Vette and some motorcycles to start the financing for his new ride (in kit form, they start around $70,000).
Schwartz has always had a keen interest in road racing and performance driving, so the Ultima seemed to be right up his alley. But he isn't the type of guy to leave well enough alone, and wanted to change and tweak his ride to be like no other on the road. One of the first decisions was to replace the aluminum found in the cockpit with carbon-fiber panels. Half the weight of aluminum yet stronger, Jeff also bonded the carbon fiber to the chassis, making it even more rigid.
The chassis uses Ultima's independent double A-arm suspension front and rear, and Jeff added Intrax coilover shocks to each corner. Ultima sells a version of their chassis for use with an LS6 engine, but Jeff ended up making all of his own bracketry for the AC (which you absolutely need in a closed cockpit design), headers, and motor mount adapters. And since Ultima is based in England, their wiring harness is set up for right-hand drive, so Schwartz had to do his own harness for the left-hand application.
A Getrag G50/52 transaxle (assembled by Power Haus II) is used to put the power to the pavement, and GKN forged axles are used to turn the big 18 x 13 Oz Racing wheels (18 x 9s are up front), which are wrapped in Goodyear F1 Fiorano 335/30ZR-18 rubber (245/35s up front). You shouldn't be able to go fast without being able to stop just as well, so Jeff added AP Racing brake rotors (320 mm) with four-piston calipers at each wheel while stainless-steel line delivers the juice to the binders. Ultima's rack-and-pinion steering system was also used.