The Ultimate Ultima?

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.

The 346ci LS6 came from a 2001 Chevy Corvette Z06 and was topped with aluminum heads, which were ported and polished by Lingenfelter Performance Engineering before the 2.00/1.60 valve combo was installed (using sodium-filled stainless valves). Single springs and 1.7:1 ratio rockers were also bolted up, and the heads, dialed in with an 11:1 compression ratio, breathe through a K&N-equipped airbox and ram induction system that Jeff made. Spark is delivered to the eight GM coils through MSD wires, and the exhaust exits out a pair of owner-made, 1.75-inch headers (coated by Jet-Hot) and out of 3-inch stainless tubing.

The Ultima body comes in a yellow-colored Gel-coat, which is exactly how Jeff runs his car: unpainted. The only bodywork he needed to do to the car was add some brake cooling vents to the nose (on either side of the radiator hole). The only addition he made was the large wing across the body's backside, which is an APR center section with carbon fiber ends (made by Jeff) all supported by aluminum mounts fab'd by Scott Johnson.

Inside the cockpit, Jeff built a full rollcage from 1.5-inch tubing to fit around the carbon-fiber panels he made and the Sparco racing bucket seats. Schwartz also redesigned the dash to his liking, fitting Nordskog digital and bar-graph gauges to it. Besides the seats (with Sparco five-point harnesses) and the rollcage, there isn't much else you can fit in the car. In fact, when Jeff goes on a long drive (often taking his 15-year-old son, Dale, along on the trip), he has to fold his clothes up backpack-style and stuff them behind the seat, 'cause that's the only space left when two people are in the cockpit. The total weight of the car, when the 16-gallon fuel cell in the side pod is full, checks in at 2,210 lbs without the driver.

It takes guts to drive your kit car 400 or so miles to the race track, beat it like a dead donkey, and then drive the car home at the end of the day, but that's what Jeff feels a car should be able to do. He believes it so much his Ultima has had a hand in changing his life: He quit his day job and has opened his own parts business, Highside Motorsports, near his home in Crystal Lake. His wife, Lynda, runs it while Jeff operates Schwartz Extreme Performance, a car-building facility that creates G-machines (typically a '60s-era musclecar that has been highly modified to perform well on a road course). Yes, he's spec'd a few Ultimas for different people, and expects more folks will want one once they see how well he's done with his. It took about 1,000 hours over one year to complete the build.

In his spare time, Jeff is working with son Dale on his Trans-Am, which has been set up with a NOS-equipped motor that produces 700 hp. When he's out driving in the Ultima, Jeff has rolled up on some high-speed motorcycles that are quite surprised to see the bright-yellow racer pacing them for as long as Jeff wants. He also says the car "feels tame" from 100 to 120 mph, but it "starts to get busy" above 160. Jeff commented he hasn't found any Ferraris or Vipers that want to play, but that will probably happen someday. Until then, Jeff intends to keep his Ultima because, as he sees it, as it's about as close to a perfect ride as he can get. And isn't that what we would all like?