It hurts to write this, really does. Quite a few years have passed and it hasn’t helped make it less painful. It serves as a constant reminder that I failed…… that I reached too far. But what is the point in a life without dreams and aspirations?
I started a company, many years ago, with the intention of supplying quality parts, at fair prices and with exemplary service. I did all of those things. Like so many of you, I dreamt of supercars as a kid. My bedroom was wallpapered with the middle pages of magazines and some very large posters, that even though I had picked each one out in the shop, I was still excited to unwrap from the celophane when I got home. Ferrari, Lamborghini, Concorde cockpit(yes really) and a variety of stickers, advertisements and other images deemed worthy. I would lie in bed, staring at those pictures. The Concorde one had me trying to read the tiny text on each switch and control, learning off where each was and trying to figure out what it did. I had planned on being a pilot.
Back to the car pictures. The Ferrari was an F40, well, the largest poster was. There were 288 GTO, 250 GTO, F355 (lots of the 355 actually) and a fantastic image, from Car magazine if memory serves correctly(courtesy of my uncle Franks magazine collection) of a Countach, in an Italian town square, with a kid admiring it, as I often did. All those pictures were the food of dreams, some of the dreams at least!
I promised myself that one day I’d have a supercar.
Time passed, as it does, and each day would end like the last, without a supercar. Without any car.
Fast forward to the time of starting my business. I was told that the key to business success is to have a goal, something to drive you to continue, to try harder. No prize for guessing that mine was going to be a car, a supercar.
I promised that every euro of profit would go toward attaining that goal. I decided that I would be happier building my dream car than buying it, so that narrowed it down, a bit. Weeks of research, lots of reading, looking at pics and lets face it, fun times, trying to pick THE car.
If I was going to build a car, a supercar, surely I should aim high, the ultimate kit car. The search ended quickly once I decided on that.
The Ultima GTR!
For those of you who have never heard of it, or seen one, please, please go check it out, I’ll include some images below to make it easier – Go on, have a look!
The car in question is simply a beast. Its closely linked in design to the kind of machine normally found at the sharp end of the grid at Le Mans. The engine most commonly used is a Chevy V8. Your starting to imagine the sound…. good. Now imagine an 800bhp LS7, singing its heart out as the Porsche G50 ‘box selects the next gear and 300kph goes by in a blur. Imagine driving something that has wiped the floor on the Top Gear track, with cars costing multiples more, while driven by Richard. Stig who?
How can it be so fast? Well, its the most simple of all performance improvements – less weight. A lot less weight. Think family saloon, then lighter, but with way more power, grip, supreme handling and looks that would make a Ferrari owners head spin.
So, back to me and my goal of owning one.
I contacted the factory, arranged a visit and a spin in the car. Flights to the UK were booked, and the excitement kicked in. When I got there, a train journey took me to Hinckley, where one Ted Marlow met me at the station. We talked about car related stuff en route back to Ultima HQ, but to be honest, I don’t remember a word, sorry Ted. I was in a trance. I felt like I was Charlie, on the way to the chocolate factory.
We turned into a small industrial estate, with some red brick units. It was a far cry from the likes of the Ferrari factory, but all the more cool for that very reason. Here was a place, in the heart of England, that was producing something with which Ferrari couldn’t compete. Respect due & given.
As we walked in the door of Ultima’s unit, I don’t know whether I momentarily died, went into orbit, or just froze. There wasn’t a single car there. No, there were numerous cars there. One silver car inside the roller door and several red ones in the back. I just wanted to sit on floor and admire them for the rest of the day. Well, that and the fact that my legs seemed to be about to give way at the sheer presence of such automotive wonder.
Ted, a true gentleman if ever there was one, and Richards dad, gave me a tour of the place. I saw new engines, various panels, gearboxes, wheels, brake kits and huge tyres. So huge in fact that only one other car uses the same tyres, a certain Ferrari. The difference being that the Ultima needs and uses the grip to better effect. Sorry Ferrari, but its true. A quick example being a Top Gear track lap time of 1min, 12.8 seconds. Ferrari Enzo 1min 19. Not a lot you say? Well, if it were a race, the Ultima would lap the Ferrari every 12 laps.
The car set all kinds of world records. 0-100mph-0 in 9.4 seconds. 0-60 in 2.6. Veyron you say? The Ultima is faster in all the important ways.
Top Gear brought along a certain Michael Schumacher, in his own FXX racecar. He bet the record. 1min 10.7secs. However, the car was obviously set up for him, and the track, and was a RACE car, not road legal. So, Ultima thought it would be fair for them to make a few adjustments to their car, to take it from road car setup to something a little closer to the FXX. Tyres, suspension settings and once again, the gutsy Richard at the wheel. The result, 1min 9.9. I agree, Richard should be in F1!
Back to my little place in Ireland. Memories of my spin the test car, which will live fresh in my mind til the end of my days, spurred me on. Ted, although not the driver who set the records, is one of the best drivers I have ever travelled with. The sheer precision with which he pilots a car is something to be amazed at. I ordered the first of the parts needed to start building the car for myself. The chassis. I had to decide which powerplant? LS7. Which gearbox? G50. Where would the gearstick be? beside the door, like the test car and so many LM cars.
The prep work for the arrival was monumental. I didn’t have a garage at the place I was renting. Thankfully, my parents allowed me to store it in the shed at their place. Slight problem, it was packed to the roof with all kinds of old stuff, mostly junk and the odd dead rat. Days of cleaning followed. I returned home one day to discover my Mum and brother had painted the place, floor and all. It looked amazing. Now all it needed was an amazing car to be built in it.
When it arrived in our small village, I wasn’t there. I was at my “normal” job, in a factory in Galway. Neighbours started to talk about the car that was going to be built. They heard a few facts and figures and it just took off from there. Before I knew it I had people calling to see it, people I didn’t know. Now it had to be paid for, the few bits I had at least. But the money would come from the business I had started, selling car parts. It had better, as the credit card I used to buy the chassis was now maxed. Stupid? Yes.
My kid brother and I spent day after day, measuring, then measuring again, drilling aluminium, de-burring, fitting, drilling through the sheet metal into the chassis, spraying in Waxoil, rivetting it in place and finally shaping the ends to follow the curves of the chassis tubing. Nothing was rushed, it had to be done right the first time.
My parents thought I was mad, but kindly purchased a few parts of the kit to help me along. Numerous Youtube videos show people building the car, from start to finish. Most of them have all the parts, and the cash to pay for it at once. Not me unfortunately. This was something that would take a lot of time.
So why is this story called “Almost Ultimate”? Well, the building of the car was halted when the company I started failed. I didn’t have the cash to invest, so I had used credit. I bought parts from suppliers on credit, as they wouldn’t take an order without cash up front. I took deposits from people, small deposits as I was not a well established business. At the early stages of a business, any hiccups can be devastating. I had many.
Some of the people who ordered parts started arguing about the price I was charging. Some claimed they could buy them elsewhere for less. I knew this wasn’t true, but didn’t argue. My margins were wafer thin in a foolish attempt to help fellow petrolheads. I ended up with expensive parts, which I bought on credit, with no buyer. The shipping company claimed I didn’t pay. I was threatened with court action. The taxes on the imported parts had to be paid on credit also. The small margin I had allowed myself was just way too small, game over.
The credit card company started getting ticked off and other living expenses started to pile up. That was years ago. Only lately have I finally paid off the credit card debt and began to feel remotely human again. Like so many, I have little to no spare cash now, but the desire to have my own company still burns within me.
However, the dream car, the Ultima, lies tucked away in the back of a shed at my parents place. Its still there. Unfinished and almost forgotten, almost ultimate.
Diesel is for tractors 