![]() What that no-nonsense philosophy does is A) keep the weight down, and B) make the RS a truly exhilarating car to drive, which should be obvious by just looking at the thing. That's because the guys over at Ultima couldn't care less if you are actually comfortable inside their car and they also hate driving aids and automatic gearboxes. In its most insane trim, packing Chevy's latest dry-sumped and supercharged 6.2-liter V-8, it's about as fast as anything with a gas-powered engine. The Ultima RS is not for those that are faint of heart. With a dry weight of about 1,477 pounds due to the heavy use of carbon fiber (the monocoque is made out of carbon fiber as well as most of the body, with only the engine sub-frames being made of steel), the R1R reaches 60 mph from a standstill in under three seconds. It's all directed to the wheels via a Hewland semi-automatic gearbox with a centrifugal clutch. We're talking about the F4R 832 2.0-liter four-pot that is fitted with a turbocharger by Praga to crank out 390 horsepower at 6,750rpm and 391 pound-feet of torque at 4,200 rpm. It features pushrod Koni dampers and the engine is from a Renault Clio Sport 200. The R1R arguably looks more insane than even the RXC and the Ultima RS with its single-seater-style nose and elaborate tunnels, dive planes, and turning vanes around the front end that direct air underneath the wings and through to the sidepods. The company, that made a variety of cars and bikes prior to WW2, and then turned to buses and trucks after the War, followed it up with the introduction of the street-bound R1R in 2015. The much-lamented infotainment system should be operated by the passenger given the screen's location and that is probably a good idea because you can't afford to lose your focus when behind the wheel of a car such as this one.Ĭzech automaker Praga came back from the dead in the most peculiar of ways: by unveiling a track-focused, prototype-esque race car in 2011. The layout would be reversed if you wanted your RS in LHD. With no place for a screen within that main gauge cluster positioned in the middle, the warning lights are located on the right-hand side in the RHD prototype shown to the public by Ultima. The whole arrangement looks crude with the buttons themselves seemingly coming out of Proton's parts bin from the '90s. ![]() A pair of idiot lights are placed above the start/stop button which, in turn, is to the left of the fan button. Both of these big dials are analog as are all the other gauges on the dash: one for the battery, one for water temperature, another for oil pressure, and also a gauge for oil pressure and one for fuel. It's there that you'll find your odometer and your tachometer, the latter going all the way to 8,000 rpm while the speedo stops at 250 mph. The extending lip of the splitter, that sports a taller central step before going down as it wraps around the nose of the car, helps direct air through the inlet and around the corners of the nosecone. The loops come straight out from the gaping mouth of the front inlet that conceals venturi generators within the tunnels on either side of the monocoque. It's there for when you get stuck at the side of a track and need to be towed out of harm's way. Starting in the front, you'll notice that the Ultima RS features something most other cars you'll encounter on the road do not: a tow loop. ![]() With the wealth of experience that Ultima Sports has acquired, on and off the track, it knows how to build the ultimate race car for the road at this price point. We'll delve deeper into Ultima's history below but what you must remember right now is that this isn't just another brittle British sports car that comes out of a shed boasting with some ridiculous numbers only to break down before you ever get to test its might. With revised aerodynamics, huge wheels, and LED light clusters at both ends, the Ultima RS looks modern but the shape is recognizable to anyone that has seen an Ultima before as the general shape hasn't changed much since the '90s when Ultima was building the GTR.
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