In the Beginning

So after much deliberation (well not really, couldn't resist) on the 12 August I ordered an Ultima GTR.  Why?

Well after owning some 25+ cars over the last 15 years and getting heavily in to track/road/race cars (courtesy of Lotus Elise and more recently Exige) it was almost natural evolution.  But really it was my mate Chris' fault as he had been talking about building a caterfield for some time.  This began to get me interested in building some form of track car, but caterhams were not for me so I began to look further a field.  Guess what site I ended up at, Ultima and  I have no idea how or why I got where I did (destiny maybe)...

After some browsing I realised that this was the same car that I had been impressed by at the Autosports 2002 show earlier in the year.  Some further reading and I was beginning to get excited (sad I know).  A factory visit seemed the order of the day...

Saturday came and my wife, father and my two young nephews accompanied me on my journey from home (Bristol) to Hinckley in Leicester, home of Ultima Sports Ltd.  Once there the car was probably sold within the first 30 secs.  No photograph that I have seen (check out the Gallery) does this car justice it is simply stunning.  There is no point on me trying to describe the car further, all I can say is that my father (who is impressed by nothing) almost fell out of his skin when he first caught site of the car...

So what next, well a test drive of course.  With Ted at the wheel we set off for the most impressive test drive of my life.  Other than the car being utterly brilliant, two aspects of the drive impressed me more than anything else. 

(1)    The Power (obvious really). NO.  The power delivery from the V8 6.3 litre 400hp Chevy was, well, uhh, brutal to say the least.  It was like surfing a mountain of torque.  But the best and most impressive aspect was just around the corner (well before the corner actually).

(2)    The Brakes.  The braking ability of the car seemed even more brutal than the acceleration.  It was just like a switch (STOP, GO) the braking was that instant.

The handling of the car was also far more impressive than I thought it would be.  All the time we were on this incredible ride the car never seemed to falter once, so I returned almost exhausted to the factory.  The desire to own and build a car like this was now really beginning to grow...

So lets talk money.  Now I am not going to beat about the bush here as it's easy to get excited when you first start looking at the Ultima build costs.  Yes you can build an Ultima for sub 30k, probably, but after some discussions with Ted and further investigation its more likely to be 40k for a well specced all new parts car, which is what I was after (time to rob a bank).

With the thoughts and dreams of owning such a phenomenal car constantly in my mind, the outcome was inevitable.  I placed the order...

Me the Toolbox and my Dolly

So with the car ordered it was time for some preparation.  Other than finding some where to build the GTR two other tasks had to be completed before the chassis was to arrive.

As the car was going to be built somewhere other than home, it was necessary to acquire a complete new toolbox.  Therefore I have outlined all the tools that I will be using during the build.  This information can now be found in the Toolbox section and will continually be updated over the coming months.

Last but by no means least is my 'Dolly' (not of the blow up kind as I already have one ;-)).  The chassis dolly is the framework used to mount the chassis on during the build (as used by the factory).  I have taken the basic design and modded it slightly so that the dolly can be assembled and disassembled as it is rather large and cumbersome when not in use.

The basic idea was to allow the centre support braces to be bolted to the main uprights (these are still welded).  This allows the dolly to be effectively flat packed.  The required materials for this approach are outlined below:

Materials:

2x2" 16g mild steel box section

    3.5" x 4.0" (castor plates)
    2.5" x 2.0" (end plates)

Further details can be found at www.ultima-gtr.info (see Build Tips), thanks CJ...

Have spoken to Richard at the factory today and delivery has been scheduled for the 2nd November.  YIPPEE!  Hold on I've got nowhere to build it!

Those of you have read the info in About Me will know that I am building my car in my sisters garage.  Unfortunately the tenant who is there has not paid for the last 4 months and we are trying to evict him.  (GET OUT YOU ******).  If he's not out by the end of the month I will just have to start the build in my own garage (single and small, but hey!).

Am now planning to go to the factory on the 26th October to spec the first set of stages (not to sure about this at the mo, need to look at the build list and manual).  In the mean time I need to update that Toolbox as its looking a bit empty.  Now where's that credit card...

Lets get Tooled up

The credit card took a serious hammering today.  It was time to get serious with the tool buying, and as I've said before I have to build an entire kit from scratch.  The main purchase of the day was the air tools and compressor.  (see Toolbox for further info)

The essential tools here are in fact the Air Riveter and the 90' Drill.  The riveter will save a lot of time and effort when you consider you have close to a thousand to do.  I have also purchased a hand riveter for ease of use (you don't want to turn on the compressor to do just a few rivets).  The 90' Drill is really for all those difficult to reach places (and I believe from other builders there are quite a few).  Last but by no means least is the nibbler, this has been bought under advice from other builders.  The main reason being is that quite a few of the aluminium panels require some form of trimming before they can be fitted to the chassis.

Lots of other tools were also purchased and these can be seen in the Toolbox and in the pics below.  One of the more interesting of the tools purchased was a clamp set that my wife discovered in B&Q.  Lots of builders use either the 'quick grip type' or the spring loaded 'tong type'.  But this set seemed to contain both these types and a further 'ratchet style' so at £19.98 into the trolley they went.

There are still more tools/items that I need but the bulk (I hope!) have now been purchased.

Preparation

Although the weather appears to of taken a turn for the worse, it was time for a few final jobs to be done in preparation of delivery on the 2nd November.  The first was to connect up all the air tools and the compressor.  I had been advised buy the guy at my local Machine Mart to use some PTFE tape on all the connections.  This required another trip to B&Q and was a good opportunity to pick up a few other odds and sods (see Toolbox).  Apart from a few additional tools and the PTFE Tape I also purchased some Evo-Stick as this was to be used to bond some soft rubber pads to the top of the chassis dolly.

The next update should be the 27th October after my factory visit on the Saturday.  This should include all details of the stages on order and any additional options that I may be going for.  I also hope to grab a few more piccies (if anyone has any good pics (of Ultimas) that they would like to see added to the Gallery then please send to me at pics@m250.co.uk).  Bye for now...

Gone n done it now...

Just a few quick points of note before I tell you about the factory visit.  I have been finalising the Toolbox and noticed a few things missing see pic below.  Also 2 major omissions, one the lack of a torque wrench, which I now hope to borrow from a mate (thanks Jason) and secondly a socket set.  Fortunately I have a very good set at home so this will go with me wherever I end up building my car.  As for where I will build the car I will now start the build in my single garage!

So to the factory visit and first an apology.  Sorry but no piccies were taken as my FATHER left the digital camera at home (needed to get that of my chest).  Got to the factory around 10ish Sat 26th Oct and was  greeted by Ted and we were all treated to a hot drink after our trip up from Bristol.  A brief bit of chit chat found us all staring at this beautiful lump from American Speed awaiting collection from some lucky Ultima builder (if this was yours then please drop me a line with your address...).  So it was time to talk business and my father and nephew began the usual routine of dribbling over all the cars in the workshop.  Big business it was too...

I spent some time discussing my build philosophy with Ted and explained the type of GTR I was attempting to build i.e. more track orientated than road.  We also spent some time debating the number of stages (17 in total) that I would go for on my initial build.  I had read on other sites how useful it was to have the other parts around during the build.  With this in mind (and with the money burning a hole in my pocket) I lost all control and opted for ALL 17 stages of the build (damn where did all that money go!).  Also at the same time I gave the Accessories List a good bashing as well (see My Car for further info).  Delivery is now set for the 9th November.

Another coffee and a quick look at all the cars at the factory kicked off the 16 million dollar question...  What colour am I going to go for, well all along my aim was to go for yellow, but every time I see the red factory demonstrator I fall in love with it.  We will have to wait and see...