Nuevo Ultima RS, the hypercar for the purists

The new Ultima RS has 1,200 horsepower and weighs 930 kilograms. To top it off, it has rear-wheel drive and a manual gearbox, which makes it a car for true drivers.

The new Ultima RS is a car capable of competing with the latest hypercars from the most prestigious brands but at a much lower price. It also offers a driving experience for purists with enormous road feel, something made very clear by the absence of driver aids and its spartan interior. We won’t keep you waiting any longer, so let’s move on to explaining what this brutality is all about.

The small British manufacturer has managed to earn a name for itself in the great circus of high-performance cars. The latest creation it unveiled was called Ultima Evolution, a 950-kilo, 1,000-horsepower machine that accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.3 seconds and reached 160 km/h in 4.9 seconds.

This new Ultima RS has managed to add another 200 horsepower to the output of the previous model. This energy boost has been achieved thanks to the V8 engine used in the Chevrolet Corvette combined with a supercharger, which pushes the spectacular figure of 1,200 horsepower to the rear wheels.

A spectacular power-to-weight ratio

However, the manufacturer was not satisfied with this figure, and has also managed to shave 20 kilos off the weight of the tubular chassis, so that it tips the scales at 930 kilos. In short: 1,200 horsepower for a car that weighs less than an Abarth 500.

However, the performance of the Ultima RS differs little from that of the Ultima Evolution. The reason is that so much power sent directly to the rear axle is hard for the tyres to handle. In addition, it is paired with a six-speed manual gearbox engineered by Porsche, so you will need to be careful with the clutch to avoid being catapulted off the line at every traffic light. As a result, it matches the 2.3 seconds for 0 to 100 km/h of the previously launched model and is only a tenth of a second quicker to reach 160 km/h (4.8 seconds).

The Ultima RS’s top speed comfortably exceeds 400 km/h, placing it directly in the company of machines from Koenigsegg, Bugatti, Pagani, Hennessey and the like. Some hypercars such as the McLaren P1 failed to join this exclusive club, so you can get an idea of the scale of our protagonist.

The most surprising thing: its price

Having learned all this, the most surprising thing about the Ultima RS is that you can get a car faster than practically every car in existence for a price similar to that of a BMW M4. Ultima sells the car as an assembly project, so you will have to put it together in your home garage. For a price of around 105,000 euros, you can buy the most basic kit, which comes with the same chassis and a 430-horsepower engine.

After seeing the stratospheric figures mentioned above, this kit seems watered down, but we must never forget that the car weighs 930 kilos. With this power, it does 0 to 100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and has a top speed of 290 km/h.

If you had the budget to buy a Porsche 911, for example, you would still have 40,000 euros left over to order a bunch of carbon-fibre parts and an increasingly “anabolic” engine.

Although Ultima has not entered its hypercar in any record-breaking event, it claims it has enough potential to become the fastest car in the world, a title that seems reserved for the upcoming Tesla Roadster.

Built solely for racing

Anyone buying an Ultima RS must know that they are buying a street-legal racing car. Its interior has not the slightest hint of luxury: it features a competition steering wheel, a bare gear lever and four-point harnesses on seats that must be only a little more comfortable than a wooden board.

However, the leaders at Ultima seem very clear about their principles: “Most manufacturers seem to try to install driver aids no matter what, which reduces the sensations at the wheel. For us, that is almost sacrilege… Our cars are designed for true driving enthusiasts.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL4q-3IeCS8

Therefore, it is one of those endangered cars, designed to be enjoyed behind the wheel and, if you fit the monstrous 1,200-horsepower engine, it will even make you suffer. In short, the Ultima RS is capable of making your heart race, sending your adrenaline soaring and, incidentally, forcing you to carry a clean change of underwear just in case.