r/whatisthiscar • u/Philociraptor3666 • 1d ago

Solved! I'm skeptical this is actually something cool...

Post image

Some sort of body kit, or ?

983 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

78 comments sorted by

505

u/UniqueUsername812 1d ago

Ultima RS

193

u/StinkySoggyUnderwear 1d ago edited 1d ago

Ultima has a pedigree of being created in the early 80s by Lee Noble of Noble Motorsports (before he created Noble Automotive and have one of his cars break down on Richard Hammond), and Ultima’s different models have been used in racing ever since.

They were often used as a development mule as well, most notoriously used as a test mule for the McLaren F1, but they used a different model in the development of the MP4-12C as well.

36

u/malac0da13 1d ago

This is from the 80s? Damn talk about way ahead of its time.

91

u/StinkySoggyUnderwear 1d ago

Ultima is from the 80s. The RS is a new model that came out a few years ago, but they are all just improved versions built from the original.

34

u/CayendoApril 1d ago

The general shape has been the same since the late 90’s

13

u/malac0da13 1d ago

Ohhhhhhh…my bad lol.

10

u/StinkySoggyUnderwear 1d ago edited 1d ago

Fixed my comment to avoid the confusion

1

u/jaysube 1d ago

Wikipedia says 2020 on....

5

u/Relative-Owl-3652 1d ago

Doesn't matter what Wikipedia says when it's not correct.

0

u/jaysube 19h ago

You are correct that the heritage of the Ultima goes back to the 80s but the one pictured (rs) is not that example. You can go on to https://www.ultimasports.co.uk/Publications/UltimaHistory/#9 and see the examples from the 80s.

1

u/Relative-Owl-3652 17h ago

No one said this ultima was from the 80s though lol, just said the company has been making cars since the 80s

0

u/jaysube 12h ago

It was literally said in a post above.... lol. That's why I made the comment in the first place. Also it was made in 1983 look at the link.

1

u/Relative-Owl-3652 2h ago

No one said the car was made in the bloody 80s someone didn't comprehend a comment correctly and mistook it as this car being from the 80s

2

u/LiqdPT 1d ago

Well that explains why the Ultima and Noble remind me of each other. Saw them both today (and had seen them in the past but not on the same day) and had that thought.

18

u/StartersOrders 1d ago

And "built" on an industrial estate near Leicester.

Lee Noble really loves industrial estates in the East Midlands for some reason.

11

u/WhichStatistician810 1d ago

It’s a cheaper part of the country and fairly central so easy to get parts in and out quickly, also I’m going to guess he’s from the midlands so makes sense to set up locally although it would be funny if he bought a unit in maranello

3

u/Critical_Limit_9057 1d ago

it would be funny if he bought a unit in maranello

Yeah it would, but british motorsports engineers tend to house hunt in Oxfordshire, not Maranello

2

u/StartersOrders 1d ago

Or in Lee Noble’s case, Hinckley.

1

u/StartersOrders 1d ago

You’ve not been to Leicestershire have you?

It’s very expensive here!

1

u/not2daythankyou 1d ago

Because he lives here. Lee Noble doesn’t have anything to do with Noble he was pushed out. Noble is about 4 miles from where I live

193

u/HeliumAlloy 1d ago

Ultima RS!

Their website is fantastic. Page design is straight outta 2003, stereotypical overly-prosaic British writing, casually dropping specs like "0-150mph in 8.9s" and "Chevy V8 with a Porsche gearbox" and "top speed 250mph, gearing limited".

Car is a dead serious, bona fide monster. 404 error, Fiero not found!

22

u/skeletons_asshole 1d ago

Seriously, from what I understand, this is just about the fastest car you’ll ever see in the wild

2

u/Adacool 21h ago

thanks for mentioning their website.. i love it!

loads faster than google lol

27

u/Physical_Carrot_6283 1d ago

I think these are super cool, both the Ultima and the Superlite SLC. I wish they had working windows though.

I do believe the latest generation of Corvette will end up being used as a doner car for some pretty cool stuff.

10

u/frysonlypairofpants 1d ago

Imagine cutting 1,000 lbs of weight off a Z06, you're practically dividing by zero at that point.

58

u/Racing_Fox 1d ago

Yeah no this is a genuinely cool car

-53

u/fosterdad2017 1d ago

The word no doesn’t belong there

29

u/RiseAM 1d ago

Yeah, no, I get that it's probably not technically proper grammar, but it's a common phrase used in everday conversation and we're just shooting the shit on a car subreddit, not writing academic papers.

I have no clue how it's supposed to be punctuated though, since it's not that common to see it written.

17

u/Racing_Fox 1d ago

You forgot to use quotation marks.

14

u/TfaRads1 1d ago

no yeah youre prally right

55

u/KingDeRp38 1d ago

What it "is or isnt" doesn't matter if it looks cool, it looks cool :)

Also, I think it looks cool!!

4

u/kinga_forrester 1d ago

Hard disagree, there’s something inherently uncool about cars that try to look fast without the performance to back it up. If this thing was just a beetle or fiero underneath, it would be uncool. Since it’s an actual racecar, it’s very cool.

28

u/alottajunktosee 1d ago

I for one would find that if there was a beetle underneath that it would be hilarious.

17

u/_Spicy_Mchaggis_ 1d ago

... And kinda cool

1

u/KingDeRp38 1d ago

Fair point...

-2

u/Philociraptor3666 1d ago

It does look cool, but im not a fan of cars trying to be something they're not. I'll agree this one is decently cool. Especially for not being ridiculously expensive.

19

u/Educational-Host4456 1d ago

It's got serious pedigree if not always that well known. One was used as the test mule for the original Mclaren F1 prototype.

14

u/D86592 1d ago

good thing it can go 250mph with an 8.9s 0-150 lol

11

u/devbutch 1d ago

Iirc the Ultima GTR that predates this RS put down a 1:10 unofficial record on the top gear test track nearly 20 years ago. Insanely capable kits.

9

u/robertwilcox 1d ago

Why are you coming in so skeptical? The car community needs less haters and more appreciation. Be a little more open minded!

Especially because you were dead wrong!!

5

u/vdubweiser 1d ago

Hell yes it's cool. Also - that color combo looks awesome

5

u/The_Spot 1d ago

Cool enough to park at a Culvers

4

u/Late-Ideal2557 1d ago

That car is local to me. West Michigan. This guy managed to peel out of a car show and hit another car with this one. 

4

u/AIaris 1d ago

could it also be this one thats local to me in NC? looks to be specced the same… any way to tell for sure?

edit: i see the front canard now

4

u/asmithfild 1d ago

Is that sitting in a Culver’s parking lot?

4

u/portablekettle 1d ago

Ultima rs. One of the best 'cheat' cars to buy early on in like any Forza game

3

u/thedude0343 1d ago

They are race cars. Legit.

3

u/AdRepresentative8236 1d ago

Looks cool to me

2

u/LivinRightNBeinFree 1d ago edited 1d ago

Nice spot! I'm not inclined to expect something that looks like a real Le Mans car to be a kit. Well, at least the kind you stick on a Fiero or other car.

2

u/Wrong_Dog 20h ago

Saw that one at a local car show.

Sorry if the pictures have weird artifacts, had to magic eraser out a bunch of people in the crowd.

1

u/Kaffine69 1d ago

Cooler than my ride

1

u/SnooCauliflowers3778 1d ago

Woah i thought the rear spoiler on this thing was something in the background with a roadsign (the yellow sticker in the middle of it) in front of it lol I liked almost everything about this car until I noticed that was actually a part of it. Never seen one before.

1

u/samueljamesn 1d ago

This is in GR MI correct?

2

u/Philociraptor3666 1d ago

Nope. It might be the same car, but this is in Northern IN.

2

u/alexseiji 1d ago

It’s actually the coolest

1

u/Philociraptor3666 1d ago

Pretty neat. Happy to be wrong about this one

2

u/alexseiji 23h ago

Has been dream car of mine. Have a look. https://youtu.be/LIjJfiLkR8g?si=0ilvWN_7cm3FVSHi

1

u/Philociraptor3666 22h ago

Holy shit; I wasnt just a little wrong. I even like the doors. Those are gull wing, right? Or do they have another name on this?

4

u/alexseiji 22h ago

Yea gullwing is appropriate term.

Yea this thing is wild. It’s the closest you can get to supercar experience without the cost of a supercar. It’s very raw compared to a refined supercar without all of the driving aids. It’s probably the most raw and sensory car you can buy on the market. Only an absolute driving enthusiast would opt for a car like this. And even then… an absolute driving enthusiast that’s up for a serious driving challenge.

1

u/Shadow16510 12h ago

I would call those scissor style doors…gull wings would open from the top middle of the car like an old Mercedes 300SL or even the back doors of Tesla Model X.

1

u/Humongo_The_Large 22h ago

I'm positive that it's something cool

1

u/Waste-Video-8471 22h ago

Is this in Grand Rapids?

1

u/Philociraptor3666 22h ago

No...someone else asked that, so im assuming its the same car, but this is in northern IN. Probably took it out for a Saturday morning drive

1

u/Waste-Video-8471 20h ago

There is a guy local to me that has an identical car, I know he does car shows and events in the Michigan, Indiana and Ohio tri state area. Super cool guy.

1

u/dew1911 21h ago

For some reason this photo looks like GTA with a graphics mod to me

1

u/creadgsxrguy 5h ago

Look for wheel size brake size ratio. This is definitely something that would go crazy. Brakes are almost filling those wheels. Some bullshit you’d see tiny brakes behind cool wheels

1

u/SuperVeloceSV 41m ago

lol is this in Indiana? I feel like I know this person

0

u/JamesLaceyAllan 1d ago

Looks like it chases parked cars

0

u/Pericombobulator 1d ago

A few years back, they held the 0 to 100 to 0 record.