Nation Of Go

Driving through Illinois, the Nation of GO Tour had to make a stop in Woodstock to see Schwartz Performance owner Jeff Schwartz and his 0-200-0 mph world-record Ultima GTR. Schwartz started by building the Ultima GTR from a kit, and then added a 1000-hp twin-turbo LS-2 engine that he also built himself.

Zero to sixty in just 2 seconds must be something you have to experience. Because the two Tour crew members who got to ride in Jeff’s Ultima couldn’t muster an explanation better than, “Words can’t describe it.”







The 2,200-lb. car wasn’t always so powerful. For the first 12,000 miles, Jeff ran a 500-hp normally aspirated engine. But he wasn’t satisfied with a car that was merely stupid-fast. Jeff has road-raced cars and motorcycles and shared that mastering motorcycles “makes you fearless in a car.” It takes a little bit of fearlessness to get the most out of a car with a power-to-weight ratio of 1 hp for every 2.2 pounds. And Jeff has gotten the most out of the Ultima in a big way.

Jeff ran the Ultima GTR to 200 mph and then braked back down to zero faster than any other street-legal car – he holds the record. His Ultima was also the fastest street-legal car in the standing mile at the Silver State Classic in 2007, accelerating from a stop and reaching 211 mph in just one mile. It’s not a “barely legal” car either. Jeff drives the Ultima GTR a lot. It has over 50,000 miles on the odometer and has been on the Hot Rod Power Tour five times. Incidentally, it averages 23 mpg in normal driving.

Apparent nerves of steel in the driver’s seat helped him achieve those records, but it was Schwartz’s engineering that made all that performance (and reliability) possible. Schwartz Performance is about getting the most from any vehicle. Jeff proved that by building an ’82 Cadillac Brougham that ran the quarter-mile in 11.8 seconds at 118 mph. It also registered 1.02 g on the skid pad – not exactly what a 1982 Cadillac was known for.

These days Schwartz Performance engineers and sells bolt-in chassis for 16 models of American muscle cars. Jeff’s friend Grant Craft has one in his 1965 Pontiac Tempest, nicknamed the Temptress. Grant was in from Hong Kong on the day we visited and was happy to show off Jeff’s work. Schwartz Performance built the car in eight weeks and stuffed a modified LS-7 engine under the hood that cranks out 473 wheel horsepower. Proving again what a Schwartz-prepared car can do, the Temptress immediately started winning. It took first place in Car Craft magazine’s Real Street Eliminator event this year, and even beat an Audi R8 in the autocross event.





If you want serious GO no matter what kind of cars you’re into, check into Schwartz Performance. Maybe Jeff will help you win a world record, too.