Thanks to Carlisle Auctions, a pair of spectacular WINGED WARRIORS FOR THE ROAD – Superlite SL-C and Ultima GTR – will cross the block for the first time!
Jerry Jackson, a perfectionist car builder best known in the automotive industry for designing and engineering machinery for producing carbon fiber for carmakers like Lotus, built and owned the Race Car Replicas’ Superlite SL-C and owned the Ultima GTR. Equipped with air conditioning, he drove both WINGED WARRIORS FOR THE ROAD until passing away in December 2020, a victim of COVID. His estate has arranged with Carlisle Auctions to feature them in its Fall auction at Lakeland Linder Airport in Lakeland, FL on November 10-11.
Before becoming an avid road racing fan, he spent his youth in England drag racing a Jaguar-powered compact Ford Popular that he built with his teammate, Dave Cottingham. Known as the Purple Passion, the second time out it won Super Eliminator and by the third outing, it was running mid-13s at 107 mph. With a one-piece fiberglass flip front end, trunk lid, and doors fabricated by Jackson, right, and Cottingham, it was described as “faultless in every detail” by Brian Sparrow in Drag Racing & Hot Rod Magazine in the UK. It’s also featured in British Drag Racing, The Early Years, below, by Nicholas Petitt, published by VELOCE in 2011
Decades later, in 2013 while residing in Sarasota, Florida, he decided to once again build a car in his home garage. This time it was a Superlite SL-C coupe, top, with a modern chassis, road racing heritage, and infused with state-of-the-art technology. The kit was purchased from Race Car Replicas (RCR) a company with a background in IndyCar racing with a General Motors engine program and supplying parts for Le Mans cars. Jerry Jackson started the Superlite SL-C project in December 2013 and completed it in May, 2015.
With a typical weight distribution of 46% front and 54% rear and a weight of 2,400 pounds, the mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive SL-C, delivers racecar performance on the road. The SL-C featured here that Jerry Jackson built tips the scales at 2,511 pounds. Powered by a fuel-injected 505-horsepower dry-sump 7-liter Corvette (LS7) 427 engine mated to a Graziano six-speed transaxle with limited-slip differential and Audi multi-plate competition clutch as used in a Lamborghini Aventador and Audi R8, performance is breathtaking!
The SL-C is just 43 inches off the ground, and with a wheelbase of 105 inches and an overall length of 174 inches, the 74-inch-wide winged coupe has approximately 4-5 inches of ground clearance. Chassis construction is of a hybrid all-aluminum tubular monocoque design with billet machined suspension mounts, uprights, and control arms. It’s fully TIG-welded. Stopping power comes from Brembo four-piston calipers with 355-mm front and 365-mm rear discs. Also featured are CAN-bus electrics with onboard diagnostics.
In addition to the costs of the complete RCR Kit, new GM engine, new Graziano transaxle, and assorted parts and hardware, Jackson invested 2,500 hours labor building the SL-C. And, that doesn’t include costs involved in having outside talent paint the fiberglass/carbon fiber body. Although fitted with a chassis, suspension, and powertrain suitable for racing, he regularly drove it to shows and Sarasota Café Racers lunches on. He was a longtime member of SCR.
Prior to building the SL-C coupe, Jackson had purchased a professionally built 2010 Ultima GTR, manufactured by Ultima Sports LTD in Hinkley Leicester in the UK. Also built on a tubular space frame chassis and bodied with a winged, lightweight fiberglass body, it is powered by a 390-horsepower small-block Chevy racing engine displacing 377 cubic inches. It weighs in at just 2,100 pounds and, like the Race car Replicas’ Superlite SL-C, delivers breathtaking road performance.
Displacing 6.2 liters, the small-block Chevy engine features an Eagle steel crank, rods and forged aluminum pistons, Competition Cams roller camshaft, and valvetrain, and is topped off with fuel injection with special mass-flow engine management. It’s mated to a five-speed Porsche G50 transaxle with a Porsche competition clutch. Stopping power comes from four-wheel 320-mm drilled and ventilated discs with AP Racing four-piston calipers. The original Ultima GTR was designed by Lee Noble and its performance – 0 to 100 mph to 0 in 9.4 seconds – is documented in the Guinness Book of Records!
Both WINGED WARRIORS FOR THE ROAD are air-conditioned and ready for the road!
For information about Carlisle Auctions @ Sun & Fun Expo Campus, Lakeland, FL on November 10-11, 2023, and additional photos of WINGED WARRIORS FOR THE ROAD, please visit https://www.carlisleauctions.com/register-to-bid
https://www.carlisleauctions.com/vehicles/512/2015-superlite-slc
https://www.carlisleauctions.com/vehicles/511/2010-ultima-gtr
For more information about Race Car Replicas/Superlite Cars, http://www.superlitecars.com/slc
And Ultima Sports GTR, https://www.ultimasports.co.uk/