Auto S.A.T.'s

In the U.S., all high school students planning to further their education are required to take an exam called the S.A.T. The Standard Aptitude Test. A time consuming ordeal, it's part of the rites of passage for all academically inclined adolescents.

One of the sections of the exam is devoted to analogies. For example: Doctor : Hospital :: Professor : X (answer: X=College).
Applying this technique to the automotive industry, here's an interesting one for you experts: Aircraft : Clarence 'Kelly' Johnson :: Automobiles : X.

(Hint: Clarence 'Kelly' Johnson was the head of the famed organization referred to as Lockheed's Skunkworks group. With a unique working style, a small but ever-changing group of team members, and a variety of design goals, Kelly Johnson was responsible for some of the most famous and legendary aircraft of our time. Examples include the F-104 Starfire, the U-2 and SR-71 family of spyplanes, and the F-117A stealth fighter. All focused on extreme and focused performance, unique efficient design and technological breakthroughs.

A number of names are possible in this auto-S.A.T. test, but the best fit, and thus the winning answer is a gentleman by the name of Lee Noble.

Though Lee Noble started his automotive career as a talented sports and formula car driver, he early on demonstrated excellent engineering skills. Even more telling, Lee imparts a design sense shared with Kelly and other true design innovators across industries (e.g. Steve Jobs – Apple, Ken'ichiro Ashida – Nintendo). He imparts a sense of taste, style and elegance in his designs. In the late 1980's, growing tired of working on other people's cars, he directed his energies toward the 'kit car' market – which has the properties of lower cost of entry and ease of modifying design without the cost and time overhead that typically goes with the automotive industry.

Lee's first offering, and one of his most enduring, was the Ultima. A mid-engine design relying on powerplants principally from Chevrolet, and gearboxes from Getrag and Porsche, a recent version has set records for being the fastest accelerating car (0-60 in 2.6 seconds), fastest in the 0-100-0 test, and surpassed the McLaren in highest top speed for 2WD/RWD vehicles.

Simple spectacular:


...even when it loosens it's tie just a bit:


In 1992 Ted Marlow purchases the rights, jigs and moulds for the Ultima Mk2 and Ultima Mk3 from Noble Motorsport Ltd.(www.ultimasports.co.uk/history/). and also marked the end of any involvement in the future development of the Ultima by Lee Noble. The company, called Ultima Sports Ltd. was formed by Ted and Richard Marlow based in premises at Long Itchington, Warwickshire. More than 600 of these beautiful and powerfully performant cars have been built to date.

After the Ultima came other designs – the Noble Lotus 23 replica; the Ferrari P4 replica; the ProSport 3000 circuit racer; the MidTec Spyder – a Lotus 7 like machine. Noble then entered into the supercar space with the Ascari and now the Noble (Moy) (http://www.noblecars.com/) series of supercars. These mid-engined twin-turbo designs are visually impressive and have been very favorably compared with cars from Porsche and Ferrari.

The 'business end' of Noble M15:


But none of this S.A.T. testing nor historical overview bears on the true reason for this entry. The reality is that I am, at this moment, winging my way over the polar caps to meet Ted Marlow and visit his factory to examine and ride in a demonstrator of the Ultima GTR and Can-Am with the intent of beginning a new chapter in my auto interests. As noted prior, I have, for years, moved from admiring, to owning, to wrenching some interesting and wonderful automobiles. The obvious next step is to create one or, more accurately, to finish one.

I'll keep you posted on the details of my trip.