Mike Duff wrote:RUF has long been associated with its own versions of Porsche products, but now the company has created its own car, inspired by its most famous model and launched at the Geneva motor show.
The new CTR looks strikingly similar to a 964 generation 911, but it is based around a new carbonfibre bodyshell that the company has produced itself, and is powered by a twin-turbocharged version of Porsche’s water-cooled Metger engine.
Power output is being quoted at 700bhp, with that working against a dry weight claimed to be just 1200kg. That makes it even faster than the car that has inspired it, the 1987 RUF CTR “Yellow Bird”, which was once clocked at 7.3-seconds over the 0-100mph benchmark and which also featured in the classic film ‘Fascination at the Nurburgring’ being driven around the Nordschliefe at drift angles that are still startling nearly three decades later.
Company president Alois Ruf, son of the original founder, says that Porsche has given its permission for car’s classically inspired looks. Underneath its carbon bodywork, which is built around a steel frame, the new CTR gets double wishbone suspension at each corner, working with pushrod-operated coil over spring and dampers. Power and torque – a meaty 649lb ft – is directed to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox, with Ruf telling Autocar that a twin-clutch version is also planned to follow.
Only 30 manual gearbox CTRs will be built, with a base price of €750,000, in Germany before taxes make them even more expensive than the ‘restomod’ air-cooled 911s being sold by by US company Singer.
That hasn’t been a bar to sales, with Ruf saying that 10 have already been ordered, with several bought off the company’s stand at Geneva. He also confirms that there are plans to send the new car out onto the Nordschliefe to establish that it is indeed quicker than its famous forebear.
