Founded in 1939 by Alois Ruf Sr., Ruf started life as a service garage before entering the world of bus building, after building a company bus to promote its work. When Alois Ruf Jr. came along, the company grew its ties to Porsche as Ruf Jr. began servicing 911s in his father’s garage.
Following his father’s death in 1974, Ruf Jr. decided to focus on his passion for Porsche, building his first Ruf-enhanced Porsche in 1975 before the company’s first complete model, a tuned version of the Turbo, came along in 1977. By 1987, the Ruf CTR – or Yellowbird – established the firm as a supercar baiter, and it hasn’t looked back since. These are the ten best Rufs ever.
Ruf Turbo 3.3
The Turbo 3.3 was the first car Ruf ever made and saw it recognised as a manufacturer in its own right – setting out its stall as an extraordinary company that could improve Porsche’s everyday 911 supercar in almost every way possible. Ruf didn’t take the easy route by simply turning up the boost on the 930 Turbo. Instead, the car’s cylinders were bored, bringing the 3.0-litre engine up to 3.3 litres and adding a dual exit exhaust for better gas flow. The result? Power increased from 260PS (191kW) to 303PS (223kW) and torque from 343Nm (253lb ft) to 411Nm (303lb ft).
From there, Ruf replaced the 930’s four-speed box with a low-ratio five-speed bolted to a limited-slip differential. Separate oil coolers served the engine and gearbox, and the rectangular air intake housing them was the biggest clue that your Turbo wasn’t a standard Porsche fare. Removing the air-conditioning, fancy stereo, and the standard bumpers (swapped for RS-style fibreglass alternatives) shaved 95kg from the standard car’s 1,195kg.
Porsche’s car did 0-62mph in 5.7 seconds and was out of puff at 156mph; Ruf’s machine did the same in five seconds dead and, if you could resist the optional wide body (hard), went onto a top speed of 174mph. No wonder customers happily paid a 50 per cent premium over a standard 930.
Ruf BTR
The BTR holds a special place in Ruf’s heart as the first of the company’s models to get its own VIN plate, with a bare chassis delivered directly from Porsche. It was also the first model to deliver the ludicrous performance the brand was famous for, with some versions of the BRT capable of 190mph back in the 1980s when your mum and dad’s Golf barely meandered to 100.
Production of the BTR (standing for Group B Turbo Ruf) began in 1983 with the car getting a 3.4-litre flat-six with a modified turbo producing 374PS (275kW) and 480Nm (354lb ft) of torque through either a five or laterally six-speed gearbox. Stiffer suspension, bigger brakes and a more luxurious interior completed the overhaul, and customers could choose either narrow or wide body configurations. A BTR competed in Road & Track’s World’s Fastest Car contest in 1984, hitting a top speed of 186.2mph.
Three years later, the same car, with an odometer showing more than 200,000 miles, hit 187mph, showing that a pilgrimage to Ruf hadn’t harmed the 911’s unique combination of performance and durability. Just 20-30 BTRs were built at the Ruf factory, with many more customers Turbos built to spec. You can spot them by their revised front air dam, optional 935 ear-style wing mirrors and 17-inch, five-spoke Ruf wheels.
Ruf CTR Yellowbird
If the Turbo 3.3 and BTR established Ruf as a carmaker, the 1987 CTR Yellowbird was the car that put it on the map, bringing with it unheard-of performance for a 1980s road car. The Ruf posted an official top speed of 213mph at the Nardò Ring in 1988, where a red-faced Ferrari F40, Enzo’s seminal supercar, could manage just 199mph. It was all the more impressive because the narrow-bodied Porsche looked so unassuming parked next to Maranello’s blood-red Italian stallion. Or at least, it would have looked unassuming had it not been finished in Ruf’s Blossom Yellow paint.
Contrary to expectations, the Yellowbird was based not on a Turbo but on a basic Carrera 3.2 shell, favoured for its lighter weight and lower drag coefficient. From there, Ruf built the ultimate 911 with characteristic gusto, using lightweight aluminium for the doors, bonnet and engine cover and replacing the bumpers with fibreglass items. Meanwhile, air ducts on the stretched rear wheel arches fed the car’s massive intercoolers.
And that cooling was very much needed to chill the air going to the huge twin turbos that fed the Yellowbird’s 3.4-litre flat-six to produce 469PS (345kW) officially, although the reality is thought to be far more, and 553Nm (498lb ft) of torque. The result was a 1,150kg missile that could accelerate from 0-150mph in under 15 seconds.
Ruf CTR2
The performance of the original Yellowbird was so phenomenal that Ruf took more than ten years to build a car that could better its straight-line performance – the 220mph CTR2 launched in 1995.
Based on the 993 Turbo with a lightweight Kevlar body and the option of four-wheel drive, only the McLaren F1 and Nissan’s R390 GT1 road car could better the CTR 2’s 217mph top speed. Standing for Group C, Turbo Ruf, 2nd generation, the CTR 2’s engine was derived from Porsche’s 962 Le Mans racer’s twin-turbocharged 3.6-litre tuned to produce 580PS (433kW) and 686Nm (505lb ft), covering the standard quarter mile in 11.4 seconds at almost 124mph.
Alois Ruf was so keen to prove the CTR 2’s credentials he entered two modified examples into 1997’s Pikes Peak rally, and his drivers – brothers Steve and David Bedder – drove the cars to the event to demonstrate their mixture of on-road usability and stunning track performance, something they did astonishingly well by finishing second and fourth overall at the event. Christened the CTR 2 Sport, the Pikes Peaks cars had 702PS (523kW), accounting for 12 of the 28 CTR2s built.
Ruf 3400K
Only relatively recently has Porsche kitted out its Boxster and Cayman models with the power they crave. Still, Ruf has been doing it since the original Boxster launched in 1996, starting with the 3400S, a 986 Boxster with a 310PS (228kW) 3.4-litre motor from the 911, soon followed by the 340PS (254kW) 3600S.
But the Cayman-based 3400K is even more interesting because it had something no Porsche-supplied ever Cayman had – a supercharger. Based on the 987 Cayman S, forced induction gave the 3400K 400PS (294kW) and with it, the performance to take on its bigger brother, the 911, getting it from 0-62mph in 4.4 seconds and onto a top speed of 180mph.
Six-pot front callipers made sure the Cayman had braking to match its newfound performance, but Ruf wasn’t content with simply upping the power; the company also sorted out the looks of the relatively limp 987 Cayman. The addition of a reworked front bumper with a deep air dam made the coupĂ© look like a junior supercar and a set of Ruf’s trademark flat-faced five-spoke alloys completed the job.
Report by Russell Campbell
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