So I’m walking home during peak hour and ahead of me – amongst the cars sitting bumper to bumper – I could see a Porsche 993 Turbo S. Or could I? As I approach from behind I’m reading a number plate with the letters R U and F within it. Nah, it couldn’t be. I walk past the car and two small grilles in the front bumper panel stop me cold. I motion the driver to (kindly) wind down his window. “Is that really a…” The driver completes my sentence. “Ruf? Yes.’
Ruf acheived total legend status with the 1987 CTR Yellowbird.
The Group C Turbo Ruf was an insane 469 bhp twin-turbo road-registerable bahnstormer capable of reaching 60 mph in 3.7 seconds. Its top speed 211 mph (340 kmh) was higher than that of the Ferrari F40 and Porsche’s own supercar, the AWD 959, making the Ruf Yellowbird the fastest production car in the world. Ever. At the time.
In 1939, Alois Ruf, Sr. opened a business in Mindelheimer Strasse in the small southern German town of Pfaffenhausen. Initially a service garage, by 1949 Alois (pictured) had added a petrol station to his concern. His commercial projects included a VW Beetle with a reduced engine capacity that became popular in his region with Germans still feeling the bite of postwar austerity and a tourist bus designed and built in 1955. By the early 1960s Auto Ruf was also selling Fiats and BMWs.
Auto Ruf also serviced and restored Porsches. Alois Ruf, Jr – apprenticed to his father – developed a first-hand knowledge and love for the 356s and (eventually) the 911s that came through his father’s garage. In 1974, Alois Senior died and the business was left in the hands of his 24 year old sporting car enthusiast son. By 1975 Ruf was offering performance parts for the Porsche 911 and in 1977 the first Ruf 3.3 Turbo was released featuring an enlarged piston version of the 3.0 litre Porsche 930 – a year before Porsche were to do it themselves.
In 1981 Ruf Automobile GmbH received a Manufacturer’s Certification from the German Federal Vehicle Offices. In 1987. Ruf also became an approved manufacturer recognised in the US by the NHSTA (safety) and EPA (emissions) authorities. In short, Ruf cars were no longer Porsches, they were Rufs with their own VIN designation. Ruf essentially took a Porsche shell and did their own thing.
They also continued to tweak Porsches for customers, so now you could own a Ruf-modified Porsche…
Or you could own a Ruf.
Here is 16-odd minutes of Ruf driver Stefan Roser flinging a Yellowbird CTR around the Nurburgring.
In 1993, Porsche launched the final generation of its air-cooled 911 models; the gorgeous Type 993. Prior to 1995, it was only available as a Carrera, albeit in RWD or AWD form and as a coupe or cabriolet. The proliferation of 993 models was still to occur.
With no turbo Porsche yet available from the factory, Ruf appeased sucker fans with the BTR-2.
The 1983-1993 BTR (Group B Turbo Ruf) had been the first Ruf model released under their status as manufacturer. In contrast to the later more powerful CTR, the BTR featured a single turbocharger. But like the CTR, it was based on the lighter-weight Carrera. The 1993-onwards BTR-2 was Ruf’s single turbo model dressed in a 993 suit.
You’re looking at a 1995 Ruf VIN BTR-2. One of 18 made worldwide, one of only 5 RHD and first delivered to Singapore in its distinctive Riviera Blue. It found its way into the current owner’s hands under bittersweet circumstances, but he has thoroughly appreciated the opportunity. His previous car was an R35 GTR which he loved, but he is in thrall with the untamed RWD turbolag characteristics of this car. And it is totally docile in traffic.
By 1995 you could get a Porsche 993 Turbo, but it was AWD. And for some people, controlling the tail is all the fun with a 911.
www.carpoint.com.au
420 bhp (313kW) gave the BTR-2 a top speed of 191mph (307kmh) and a 0-100kmh time of 4.1 seconds. The engine was much modified from its Porsche origins. New pistons, camshafts, injectors and a remapped Bosch Motronic CPU accommodated a K27 turbo operating at 11.6psi of boost. Compression had been reduced from the Carrera’s standard 11.3:1 to 8.4:1 to help the engine cope with the extra output and a lighter weight, freer flowing exhaust completed the process.
Brakes are four-pot calipers, 320mm front and 300mm rear. Wheels were Ruf’s distinctive five spoke design, 18×8.5 inches at the front and 18×10 inches at the rear. The car was dropped 30mm and stiffer anti-roll bars were fitted. More bracing across the strut towers tightened up the front end. Deeper bumpers were used front and rear.
Through it history Ruf seems to have presaged the actions of Porsche. The tail of the BTR-2 would be one of those occasions. That deep tail cavity housed a larger intercooler. Apparently Ruf provided the metrics on the downforces with this tail to Porsche and they ended up using something similar on the 993 Turbo S. The twin nose grilles also appeared later on the 996 GT2.
This Ruf shares duties with a BMW 325. The owner needs to move around Melbourne during the working day, so he semi-regularly exploits the great suburban driving between peak hours in this. But his profession also requires a level of decorum, and this Ruf is completely unruffled at parking lots speeds. If you happen to chance upon him enjoying his ride, give him a greeting. He’s the sort of curbside classicist who loves a chat about his car.
Further Reading
Had I seen this I would have had no clue. Porsche had my attention since the beginning but never heard of Ruf.
Wow–what a find and an amazing car! It’s interesting how the level of modification gives the car a brand-new VIN and a separate manufacturer cert too…and based the 993, one of my favorite flavors of 911 (along with the pre-5 MPH bumper original).
I’ve never seen a RUF “in the wild” and have only ever seen one, period, an ’87 CTR Yellowbird at a concours event several years ago. Other than the rear fender duct, wheels, and badge, not a lot to tell it apart from a “lesser” 930, but a very purposeful package, and one that will eat most any Ferrari or Lambo for lunch!
I don’t know what the rules are for manufacturer status, but I don’t know that it’s so much the level of modification as the level of commitment to production and factory support: doing your own type certification rather than piggybacking on someone else’s and meeting whatever the requisites may be for providing spare parts after manufacture and so forth.
What an outstanding find, one of the best ever. The exploded view of the orange RUF is fantastic.
The 993 fender forms were so beautiful. It boggles the mind that Porsche made the sides perfectly flat on the 996, at least at the beginning. The aerodynamics were excellent but the car looked like hell.
Ruf – Pronounced, if I recall correctly, “roof”. That’s awesome to find one in the wild!
I don’t think this is a Ruf. But there was this Bloodhound Gang song….
Thats quite a rare car 18 world wide chances of seeing another are remote, I do see a MK V Jag drop head regularly though one of 17 built and more beautiful than a Porsche in my eyes.
+1
You’ve got to get a shot of the MkV, Bryce.
Great catch; I remember seeing one in the Bay Area, on the go.
Now you’ve got me intrigued about Ruf Sr.’s reduced engine capacity VWs. Never heard about that. I wonder what exactly he did.
This was the only mention I could find:
‘With his already well-known reputation for detail, courage, and ability to find solutions to important automotive problems, Ruf Sr. expanded his firm’s customer base by developing a popular economy car. The strained economy of the early 1950’s, high taxes, and gas conservation rules led Ruf to develop a Volkswagen Beetle of reduced piston displacement and power but improved fuel economy. It was another success for the firm, becoming popular in the Allgäu region.’
http://posrednik.ru/porsche/porsches.com/rufhist.htm
Great find Don. I’ve read about them and as you say the company is officially registered as an independent car maker. Just like Alpina.
Good call. I’ve added an Alpina to the links.
From being a serious car nut since before I could drive, I have heard of the RUF. More specifically, for the years before the internet, I bought and read a lot of car magazines. And I still have a large collection of car magazines for reference purposes. But, because they are so rare, had never actually seen a RUF. And, it’s old enough that I would not recall any of the car’s specs without a reference. The very rare, unique, limited production, extra high performance models appeal to me, and it is always a real treat to come across one, as you have done Don.
I’ve always liked that he does a lot of his work on the narrow-bodied version cars as opposed to the factory which always uses the wide-body version for their higher performance variant. Ruf (correctly) reasoned that the narrow body has less wind resistance, enabling a faster top speed. This is borne out by bone stock Porsche cars that are available in both narrow and wide body versions such as the 996 C4 vs the C4S. Same drivetrain but the narrow body has a lightly higher top speed than the widebody S. Academic at those speeds? Probably, but still interesting.
Agree! I’ve also always preferred the narrow body look over the wide booty…er, body…look.
One neat trick RUF did on the Yellow Bird to achieve 200+ mph top speeds was to remove the rain gutters, which eliminated a lot of parasitic drag around the ‘A’ pillars.
Great find. I have heard of Ruf, but never realized they produced complete cars along with VIN. Always thought they were an aftermarket supplier of performance parts and modified factory Porche’s, but they really had an involved relationship with the factory. More CC education.
Ah yes, the copyright evasion Porsche that all racing game fans have come to know and love.
Melbourne and its automotive treasures.
Hi Don, my father was the original owner who imported this Ruf into Australia from Singapore in the year 2000. Car was delivered new to Singapore not Malaysia. The dealer in Singapore was the only licensed Ruf dealer in the southern hemisphere and was the distributor for Ruf cars in the region. To get the rights they had to sell a certain number of cars and these were the handful of rhd btr2s all delivered new to Singapore first. 1st owner was a well known high flyer. He traded the car in when he bought a new Ferrari F575M.. My father’s friend bought the car outright from the Ferrari dealer. He only enjoyed the car for 4 months before selling it to my Dad who kept bugging him to sell to him. He then imported the car to Australia as he was residing in both Sydney and Singapore but enjoyed his cars in Sydney. Getting the car into Australia was a headache. The authorities saw it as a Porsche. Had a hard time trying to tell them what a Ruf is. We still have the original import documents. The car was shipped to New Zealand and registered there for a year before going back to Australia.
Attached is a pic of Dad washing the car after he finally got it registered in Sydney.
Hi Lin, sorry I’ve taken so long to respond. Correction made and thanks for giving us one of this beauty’s early history.
Currently carrying a “Sold” sticker at Porschaden High St Armadale
Couple things from the video:
1) I didn’t watch the whole thing, but if ~16 minutes then that is approx. two laps. In the first three mins. I caught, how many other vehicles were out there, like 5 or 6, almost all motorcycles? When you watch YT vids from today it’s like a traffic jam out there.
2) Driver isn’t even wearing a helmet.
3) Sort of a long gearshift throw into the upper-RH slot, no?
4) Seems like he is sawing at the wheel a little more than I might have expected. Now it certainly appears that he is driving at a serious pace; and even though the late-’80’s suspension and tire tech might not quite match the glue-like traction that modern AWD and rubber can provide, still, the number of fairly serious, mid-corner corrections was surprising. I am well aware that the Nurburgring is not a billiard-table smooth track, and that there are several “surprise” undulations that send many a newcomer into a damage-inducing spin in what appear to be innocuous road segments, but here, even to an experienced test driver, there are a lot of running adjustments to be made. An eye-opener.