RUF 3.3 VTU RBO R

It’s 40 years since the first Ruf turbo hit the highway, and we reprise the experience, back to back witha 30-year-old Ruf turbo R. Plus: we take part in a Ruf trackday, and Alois Ruf tells us about the concepts behind his latest Yellowbird

Driving the very first Ruf Turbo back-toback with an equally rare 993 based Turb0 R

The Swabian blacktop leading away from Pfaffenhausen is smooth, straight and, before long, sufficiently hilly to throw in some nicely cambered corners; it’s our happy hunting ground when we try out Ruf’s amazing supercars, and our annual pilgrimage in late September is no exception.

This time, Alois has generously presented us with the originalruf turbo 3.3 Coupé from 1977, the car that kickstarted the entire Ruf oeuvre. Our turbotitan friend had taken over the family garage business in 1974, and immediately began to indulge his predilection for forced-induction 911s. Not only did Ruf up the performance levels considerably, he massaged the bodywork in a distinctive manner, too – and this, don’t forget, was a full ten years before the Yellowbird CTR-1 cemented his reputation as a giant slayer.

Visually, the turbo 3.3 has an understated Ruf front bumper, spoiler and air-dam panelwith a huge oilcool er in the centre, flanked by twin vents and topped with headlight washers, contriving to emulate more the 3.0 Carrera RS than contemporary impact-bumper 930 styling. The rear is distinguished by a large whale-tail of IROC proportions, incorporating an oil cooler inside it, while

the rear bumper panel is less prominent than the regular factory Turbo, with no over-riders and minimal number-plate lights. It’s fitted with Fuchs wheels and Michelin Pilot SX tyres on the front and back, 205/ 55 ZR16S and 225/50 ZR16S. The gorgeous Oak Green Metallic coachwork is complemented by the cabin upholstery, consisting of green leather with a blue, turquoise and mint checked tartan in the centre of the seats and seat backs.

Engine capacity rose from 3.0 to 3243cc by means of 98.9mm pistons and barrels, increasing power from 260bhp to 303bhp, without the benefit of an intercooler. The transmission features the Ruf 5-speed gearbox, a decade before the 930 received 5-speeds. The suspension was adjusted to match the car’s new higher performance potential, with lowered torsion bars and Bilstein gas-dampers, and back in the day, a customer could specify the kind of ride he preferred and the car would be set up accordingly. The 3.3 turbo tips the scales at 1250kg, a saving of 200kg over the standard 930.

I put it to Alois that, back in’77 with the turbo 3.3 he was way ahead of the game, as far as what Porsche themselves were doing with the 930: ‘I felt on my first test drive of the 3.0 Turbo that the 4-speed was not a good solution; for me it was missing a gear, and, if it did have an extra

gear, the car would be a lot more driveable, especially with the power delivery of that engine, and this is why I built the first Ruf turbo as a 5-speed. And that 5-speed is based on a 915 gearbox, the same as the 915 gearbox that Porsche used in Le Mans which had a stronger ring and pinion, and this is the gearbox that we used for this prototype. Then after that we started the development of the Ruf 5-speed that was based on the original 930 gearbox which had all the stronger gears. The 930 gearbox was a derivative of the 917 gearbox, which was capable of transmitting1200bhp of turbocharged power, and that had much wider and thicker gears, and that was the base gearbox for the 930, and then we put on an extra gear and this is how we came to the dog-leg 1st. We knew that if we went opposite reverse gear we’d have an extra space that is not used, so we have that shiftingpattern. The dog-legidea came from Le Mans, because they needed a take-off gear and that was the dog leg gear. I personally find the shiftingpattern of the dog-leg 5-speed much more pleasant than the later 915 gearbox. For example, if you change up to 5th in the 915, or any other modern 5-speed where the notch is to the upper right, you have to do it at very high speed, and you have only one hand on the “steeringwheel and then you look for the gear; but with the old dog-leg gearbox, when you were going from 4th to 5th, you just pulled the lever down and you were not searching for a gear.’ Numbers made of the turbo 3.3 were small, partly because Alois was at first conservative in his expectations of customer interest, and also because parts supply was slow. ‘We never made enough,’ he says; ‘initially, the price of the gearbox was about 10,000 DM, and I thought nobody would be so crazy as to buy that gearbox, because if you ordered a new car you had an option to have it as a 5-speed, which would cost you 5 to 600 DM for an extra gear, whereas in our case you had to replace the gearbox and that was 10,000 DM as an exchange, so I thought nobody will really order that, but after the press reported that it was a completely different car there was a bigdemand. But the problem was the wait for the parts; no matter whether you ordered 10 or 100, it

I felt that in the 3.0 Turbo, the four-speed was not a good solution

was 18 months untili got the pieces.’

Our second contender for the Ruf badge of honour is the turbo R (note lower-case t). To be clear(ish) about the nomenclature, the 993 generation of Ruf was the ‘turbo R’ and the 996 generation was the ‘R turbo’. The turbo R was based on a wide-body 993 Turbo, contemporary with the CTR2 and CTR Sport, which were more expressive at that time. According to PR man Marc-andre Pfeifer, ‘Ruf sought to build a car that was technically two or three steps ahead of the regular 993 Turbo, without it being too noticeable from the outside. Some major parts were changed, like the front and rear bumpers, and we always had special wheels, suspension and brakes, but mostly technically focussed. Then of course the cognoscenti see that the rain gutters are missing, so the turbo R is the perfect enthusiast’s car because you can enjoy the driving without everybody noticing what it really is. People who know a bit about the 993 Turbo series see something is different but they don’t really know what it is, and in the interior it’s the same thing, with subtle changes like the Ruf mats and Ruf pedals and Ruf steering wheel. The leather is special, and the whole interior was made to lightweight spec with a special pair of seats, and it was completely individualised to whatever the customer wished to have. The turbo R is lighter, because we keep the interior and the equipment more minimalist, but the car feels good with the extra horsepower and the extra performance. As an option for somebody who wanted to be a little wilder than the standard 993 Turbo but not as crazy as the CTR2, this was in between – a wolf in sheep’s clothing.’

Powerplant is a twin-turbo 3.6 flat-six. ‘The 993 Turbo S came out at the same

the green in the tartan and the colour of it is simply gorgeous with its matching Fuchs wheels as well. It would have seemed very plush in the late ’70s. The 3.3 turbo’s acceleration is vivid, if you compare it with a 930, and the response to the steering input is positive, the ride is just fabulous – you feel the tiny undulations in the road, but not in an adverse way; it’s just communicating the ground it’s covering. The ergonomics are spot-on, from pedal accessibility, the relationship of pedals to steering to gear shift is fabulous, and, like all subsequent Rufs, this is a car that was way ahead of its time. Although it’s 40-years old, the 1977 car does have more personality than the turbo R, and of course it may not be as quick but there’s obviously more of a period ambiance about it. Here, too, the brakes demand firm pressure, and that’s perhaps the one aspect that makes the car feel a tad dated. I reflect that, with the 4-speed 930, you’re relying on the guts of the turbo to do the business for you with the acceleration, whereas with a 5-speed ’box, clearly you have much more of a feeling of the vigour of the car via the turbo; it brings a new versatility to the driving experience, coupled with some delightful popping and banging from the 3.3 turbo on the over-run.

Snaps taken, we drive at no less a focussed pace back across the farmland roads to the Ruf enclave that dominates this Bavarian backwater. There’s little similarity between our two charges, save that they’re both hand-built with the same kind of attention to detail. I’m keener to find out from the man himself what’s in store with the latest Yellowbird, the 2017 CTR.

Like subsequent Rufs, this is a car that was way ahead of its time

back the feeling of the original Yellowbird from 1987, which was the first car that didn’t have rain gutters, so of course we have this feature in the 2017 car.’ There’s a pair of NACA ducts either side of the rear wings below the three-quarter windows – familiar from other Rufs like the RCT, though more dynamically configured: ‘these air intakes are a new feature,’ Alois explains; ‘they are for the combustion, for the engine to breathe, and this one is the air intake just for the intercoolers.’ Slats in the rear bumper panel recall the Yellowbird, too.

Back in the showroom we contemplate the Yellowbird show car. Sure, it bares many typical Ruf retro-classic hallmarks, but like the extraordinary SCR, there’s more to the 2017 CTR than meets the eye: look carefully at the door, and you see it’s about 30mm thicker than a regular 911. ‘We sent this car to the gym and made it sportier, built some muscles, and the wings are wider than the 930; in fact, they are the same width as a 959, but it’s not that obvious because we went with more body and more curves so it still looks subtle and it’s also better for the aerodynamics, too. I was never particularly a fan of the widearched look; the whole side of the car has moved outwards. And you will notice that we moved the headlamps 20mm further outwards than they would be on the 964. It’s all more homogenous, and with this extra 20mm the front wings don’t look so fat anymore.’

The wheelbase is 70mm longer than the 993 – the same as a 997 wheelbase – achieved by movingthe rear axle back by 50mm. ‘So, we have 5cm more bodywork ahead of the rear wheelarch, and 5cm less behind the rear wheelarch, and 7cm behind

Like the SCR, there’s more to the 2017 CTR than meets the eye