BBC_Top_Gear_South_Africa_June_2017

Ruf CTR is all kinds of want
Drop-dead gorgeous looks hide a mouthwatering mechanical recipe underneath
B
ack in 1987 Ruf launched a car
called the CTR. It was based on
the Porsche 911, but had been
thoroughly modified, developing
350kW. At the time it was widely believed to be
the fastest car in the world, capable of 343km/h
– in a era when the Porsche 959 topped out at
317km/h. You might know this vehicle better as
the Yellowbird.
That was 30 years ago, so, to celebrate the
milestone, Ruf has brought it back. Only this
time it’s not based on a Porsche 911.
Underneath sits a bespoke carbon tub with
unique steel subframes front and rear that
carry pushrod suspension. There’s still a
twin-turbo flat-six in the back and, yes, the
dry-sumped 3.6-litre is based on Porsche’s
technology, only now it doesn’t develop 350kW,
but 522kW. It drives the rear wheels and
rear wheels alone through a six-speed
manual gearbox. Old school.
And the bodywork? That’s carbon-fibre,
too. The CTR 2017 weighs just 1200kg dry,
giving it a power to weight ratio of 441kW/
tonne. That’s huge. The rear-wheel drive
and manual combo means it’s not
heroically fast off the line (0–100km/h in
3.5 seconds) but from there on it gets into
its stride – 200km/h is dusted in nine
seconds flat, top speed is “over 360km/h”.
Peak power arrives at 6750rpm, and
there’s 879Nm of torque from 2750rpm to
4500rpm. It’s small, too: just 4.2 metres
long and 1.8 metres wide. Inside, it features
the classic Porsche five-dial layout and
feels small, airy and exciting. Proper
CTR timeline
CTR 1987
CTR2 1997
CTR3 2007
Want to know why Porsche rates
Ruf so highly? Its attention to detail
is full OCD. The silhouette, narrow
body, rear inlets and headlights are
all nods to the 1987 original.
As is the hypercar performance.
24 JUNE 2017