Ruf drive

Newswheel staff :: 10 November 2005 :: Filed under Mid / rear engine sportscar, Porsche, Porsche 911, Ruf, Europe & UK, US

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Ruf’s latest uber-Porsche hits the road

There’s tuners and fettlers. And then there’s Ruf. The legendary German outfit was building souped-up Porsches capable of cracking 60 in under four seconds and hitting 200mph long before anyone had heard the words Zonda, Carrera GT or Enzo. Of course, there’s a new 911 on the market. So, sure enough, Ruf has worked its magic once again.

The new RT12 is based on the latest 997 variant of the 911 and benefits from the optional 3.8-litre flat-six engine that comes with the Carrera S model. However, thanks to a cast alloy intake manifold, an enlarged throttle body, trick pistons and the minor matter of a pair of turbos, the top spec RT12 pumps out 650bhp and 624lb/ft. That’s more power (and much, much more torque) than a McLaren F1. For the slightly less power-crazed, Ruf also does 530bhp and 560bhp options.

Body mods include the usual aero tweaks as well as flared rear wheel arches (one inch wider than the already big-bummed 911 Carrera 4S) and an optional roll cage which bumps up torsional stiffness by around 25 per cent. Chassis upgrades, meanwhile, take in 380mm front brake discs clamped by eight pot callipers, with 330mm four piston items at the rear, and a choice of two suspension kits. The standard system is a conventional spring and damper kit sourced from Bilstein, while the optional setup is an Ohlins rig with hydraulic lift, providing extra ground clearance when necessary. Rounding out the options list is a choice of two or four-wheel drive.

  
So, what is the RT12 like on the road? UK website Pistonheads.com found the car delivered the usual Ruf recipe of awesome outright pace combined with low speed tractability and iron-fisted chassis control. Yes, you can keep your Bugatti Veyrons, your Ferrari Enzos and your Carrera GTs. Real men drive Rufs. Probably.

The RT12 is probably a hideously effective driving tool. And yet, we can’t help harking back to the late 80s and the legendary Ruf CTR. It’s ironic that the fabulously understated, narrow-bodied CTR was produced in an age when greed was good, Gordon Gekko was God and good taste constituted red braces for him and a really big perm for her. Fast forward to this apparently more enlightened millennium, and Ruf has dumped the CTR’s subtle, weapons-grade chic in favour of scoops, ducts, pop-up wings, flared arches and a dash of in-your-face chintz. And hell, it can’t be because the RT12 is so very much faster. The CTR did 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds and 211mph back in 1988. The RT12 is reckoned to be capable of hitting 62mph in 3.3 seconds and going on to 225mph. That’s pretty nippy. But somehow, it’s nowhere near as mind blowing as the CTR was in the late eighties.

The Ruf CTR “Yellow Bird”. A no-nonsense, twin-turbo torpedo. They simply don’t make 'em like this anymore.

Linkage:
Pistonheads Ruf RT12 drive