RE: Ruf RT12

Monday 14th August 2006

Ruf RT12

Dial R for more Pork -- Eric van Spelde drives Ruf's latest 911


Alois Ruf with the RT12
Alois Ruf with the RT12

Sometimes, demonstration runs give a somewhat different experience from what you were expecting. The first few hundred yards on the passenger seat of Ruf’s Rt12 certainly made an impression – even though they were covered at little more than walking pace…

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In terms of grabbing one’s attention, there’s not much to compete with a wide-bodied 911 sprayed in a particularly fetching shade of Smurf Blue, at least not against the decidedly rural backdrop of Pfaffenhausen in the Bavarian Allgäu region – essentially one main street, a church and a train station that looks like it hasn’t changed much from the days of the Königlich Bayerische Staats Eisenbahnen.

The sense of anticipation is heightened when the car rolls out of Ruf’s workshop, emitting a hollow, metallic and ever so slightly uneven bark from two discreet, but still man-sized tailpipes, and the author lowers himself into the snug racing bucket seats. Deep A-pillars, neatly trimmed in black Alcantara, indicate the presence of a rather substantial roll cage. So far, everything has indicated a highly-strung and uncompromising beast, something that may be fantastic on the Nordschleife in the hands of a gifted driver, but hard work on the daily commute.

Subconsciously, I prepare myself for a sensory attack of brutal proportions and am at the same time somewhat relieved that this time I am not the one who’ll be causing the mayhem.

Roller coaster

But no. Although the Ruf Rt12 is equipped with a manually operated six-speed gearbox rather than Tiptronic, the driver doesn’t touch the clutch pedal when he moves the gear lever to first. His right foot isn’t doing anything either. Does the car stall? It doesn’t even as much as hesitate.

Without any drama at all, the car just moves with the tach registering the same 900 rpm. “Even your grandmother couldn’t stall this car”, says our driver. And to prove his point he shifts to second, again without touching a pedal. The Rt12 just proceeds to go a bit less slowly. And then he repeats this trick in third, fourth, fifth and sixth. We’re doing 39 km/h now, according to the LCD readout at the bottom of the speedo, with the engine still at idle speed and not complaining in the least. It’s almost a throwback into the pre-war days when the act of swapping cogs was still one that required fairly serious effort, and thus a super-flexible engine that minimised the need for gearshifts was considered an essential quality for Grand Tourers at the upper end of the spectrum.

We’ve left Pfaffenhausen well behind now, still without any throttle input whatsoever. But that’s about to change now. The loud pedal gets buried and the Rt12 picks up its skirts, getting faster as we go faster in true roller coaster fashion, the hallmark of a turbocharged installation. Only one normally has to be in the right gear in relation to road speed, while this car simply has no wrong gears.

Full-bore acceleration from idle speed in top merely allows you to savour the growing intensity as the revs build. Drop down a cog or two, though,  and you’ll be getting your sensory attack alright. With 650 hp and  642lb-ft of torque on tap, the road ahead is gobbled up in short, clean, savage lunges which can see you hitting the far side of 150mph on the shortest of stretches, helped by the fact that you can drop the hammer when exiting A-road sweepers seemingly pretty much from the moment you hit the apes. A couple of left-right combinations on the Landstraßen around Pfaffenhausen are dealt with at the kind of speeds normally reserved for places that feature large run-out zones and gravel traps, the car feeling reassuringly solid and stable, yet more eager to change direction than a car weighing over a tonne and a half has any right to being.

The legend

Which, of course, all serves to underpin Alois Ruf’s vision of  ‘a supercar that you can live with every day.’ It all started in the early ‘60s when young Alois fell in love with the Porsche 911 – after having been overtaken by one in his father’s 356 on an Autobahn in a downpour. The love affair has lasted to date, and from the mid ‘70s – when the existence of Porsche’s hallmark design seemed to be threatened by several factors, the advent of a generation of front-engined, watercooled Porsches being one of them – resulted in an impressive bloodline of modified versions.

It started relatively harmlessly, with a Carrera RS 3.0 that got special interior equipment to Alois’ own design, a headlamp washer system and roof aerial, and got more serious with the Ruf Turbo 3.3 of 1977 that featured an engine displacement increase to 3,243 cc, a five-speed Getrag transmission and some changes to the bodywork, and four years later the General Federal Bureau of Motor Vehicles certified Ruf Automobile GmbH as an automobile manufacturer in its own right – not bad for a rural independent garage…

The first car to bear a Ruf chassis number was the BTR of 1983, but it was the CTR that appeared another four years further down the line, that put Ruf on the map of the world’s most exclusive sports car manufacturers. This lightweight 911 evolution based on the ‘narrow body’ Carrera shell and sporting a 469 hp twin turbo 3.4 litre engine, achieved a legendary status among sports car aficionados around the world largely through two events.

Firstly, it established a world speed record for production sports cars in the hands of racing driver Paul Frère achieving 339.8 km/h at Volkswagens Ehra-Lessien test track, and then bettered it with a top speed of 342 km/h (213 mph) on the Nardo high-speed track in a supercar shootout, leaving things like a Ferrari F40, an AMG-Mercedes and a works-tuned Porsche 959 eating its dust. “Among all the assembled exotica, our ‘Yellow Bird’ – as it was christened by the press on the spot – looked like a frog, frankly”, remembers Alois Ruf. “But the frog went rather well nonetheless…”

And then of course, there was the Ruf promotion video Faszination, in which the world was introduced to the otherworldly skills of a certain Stefan Roser, drifting the Yellow Bird along the Nürburgring Nordschleife in seemingly impossible angles, leaving a trail of smoke and burnt rubber behind him over pretty much all of the 20.8 kilometres. It was considered essential viewing for anyone who fancies himself a bit as a driver by Performance Car magazine – after having seen it, even the most testosterone-fuelled and big-headed of would-be Schumachers would certainly see the error of their judgement…

Like the old days at Zuffenhausen

The development of Ruf cars, of course, closely followed the state of things 911 at Zuffenhausen, the 930, 964, 993 and 996 iterations all getting the Ruf treatment resulting in even faster and more driver-focused evolutions in which the customer traditionally has a large scope for tailoring to his/her individual needs and tastes. The 997-based Rt 12, available with drive on the rear wheels or on all fours, with engine power ranging from 530 to 650 hp, marks the twelfth evolution of Ruf converted Porsche turbos.

In collaboration with Studiotorino in Turin, Italy the RK Spyder, a limited-edition model loosely based on the Boxster (for instance, of all body panels including bumpers, only the left front fender is OE Porsche) has been developed, while the 997-based R Kompressor is the latest creation from Pfaffenhausen.

“We’ve been thinking about using a mechanical supercharger on the 911 engine pretty much since the mid-Eighties”, says Alois Ruf. “The problem we had experienced so far with such an installation, using a radial compressor coupled with planetary gears, was that we couldn’t find a suitable drive belt – which now has been solved in collaboration with a drive belt supplier that has come up with a special, high-tech belt.”

Defining Ruf

So – what defines a Ruf  - in other words, suppose that you could drive a car blind folded, which are the driving characteristics that would make you immediately aware that you’re driving something out of Pfaffenhausen rather than Zuffenhausen? “Our raison d’être is that we can offer our customers simply more Porsche than Porsche themselves can”, answers Ruf.

“The Porsche 911 has always been the superbly engineered, reliable, comfortable workhorse for day-to-day usage among sports cars.  Without at all compromising this high level of usability – we have customers that have clocked up to 400,000 kms on their Ruf cars so far -  we take this workhorse and give it performance at a level with the most highly-strung and impractical supercars that you can buy. Then there’s the level of bespokeness and customer input that a manufacturer on the scale of Porsche, who are right now closing in on an annual production of 100,000, simply cannot offer anymore.”

“Ruf today breathes the same atmosphere as Porsche did in earlier times, when special projects and one-offs would be handled by Werk 1.”, adds Norbert Grabotin, who is responsible for sales in Germany and came to Ruf after a twenty-year stint in Zuffenhausen.

“We are still very much a family business, and on contrast to the way major OEMs – including Porsche – work nowadays – 80 to 90 per cent of the content of a Ruf vehicle is still created in-house. A new workshop trainee will work in all our departments before he’s allocated his regular work place. We don’t expect an engine builder to be able to do a perfect bodyshell preparation – but we want him to know what it’s like to do.”

Apart from the 35 new Ruf vehicles that are built on a yearly basis, the company converts another 120 existing customer cars, has an in-house restoration department and does regular servicing and repairs on all Porsche cars.

“Our Ruf models are the flag-bearers of our company – but we are there for all Porsche drivers, no matter the model or age of their car”, insists Alois Ruf. “Now that here in Germany, the ‘traditional’ Porsche dealers are rapidly disappearing in favour of large and to a point faceless outlets, surely it’s good to know that there’s another option where the passion for Porsche cars and everything the marque stands for, is shared and understood.”

Driving the R

With these words, it’s about time to experience the Ruf touch from the driver’s seat. The R Kompressor development car, based on a 3.6 litre 996 Carrera, is at my disposal. The supercharger conversion will be available for all 996 and 997 Carrera models, and in this case yields 410 hp with maximum torque at 325lb-ft. Apart from the belt-driven supercharger, the engine gets a new intake system with the liquid cooled intercooler units neatly integrated into the manifolds, different intake valves, high-flow catalysts and of course a new engine management calibration. That aside, ‘my’ car also sports Ruf-spec springs and dampers. The exhaust, however, is factory standard on this particular car – surprisingly so, as I can’t remember any ‘cooking’ 996 emitting such a deep and purposeful bark.

Throttle response seems completely unaffected by the forced induction gubbins, no doubt a result of keeping the intake tract short and with as little internal air volume as feasible. What’s definitely different is the sheer urgency with which the R Kompressor heads for the horizon in any gear. Very refined is the power delivery too, part-throttle yielding exactly the response the driver solicits. It’s brutally fast, but at the same time it feels completely manageable and useable at all times.

Personally, I always had the watercooled, non-specialist 911 versions down as something of a compromise – probably the best all-in-one car out there for those who can’t be bothered to run a portfolio of cars, but not necessarily the most exciting thing to roll out of ones garage on a Sunday morning. But after having visited Pfaffenhausen I’m sure with Ruf’s input, a Porsche can be all things to all men.

Or at least pretty darn near…

Author
Discussion

matrs

Original Poster:

451 posts

282 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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Great report, car porn at its best

Joe911

2,763 posts

234 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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Just looking at the engine mods - why supercharge to get just 410?

adamt

2,820 posts

251 months

Monday 14th August 2006
quotequote all
Im actually in the dyno room picture, (grey shirt)(and dont worry i didnt touch that engine, i was only watching and learning...)

hehehe

all the best
adam

Edited by adamt on Monday 14th August 12:51

dinkel

26,886 posts

257 months

Monday 14th August 2006
quotequote all
Great review T

'. . . a Porsche can be all things to all men.' Now stop da girltalk!

Smurf blue indeed

And looking at the garage-pic, all his cars do have these kinda candy colors. Why is that?

ED965

5,697 posts

222 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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Amazing cars always have been, better than sex?
Better get saving?

900T-R

20,404 posts

256 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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dinkel said:


And looking at the garage-pic, all his cars do have these kinda candy colors. Why is that?


That is actually part of Ruf's firm philosophy. Although - of course - one can have any color one wants including black and silver , Ruf just like the more vibrant shades for their cars. In their showroom there's a display stand with the 'standard' Ruf color palette - and well, basically they're all like the cars depicted in the workshop...

Davey S2

13,075 posts

253 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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Looks great. Just a shame the engine looks about as exciting as the inards of a washing machine. On a car like that it should be something to admire

Hoonfest

141 posts

211 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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Would prefer to see the new turbo wheels on it and that blue, hmmm.

dazren

22,612 posts

260 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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One day.........

vinceh

154 posts

227 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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Wonder if Porsche has ever considered taking Ruf onboard as Merc did with AMG, to create a skunkworks a la BMW 'M'division?

Probably considers this unnecessary what with churning out GT3/GT2/RS models, but Ruf has consistently turned out some stonking cars that push the boundaries.

Water-cooled cars notwithstanding, I still fantasise about a Yellow Bird (no, Im not shopping for a mail-order bride).

Edited by vinceh on Monday 14th August 14:43

r988

7,495 posts

228 months

Monday 14th August 2006
quotequote all
That colour is bright enough to burnout retinas even from the photograph. I'm guessing they use bright colours because it attracts attention and says that this is no ordinary run of the mill Porsche, which are invariably grey or black or some other dull colour, but something special.

Mr Whippy

28,944 posts

240 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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Just not as keen on anything post the early 996's from Ruf now. They have certainly gone a little bling on the front end of the 997 anyway.

Things like



and the Ruf Cabrio (that dark blue 996 mk2 narrow bodied cab with the 520bhp engine in it), were subtle and very capable... you kinda didn't expect the potential due to their appearance (the way it should be )


I know they do custom work etc, just the latest work seems to be even more outrageous than ever (edit: maybe thats just the way Porsche are going these days!? Bit more bling)

Dave

Edited by Mr Whippy on Monday 14th August 14:59

Dr S

4,995 posts

225 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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Ruf is doing some great cars indeed. The only bother is the exterior styling of late. It's similar to the one seen on the latest GT3 and GT3/RS. Just a bit too many different lines and creases on front an rear bumpers for my taste. Would I care if I owned one? Surely not, the tears of joy would blind my vision...

Ashok

598 posts

258 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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Superb stuff!

GTRene

16,372 posts

223 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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the ruf was always carporn and I owned myself 3 porsches myself but non Ruf sadly, I could buy one ofcorse on the second hand market but at those times I was to scared to buy a tuned expensive car when I could buy a newer? model porsche instead for the same money...
To scared that things would brake down in those engine's and working on a porsche means time when the engine has to come out, but reading some stuf here they seem "reliable" tuned cars...oooooow I'm still young ahum who knows? but I have also many other cars on my list first
great write up
GTRene

alextgreen

15,159 posts

241 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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This is the vid in question:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc

DucatiGary

7,765 posts

224 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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i think PH should have videos aswell as pics on these reports, there is PH .TV afterall (which I keep filling with crap, sorry about that) it would be great to see vids aswell as pics and text, PH has everything in place for this, how come no one else thought of this?

would love to hear that, let along see it shooting along

DucatiGary

7,765 posts

224 months

Monday 14th August 2006
quotequote all
alextgreen said:
This is the vid in question:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc


cool he has one of those "stylish" square steering wheels

cho

927 posts

274 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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uuummm...does RUF have a copyright on that video they produced which is selling for XXXamount of money?

Gulliver911

673 posts

233 months

Monday 14th August 2006
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alextgreen said:
This is the vid in question:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc


Was the driver Walter Rohrl or Vick Elford?