It's hard not to admire what Ruf does, even if you're not the biggest Porsche fan in the world. Its commitment to craftsmanship, innovation and attention to detail - see the latest CTR and SCR as evidence - can be appreciated by car fans of any kind. And if you do indeed like Porsches, then sit back and get comfortable - this will be a very enjoyable half an hour.
'Love at the redline' is the Ruf history, from 1939 to the present day. It features appearances from Ruf staff, Ruf owners, journalists with Ruf experience, the Ruf family and even Mr Gran Turismo himself, Kazunori Yamauchi. For a generation who missed the Faszination VHS and liked cars before YouTube, Gran Turismo was an indispensable marketing tool for Ruf.
Alois Ruf Junior, director of the company since Ruf Senior's passing in 1974, is the focus of the video, and evidently as passionate about the business as at any point in his long tenure. He quite clearly still loves driving, loves 911s and loves what his company his doing. His admission in the video that cars have become "too comfortable", and that the modern amount of electronics "don't belong in a pure sports car, which is supposed to be a real driving machine" will be music to the ears of many an enthusiast. A statement backed up by cars like the current SCR, with its 8,000rpm flat-six, six-speed manual and rear-wheel drive.
The story of Ruf is an intriguing one as well; we'll let Herr Ruf explain it fully, but essentially involves father and son rebuilding a crashed a 356 and doing such a good job of it that they sold it to a Porsche fanatic. Not a conventional sale, either: the buyer stopped them in a Munich street and was adamant he had to buy it there and then. Thus Ruf Automobile as we know it was born.
What a story it's been since then. Naturally here there's a focus on the original CTR 1 Yellowbird and that Roser Nurburgring lap, because for a long time that was all the Ruf that anybody knew. But this video also deals with the July 1987 issue of Road & Track, the World's Fastest Cars feature written by Peter Egan; not only is Egan interviewed again about those few days, we also get to see the period images from that amazing 211mph run. Suffice it to say that the Yellowbird's reputation is richly deserved.
There's more, too, with Ruf covering the later CTR 2 and CTR 3 models, how they're aimed at driving "connoisseurs" as well as the latest Yellowbird remake. The look of pride when discussing that car's carbon tub, and the ambition of the project, is plain for all to see. It's a similar story when interviewing Ruf's employees; the impression of it all being one big happy family is unmistakable - doubtless as the documentary intended. 'Fools for cars' is what Alois Ruf calls everyone involved with his company; even for those us merely admiring from a distance, we're glad to be fools with them. Here's to the next 80 years of Ruf, whatever they may bring.
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