The Ruf CTR (Group C, Turbo Ruf) also known as the CTR Yellowbird or simply Yellowbird, is a limited-production, high performance
sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
manufactured by German automobile manufacturer
Ruf Automobile
Ruf Automobile GmbH (stylized as RUF) is a German car manufacturer. Formerly using Porsche bodies in white to build cars, today they build vehicles on their own bodies and chassis. They also manufacture performance parts for various Porsche m ...
. Introduced for the 1987 model year and based on the
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in german: Neunelfer) is a two-door 2+2 high performance rear-engined sports car introduced in September 1964 by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. It has a rear-mounted flat-six engine and origin ...
, the CTR featured an enlarged and highly tuned version of Porsche's 3.2 litre flat-six cylinder engine, lightened body panels, an integrated roll cage (adding chassis stiffness in addition to occupant safety), upgraded suspension and braking systems, a custom-designed transmission, and several unique trim pieces such as
polyurethane
Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) refers to a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethan ...
bumpers, and the use of the side-mounted oil filler (a Porsche feature for the 1972 model year only) necessitated by relocating the oil tank forward to clear the intercooler on that side.
The car received its nickname, "Yellowbird", during testing by ''
Road & Track
''Road & Track'' (stylized as ''R&T'') is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. It is owned by Hearst Magazines and is published 6 times per year. The editorial offices are located in New York, New York.
History
''Road & Track'' (often ab ...
'' magazine, whose staff members noted the contrast created by its yellow paintwork against the overcast skies on the day of their photo shoot.
History
![CTR2 Alois Ruf](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/CTR2_Alois_Ruf.jpg)
The CTR (abbreviation of "
Group C
Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs.
It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...
Turbo Ruf") was based on the
1987 911 Carrera 3.2 as opposed to the
930; Porsche's factory turbocharged version of the 911. The decision to base the car on the Carrera 3.2 was made because of the 3.2's slightly lower curb weight and
drag coefficient
In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient (commonly denoted as: c_\mathrm, c_x or c_) is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water. It is used in the drag equ ...
. Factory body panels including the doors, hood and engine cover were replaced with aluminum pieces, helping to reduce an additional of weight as compared to the vehicle's factory curb weight. Efforts to reduce drag, the use of fiberglass front and rear bumpers and a pair of intake ducts on the rear flares to allow airflow to the intercoolers topped the list of body modifications. The rear arches were also slightly increased in width to accommodate the larger Speedline wheels.
In addition to the lighter panels, considerable modifications were made to the engine, including boring the cylinders out to to increase displacement from to , adding an uprated DME fuel injection system originally designed for the
Porsche 962
The Porsche 962 (also known as the 962C in its Group C form) is a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the Europ ...
race car.
A specifically designed turbo system featuring large
twin-turbo
Twin-turbo (not to be confused with a twincharger setup, which is a combination of a supercharger and a turbocharger) refers to an engine in which two turbochargers work in tandem to compress the intake fuel/air mixture (or intake air, in the case ...
chargers and twin
intercooler
An intercooler is a heat exchanger used to cool a gas after compression. Often found in turbocharged engines, intercoolers are also used in air compressors, air conditioners, refrigeration and gas turbines.
Internal combustion engines
Mo ...
s were the main highlights of the modifications done to the engine, bringing total output to at 5,950 rpm and of torque at 5,100 rpm.
![RUF CTR Yellowbird engine room](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/RUF_CTR_Yellowbird_engine_room.jpg)
At the time, Porsche offered the 911 3.2 with a 5-speed
manual transmission
A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission (mechanics), transmission ...
, but the 930 featured only a 4-speed manual transmission, chosen because it was the only unit manufactured by the company that could handle the turbocharged engine's high power output. Not content with only four forward gears and unable to satisfactorily modify the 5-speed unit, Ruf chose to use a new five-speed transmission of their own design on the CTR, which also gave them full freedom to customise gear ratios. An upgraded suspension system, 17 inch Ruf Speedline alloy wheels, diameter
Brembo
Brembo S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of automotive brake systems, especially for high-performance cars and motorcycles. Its head office is in Curno, Bergamo, Italy.
History
Brembo was established in Paladina, Italy on January 11, 1961 ...
braking system, and
Dunlop's Denloc system performance tyres were used.
The company debuted the vehicle at the end of 1987 with pricing set at US$142,900 (approx US$362,000 in 2022), although that number could vary depending on whether a given customer ordered it directly from Ruf or brought in a car purchased via dealer for conversion. Ruf manufactured only 29 cars from chassis bought from Porsche; about 20–30 cars were built from customers'
Carreras.
Total 911
''Total 911'' is an international magazine devoted to the Porsche 911 sports car, from 1963 to the present day. It is published monthly in the UK by Future plc and currently edited by Lee Sibley.
Launched in 2005 by Rob Mugglestone, Philip Rab ...
issue 125 p.42-46 https://www.total911.com/ruf-ctr-the-fastest-car-of-1987
Specifications
Ruf rated the CTR at and of torque. It is said that the official power output of 469 PS was the lowest
dynamometer
A dynamometer or "dyno" for short, is a device for simultaneously measuring the torque and rotational speed (RPM) of an engine, motor or other rotating prime mover so that its instantaneous power may be calculated, and usually displayed by the ...
reading of all the CTR engines tested while the average figure was closer to or even higher.
Weighing in at , the CTR had a 0-60 mph acceleration time of 3.65 seconds and a top speed in excess of 210 mph. Although the
Porsche 959
The Porsche 959 is a sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 1986 to 1993, first as a Group B rally car and later as a road legal production car designed to satisfy FIA homologation regulations requiring at least 2 ...
was faster in terms of acceleration to 60 mph, the Yellowbird could outperform all competition when it came to top speed, topping out at , a top speed that made it the
fastest production car in the world at the time of its introduction.
Technical specifications
*
Engine configuration
The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized.
Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...
:
Twin-turbocharged
Twin-turbo (not to be confused with a twincharger setup, which is a combination of a supercharger and a turbocharger) refers to an engine in which two turbochargers work in tandem to compress the intake fuel/air mixture (or intake air, in the case ...
SOHC
An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...
2 valves per
cylinder
A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base.
A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...
flat-six engine
A flat-six engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-six, is a six-cylinder piston engine with three cylinders on each side of a central crankshaft. The most common type of flat-six engine is the boxer-six engine, where each pair of opposed cy ...
*
Bore X
Stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
:
*
Displacement
Displacement may refer to:
Physical sciences
Mathematics and Physics
*Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
:
*
Compression ratio
The compression ratio is the ratio between the volume of the cylinder and combustion chamber in an internal combustion engine at their maximum and minimum values.
A fundamental specification for such engines, it is measured two ways: the stati ...
: 7.5:1
*Power: at 5,950 rpm
*Torque: at 5,100 rpm
*
Redline: 6,800 rpm
*
Curb weight
Vehicle weight is a measurement of wheeled motor vehicles; either an actual measured weight of the vehicle under defined conditions or a gross weight rating for its weight carrying capacity.
Curb or kerb weight
Curb weight (U.S. English) or kerb ...
:
*Gearbox: 5-speed
manual transmission
A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission (mechanics), transmission ...
(6-speed optional)
*Tyres: 215/45ZR-17 front, 255/40ZR-17 rear
*Layout:
Rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive
In automotive design, an RR, or rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout places both the engine and drive wheels at the rear of the vehicle. In contrast to the RMR layout, the center of mass of the engine is between the rear axle and the rear bumpe ...
.
Performance
The CTR could generally outperform most of the other high performance cars of the time, including the
Ferrari Testarossa
The Ferrari Testarossa (Type F110) is a 12-cylinder mid-engine sports car manufactured by Ferrari, which went into production in 1984 as the successor to the Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer. The Pininfarina-designed car was originally produced from 1 ...
and
Lamborghini Countach
The Lamborghini Countach () is a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini from 1974 until 1990. It is one of the many exotic designs developed by Italian design house Bertone, wh ...
.
In addition, despite being slower than the Porsche 959 in accelerating from 0-60 mph, it could outperform the
Porsche 959
The Porsche 959 is a sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 1986 to 1993, first as a Group B rally car and later as a road legal production car designed to satisfy FIA homologation regulations requiring at least 2 ...
,
Ferrari F40
The Ferrari F40 (''tipo'' F120) is a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car engineered by Nicola Materazzi with styling by Pininfarina. It was built from 1987 until 1992, with the LM and GTE race car versions continuing production until 1994 ...
and the
Lamborghini Diablo
The Lamborghini Diablo is a high-performance mid-engine sports car built by Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini between 1990 and 2001. It is the first production Lamborghini capable of attaining a top speed in excess of . After the end ...
accelerating from 0-100 mph and attain a higher top speed.
Auto, Motor und Sport
''Auto Motor und Sport'', often stylized as auto motor und sport and abbreviated AMS or AMuS, is a German automobile magazine.
It is published fortnightly by Motor Presse Netzwerk's subsidiary Motor Presse Stuttgart, a specialist magazine publish ...
25/1988
The CTR was also a highly competent track vehicle, and for several years it held the unofficial lap record at the
Nürburgring-Nordschleife track.
Test results by
''Autocar'':
* 0–: 1.69 seconds
* 0–: 3.65 seconds
[ ''Autocar'' Magazine, 27 April 2004 Issue]
* 0–: 6.71 seconds
* 0–: 14.59 seconds
* 0–: 35.57 seconds
* Standing mile: 27.7 seconds at
* 0–100–0 mph: 11.85 seconds
* 0–200–0 mph: 47.20 seconds
Test results by other magazines:
* 0–: 4.1 seconds
* 0–: 10.5 seconds
["De snelste:339 km/u!" by ]Paul Frère
Paul Frère (30 January 1917 – 23 February 2008) was a racing driver and journalist from Belgium. He participated in eleven World Championship Formula One Grands Prix debuting on 22 June 1952 and achieving one podium finish with a total of elev ...
* Standing 1/4 mile (402 m): 11.7 s at
* 0–1,000 m: 20.9 seconds
Sport Auto
''sport auto'' is a German automobile magazine, established in 1969, published monthly by Motor Presse Stuttgart, based in Stuttgart.
The magazine publishes its "Supertest" of cars, featuring the laptime at the Nordschleife. Until 2015 almost a ...
7/1987 http://www.einszweidrei.de/ezdold/porsche/rufctryb1987-1.htm
* Top speed:
Other Media
The Ruf CTR had its first appearance in April 1987 at the "World's Fastest Cars" contest held by American car magazine ''
Road & Track
''Road & Track'' (stylized as ''R&T'') is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. It is owned by Hearst Magazines and is published 6 times per year. The editorial offices are located in New York, New York.
History
''Road & Track'' (often ab ...
'' where it was designated "The Fastest Production Car in the World".
It accelerated from 0-60 mph in 4.0 seconds, 0-100 mph in 7.3 seconds, 0–200 km/h in 10.5 seconds, mile in 11.7 seconds at and reached a top speed of , beating the competition by . Editor
Paul Frère
Paul Frère (30 January 1917 – 23 February 2008) was a racing driver and journalist from Belgium. He participated in eleven World Championship Formula One Grands Prix debuting on 22 June 1952 and achieving one podium finish with a total of elev ...
shouted "This is faster than I've ever gone in my life!" during a ride.
Road & Track
''Road & Track'' (stylized as ''R&T'') is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. It is owned by Hearst Magazines and is published 6 times per year. The editorial offices are located in New York, New York.
History
''Road & Track'' (often ab ...
July 1987. Excerpt: [911 & Porsche World, No. 32, March/April 1996]
In 1988, ''
Auto Motor und Sport
''Auto Motor und Sport'', often stylized as auto motor und sport and abbreviated AMS or AMuS, is a German automobile magazine.
It is published fortnightly by Motor Presse Netzwerk's subsidiary Motor Presse Stuttgart, a specialist magazine publi ...
'' organized a high speed test at
Nardò Ring
The Nardò Ring, originally known as Pista di prova di Nardò della Fiat (Fiat's Nardò test track) when it was built in 1975, is a high speed test track located at more than north-west of the town of Nardò, Italy, in the southern region of Apu ...
where the Ruf CTR was the fastest reaching , surpassing a
Porsche 959
The Porsche 959 is a sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 1986 to 1993, first as a Group B rally car and later as a road legal production car designed to satisfy FIA homologation regulations requiring at least 2 ...
s (), two
Ferrari F40
The Ferrari F40 (''tipo'' F120) is a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car engineered by Nicola Materazzi with styling by Pininfarina. It was built from 1987 until 1992, with the LM and GTE race car versions continuing production until 1994 ...
s ( each) and a Mercedes AMG 6.0 32V (). At one point it achieved an unofficial .
In 1989, test driver Stefan Roser drove the CTR around the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
. The laps were captured on camera and released by Ruf in a video called "Faszination on the Nürburgring" which became famous. ''
Car & Driver
''Car and Driver'' (''CD'' or ''C/D'') is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. In 2006 its total circulation was 1.23 million. It is owned by Hearst Magazines, who purchased prior owner Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in 2011. It was fo ...
'' called it ''groundbreaking, enthralling and influential'' and for
Top Gear
Top Gear may refer to:
* "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission
Television
* ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme
* ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
it's the ''best'' and ''most exciting'' lap for watching.
In 2004, a Ruf CTR was able to keep up with newer sports cars like the
Porsche Carrera GT
The Porsche Carrera GT (Project Code 980) is a mid-engine sports car that was manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 2004 to 2006. ''Sports Car International'' named the Carrera GT number one on its list of Top Sports Cars ...
, the
Enzo Ferrari
Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; 20 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italians, Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari ...
and the
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren (C199 / R199 / Z199) is a grand tourer jointly developed by German automotive manufacturer Mercedes-Benz and British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive and sold from 2003 to 2009. When the car was develop ...
at the
''Autocar'' 0-100-0 challenge and impressed the audience,
so did another one - with more than 100,000 kilometers on its odometer - at the ''
Road & Track
''Road & Track'' (stylized as ''R&T'') is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. It is owned by Hearst Magazines and is published 6 times per year. The editorial offices are located in New York, New York.
History
''Road & Track'' (often ab ...
'' standing mile contest 2005.
Steve Millen
Steve Millen (born 17 February 1953) is a retired New Zealand IMSA race car driver. In the 1970s and 1980s, Millen raced in hillclimbing and Formula Ford before doing stadium off-road racing in the United States in the Mickey Thompson Enterta ...
, after testing a CTR, stated: "That thing's a blast. It accelerates hard. It's a real old-school car with a lot of torque and power. Just awesome. What a rush. It pulled the whole way through."
Road & Track
''Road & Track'' (stylized as ''R&T'') is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. It is owned by Hearst Magazines and is published 6 times per year. The editorial offices are located in New York, New York.
History
''Road & Track'' (often ab ...
September 2005
The Ruf CTR is a playable/drivable car in the video games "
The Duel: Test Drive II", "
Project Gotham Racing 3
''Project Gotham Racing 3'' is a racing video game developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released exclusively for the Xbox 360 as a launch title in November 2005. The game was rated by ''Official Xbox Mag ...
", "
Project Gotham Racing 4
''Project Gotham Racing 4'' is a racing video game developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released exclusively for the Xbox 360 in October 2007.
Development history
''Project Gotham Racing 4'' was accident ...
", "
Driver: San Francisco", "
Forza Motorsport 4
''Forza Motorsport 4'' is a 2011 racing video game developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the fourth installment in the ''Forza'' series. It is the first title in the series to support the Kinect ...
", "
Forza Motorsport 5
''Forza Motorsport 5'' is a 2013 racing video game developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One. The game was released on November 22, 2013 as a launch title. The game was revealed on May 21, 2013 during the X ...
", "
Forza Horizon
''Forza Horizon'' is a 2012 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 on 23 October 2012. The game is the fifth instalment of the '' Forza'' series, having originally spun-off from Turn ...
", "
Forza Horizon 2
''Forza Horizon 2'' is a 2014 racing video game developed for Microsoft's Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles. It is the sequel to 2012's '' Forza Horizon'' and the seventh instalment in the ''Forza'' series. The Xbox One version of the game was ...
", "
Assetto Corsa
''Assetto Corsa'' (Italian for "Race Setup") is a sim racing video game developed by the Italian video game developer Kunos Simulazioni. It is designed with an emphasis on a realistic racing experience with support for extensive customization an ...
", "
Project CARS
''Project CARS'' is a racing video game series developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The franchise was introduced in 2015 and received a sequel in 2017, followed by ''Project CARS 3'' in 2020.
Games
...
", and most of the "
Gran Turismo" series games.
Successor
The CTR was succeeded in 1996 by the
CTR2 based on Porsche's newer
993 Generation 911
911 or 9/11 may refer to:
Dates
* AD 911
* 911 BC
* September 11
** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001
** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende
* November 9
Numbers
* 91 ...
.
Revival
![2017 RUF CTR Anniversary 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/2017_RUF_CTR_Anniversary_3.6.jpg)
At the
87th Geneva Motor Show held from 9 to 19 March 2017, exactly 30 years after the original CTR was launched, Ruf presented a new model paying tribute to the original CTR. The new CTR utilises an in-house developed
carbon fibre
Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
body bearing resemblance to a
Porsche 964
The Porsche 964 is the company's internal name for the Porsche 911 manufactured and sold between 1989 and 1994. Designed by Benjamin Dimson through January 1986, it featured significant styling revisions over previous 911 models, most prominently ...
along with an aluminium chassis resulting in a dry weight of . The car is not based on the
911
911 or 9/11 may refer to:
Dates
* AD 911
* 911 BC
* September 11
** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001
** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende
* November 9
Numbers
* 91 ...
, unlike the original CTR. The new CTR is powered by a 3.6-litre water cooled twin-turbocharged
Flat-6 engine
A flat-six engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-six, is a six-cylinder piston engine with three cylinders on each side of a central crankshaft. The most common type of flat-six engine is the boxer-six engine, where each pair of opposed c ...
producing at 6,750 rpm and of torque at 4,000 rpm. The car is capable of accelerating from 0–100 km/h (62 mph) in under 3.5 seconds and can reach a top speed of . Power is sent to the rear wheels through a 6-speed manual gearbox. The car also sports retro components based on the original CTR such as the 'whale tail' rear wing five-spoke wheels, interior and the steering wheel. Only 50 examples of the 2017 CTR will be produced.
References
External links
*
*
{{Commons category
Coupés
Rear-wheel-drive vehicles
CTR
Rear-engined vehicles
Cars powered by boxer engines
Cars introduced in 1987