The Ruf RGT is a

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 ...

made by

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 ...

of Germany. __TOC__

First generation (2000–2004)

The first-generation Ruf RGT was introduced in 2000 using an engine and chassis based on the

Porsche 996 The Porsche 996 is the internal designation for the 911 model manufactured by the German automaker Porsche from 1997 until 2006. It was replaced by the 997 in 2004, but the high performance Turbo S, GT2 and GT3 variants remained in production un ...

. The original 3.6L version could accelerate from 0- in 4.6 seconds, with a top speed of .

Second generation (2005–2011)

When the

Porsche 997 Porsche 997 is the internal designation for the Porsche 911 sports car manufactured and sold by the German automobile manufacturer Porsche between 2004 (as Model Year 2005) and 2013. Production of the Carrera and Carrera S coupés began in early ...

debuted, Ruf bored out the 3.6 L engine to , modified the exhaust and

catalytic converter A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device that converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction. Catalytic converters are usually ...

s, and replaced the ECU and air filter. The new power output was , reducing the 0- time from 4.6 to 4.2 seconds (or even 4.1, according to some sources), and increasing top speed by 7 mph to . Ruf also added a performance suspension system, using Bilstein components, as well as high-performance

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 ...

disc brakes, measuring in front and in the rear. The car's appearance is also changed, using a bodykit that includes a

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 ...

front air dam and

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 ...

doors, mirrors, engine lid, and spoiler, all of which reduce the car's weight to . The car is fitted with 19 inch Ruf-designed Superleggera wheels and

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and la ...

Pilot Sport Cup tires. Finally, the RGT is customized with interior trim of the customer's choice, including

Recaro Recaro Holding, as the parent company of the Recaro Group, owns the Recaro brand and the independently operating companies Recaro Aircraft Seating (aircraft seats) based in Schwäbisch Hall and Recaro eGaming (gaming seats) based in Stuttgart, Germ ...

seats and the deletion of unnecessary parts to save weight.

RGT-8

In 2010, an updated version of the 997 RGT, was unveiled at the

Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show is an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show is hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon is organised by th ...

. The car was powered by a completely new, Ruf-designed 4.5-litre

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...

with a 180° flat-plane crankshaft. It features four valves arranged spherically together with multipoint fuel injection which ensure optimal mixture conditions while the

dry sump A dry-sump system is a method to manage the lubricating motor oil in four-stroke and large two-stroke piston driven internal combustion engines. The dry-sump system uses two or more oil pumps and a separate oil reservoir, as opposed to a conve ...

oil system supplies the necessary lubrication. Ruf made the RGT-8 as light as possible by installing aluminum doors, an aluminum hood, a carbon fibre engine cover, and a carbon fibre rear spoiler. Like the flat-6 versions, the new RGT-8 also includes ceramic brakes, an integrated roll-cage, and 19-inch forged alloy wheels with

Pilot Sport Cup tires.

Specifications

(Data shown is for the

997 Year 997 (Roman numerals, CMXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 1 February: Empress Teishi gives birth to Princess Shushi - she is the first ...

RGT 3.8L model) *Weight: *Power: @ 7600 rpm *Torque: @ 5100 rpm *Specific output: approx. per litre *Power-to-weight ratio: approx. per horsepower **0-: 4.2 seconds **Top Speed:

Third generation (2012–present)

In 2012, the latest version of RGT-8 was unveiled at the

. However, this model is an all-new car based on

Porsche 991 The Porsche 991 is the internal designation for the seventh generation of the Porsche 911 sports car, which was unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show on 15 September as the replacement for the 997. The 991 was an entirely new platform, onl ...

rather than an update. As with the previous version, the new RGT-8 uses the same 4.5-litre V8 engine with power and torque output of at 8500 rpm and of torque at 4000 rpm. The top speed is . The cost of the RGT-8 is approximately €200,000, not including the price of the Porsche 991 donor car.

References

External links

* {{Ruf Cars powered by boxer engines RGT Cars introduced in 2000 Rear-engined cars Sports cars Coupés Cars introduced in 2005 Cars introduced in 2012