RUF car reviews...
 

Anyone driven one? Or know of any links to road tests? There is a member here who claims these cars suck :eek:

I've driven many of them (old and new) on the street and even more so on the track. There are VERY few cars that can touch them on the street. On the track they are a lot of fun and very impressive with sticky tires on them. If you can afford one, they are a huge improvement over a factory Porsche... and that's saying a lot since the factory 911 turbo is one incredible car!!!

Whoever told you these suck has never driven one!

I've driven an older Ruf. Hands down, the fastest car I've ever driven....by a longshot.

Re: RUF car reviews...
 

Let me guess
Winston or Catmando :crazy:

I dove one a while ago it was INSANE. Also took a ride in the passanger seat of a 959 and that made the Ruff look like it was slow. They are all amazing cars.

Jon

I've driven a GT2 but never a RUF and it impressed the **** out of me, not only acceleration the phenomenal handling, I can only imagine the RUF. 911's are awsome.

Jon,
They really are incredible cars. The 959's were also impressive. Many years ago I was fortunate enough to sit in the passenger seat of one with Hurley Haywood behind the wheel. Pretty f....... cool experience. The 959's were very advanced for their time (1984 if I remember correctly), but they can't be compared to today's Ruff or even the factory 911 turbo. The 959 had a very small engine (2.8L ?) vs todays 3.6L turbo. Either way the 959 was and is a landmark in automotive history.


Now if you want to talk about FAST Porsche's then the 935's where the cats meow... but that's another story.

Ya today I think even the Benz 55 will give it a run for its money and there are a lot of cars that will easily outperform it. Back then those numbers were unheard of. I can only imagine a ride around the track with Haywood driving!!! I took a ride around Sebring with a guy (can not remember what his name was) and I was ****ting myself the entire trip around. I was seriously SCARED!!! A good driver can really make a car go SO much farther then a guy like me. One of my favorite Porche time frames/race cars are the 910's-917's. They were just such a sexy car.

Jon

Audio? The SL55AMG? One sweet ride...On my must see list.

you mean ruf is to porsche as amg is to mercedes?

Jon,
I do some instructional driving for the PCA as well as some club racing. Every year they have a meeting for the instructors where they bring in some big name drivers to spend the day on the track with us to improve our own driving skills and instructional abilities. I've been really lucky to have had the opportunity to be in the car with some legendary drivers over the years. Haywood, Brian Redman, Skip Barber, and Derek Bell to name a few. I've also meet some of the other legendary Porsche endurance racers including Roger Penske, Jackie Ickx, and Paul Newman. In car instructional driving from these guys certainly has to be on the top of my most memorable experiences list.

I'm also really grateful for getting the opportunity to drive so many classic Porsche's including just about every 911 model, 934, 935, 906, 917, 956, 962... but never a GT1, maybe someday. ;)

The 917's are awesome cars. Unreal acceleration that can't even be described. I want to say the 917/30 was pushing out around 1500hp in a car that was under 1900 lbs. The things do 0-60 in just under 2 seconds and have a top speed of of around 240 mph. Absolutely insane power. I personally like the lines of the 956/962 series. While not as fast in a straight line, the 962's literally feel like they're glued to the road. It's absolutely amazing how well the tunnels work under these cars, you would never believe a car could create so many g's... and they are so sexy to see and hear in person.

You are 100% correct how much of a difference the driver can make in getting the most out of a car on the track. So many times I've seen guys with little track experience bring these BIG dollar performance cars to the track. I always get a laugh out of watching very good drivers pass these guys in their POS track cars. Two years ago I saw one of the Skip Barber instructors lap a F-40 (inexperienced driver) in his Neon at Lime Rock, I was LMAO! :D In all fairness the F-40 had street tires on it, but it was still hysterical.

You got it.

Jack,
Actually to the best of my knowledge Ruf has no connection to AMG.

Ruf is not only a tuner, but they are actually considered a manufacturer as well. Although they work with Porsche, they aren't tied to them in any way. Both Ruf and Porsche are privately owned companies.

AMG however is a division of Mercedes (publicly owned...). Porsche does do some subcontracting and R&D work for Mercedes, but neither Ruf nor Porsche is in any way tied to AMG/Mercedes.

Just trying to be constructive... :D

duh..I knew that, I was asking jack if he did?:D

AMG began like many standalone tuners, just re-doing customer cars. After they developed a reputation for doing a bangup job on the total package, Benz began to subcontract some tuning work on some factory specials.

Eventually, they were involved by M-B on the ground floor of some production cars, and finally M-B absorbed AMG into its corporate structure.

Ruf is (by choice I understand) a standalone tuner, but is of the highest caliber.

Does Koenig Motors still exsist ? They used to be top of the heap for Ferrari and Porsche back in the mid to late 80's...

My parents live about 10 Minutes from where RUF builds cars...it's sick when they take a car for a drive in the country....

Koenig would go way out with the color schemes, wings, and graphics. More of the rap star and pimp style accessorizing. Wasn't afraid to build some big hp into the cars, though.

the day o waste dmy buimme rat watkins tehre as a brand new ruf turbo runnign up there. SICK. sounded lieak jet engine. It was one of the nicest and best performning cars up there.

Its fast fora road car. But as race car its quick but not stupid fast by any means. MY buddy was runngin his 01 van dieman and it was no contest out cornered and just flat out walked away on the straights. BUT other than a GTR it was the only car that even came close to attempting hang with the formula car.

Back then? I guess you haven't seen the new ones. An SL55 outperforming a Ruf? Your kidding I'm sure but they can't be compared. The Ruf will blow the doors clean off of an SL55 or anything else you line up.

http://www.ruf-automobile.de/english/index1.htm

Cig,
Reread the thread... Jon is referring to the 1984-1985 Porsche 959, not the Ruf.

And no, the AMG is not even in the same class as the Ruf.:cool:

My mistake, my mistake. Thanks for the clairification. My bad.

I was like, no way! He can't be serious!

Puder,
Formula cars are a blast to drive! In all fairness to any street car, the formula cars are purpose built open-wheel race cars and really cant be compared... but they are a rush to drive. One of the best bangs for the buck in competitive racing. ;)

damn skippy!

yeha they can;t be compared but my buddy with the FC knows the guy who ran teh club event so he let him run the openwheel car with the "fast group" he lapped teh field after about 5 laps. So yeah it no comparison The rasoni brought irt up was becasue the guy with the RUF though he coudl try to keep up with the FC. In fact he even tried to block him a few times while being passed. It was kind of foney he though it was some kind of race, everyone else realized it was simply a demonstration of the dominance of an open wheel purpose biult race car :D

For a while I worked at a High end car dealership. We had a 2001 twin turbo "911." Black on black, limo tinting on the windows, even the windshield has some tinting. It was a wicked fast car. Right after driving it, I took a 2000 Viper out for comparison. Vipers are very quick, but demand your total attention just to drive down the street. They seem to want to jump 6" sideways when you run over a dime. The RUF on the other hand was a delight to drive casually, and awesome to drive hard.

years ago i drove a all sheet metal interior roll caged 930 with lots of motor work done and the guy also had a gumballa (spelling?) porche that he had spent around 100k on the motor and he had a new viper and after you got out of the viper and into the 930 the viper seemed like a work truck and then you got into the gumballa and the 930 seemed like a work truck. we were going down I44 outside of tulsa ok and if you floored it at 130 it would not do much for a couple seconds then the turbos would build up and the tires would break loose. And yes the guy is in prison now for getting caught with 800 lbs of cocaine. wish i had been working on the car when he got caught, maybe i could have used it till he got out.

Sounds like he'll be tied up for a long time.:eek:

I know two gentlemen in Chicago that may be able to spring him. :D:D:D

Ever hear of the "yellow bird"? You can still buy them from Ruf. To the best of my knowledge since AMG has been absorbed by Mercedes, they are not offering the fire-breathing monsters they built in the past. And although AMG's are fast cars (with some suspension and brake work as well), they just aren't designed to go head to head with the Ruf products on the back-roads/race tracks. But since you've owned both, I'm sure you know that.:rolleyes:

I have a video here of a yellow 1994 Ruff Porsche Turbo doing lap at the Nurburgring in Germany (a track used for Formula 1 till 1976-about 14 miles long). I think Derek Bell is driving it is unbelievable. four wheel drifts in carousel corners and the thing just torques to all hell spinning tires while drifting and powering out of corners. Everyone that has seen that video start breathing only after his lap is done.

I have never seen a road car with that kind of power, responsiveness and handling. Ruff's are hard to beat.

Found it on the net you will have a bird.... It's two of them wotrth the download!!!

First portion;
http://www.polarisuk.com/video/auto/...burgring-1.wmv

Second :
http://www.polarisuk.com/video/auto/...burgring-2.wmv

Let me know!!!

Now that is driving, There is no substitute!

In the video you see the guy is wearing penny loafers driving like that !!!

cool vids. i think he'd be faster if he was little smoother. damn good car control but its seems he is have to make serious corrections everytime he turns the car instead of making a good turn in and making minor corrections. But then again that car might just be a serious handful.

cash what do you think?

:D :D :D

The Nurburgring is now a track anyone can get on, they charge so much per lap and you can go nuts with whatever vehicule you have. If you notice in the first video at about 5:30 he slows down because someone wipe themselves out on a bike and they are picking him up with an ambulance you see it clearer on the video.

Original RUF cars are built from Porsche parts- starting with a complete bare body shell, with no undercoating, paint etc. The RUF built cars are titled as a Ruf, not a Porsche, and do not come with the Porsche badges.

I read an article back when Ruf was building the prototype CTR which was being tested while in dark green primer, and had NATO stenciled on the doors.

The AMG comparison is that AMG was also once an independent builder.

There were also the Kremer cars which were race cars as well as road cars. A Kremer K3 935 won LeMans outright in 1979, I think. That is a 24 hour race with the car spending much of the time WFO. The last 935's were 2.8 liter (about 175 cubes) and made about 780 HP. Copeland had a K3, don't know if he still does.

The supplier of carbon fiber/ Kevlar body parts to Kremer also built cars- DP (Designs in Plastic). They had a beautiful slope nose front end and could be done with an off-road setup that widened the rear about 4 inches beyond stock 930 Turbo flares, and could run 335 rear tires.

I had a 1984 triple black 930 Turbo Porsche that was modified to about 450 HP (weight: 2800 lbs). The performance was unreal. It would pull from 80 to 140 in third faster than you could read off the numbers. Never found out about fourth, but by the gear ration/rpm charts 180 was attainable.

cash i've never driven one of the older porsches. Well i've driven one but never really pushed it. They are really that squirelly on the edge?

The new ones (993) are pretty good i find. The 996 handles great but feel like a damn lexus, no feedback.

and teh no safety gear thign is insane!!!!!!

did someone say kremer my dads friend from those fantastic 80's had one, here is a picture of one that i found that looks like it but his friend had diffrent wheels (gotti wheels were the ones he had) all i can say was the car was extremly fast and also his favorite...by the way he had ferarris,dp porsches,935"s but this was his fav...

Puder,
I just watched the videos... pretty cool! Whoever is behind the wheel has some talent. The video was clearly made to be entertaining and smooth and fast doesn't make for great entertainment. That guy behind the wheel hit all of his marks and keep in mind what he was driving... that's a narrow bodied 911 with some serious power (CTR turbo?). Incredibly difficult to drive at the limits! Serious over-steer with big turbo power and lag...

1990 and new 911 have power assisted steering. They had to go this route because the cars were getting to heavy while the tires/rims were getting wider. The power steering and increased weight really changed the feel of the 911. The 964 had some rear suspension changes and the 993 was a total redesign of the rear suspension (which is still in use under the 996). While these improvements where mostly a good thing, the changes have taken alot of the 'fun' out of the 911. The newer driver-friendly versions took most of the old-school challenge out of pushing a 911 to the limits. 911's are a real handful, but in a good way. They require a lot of driver input (as you can see in the videos) and some damn good driving skills to keep the hood pointing in the proper direction. The real beauty of the older 911's is the feel they transmit to the driver, much like FC's.

The narrow 911's (late 60's-mid 70's)with a few suspension mods are some BIG fun on the track with their lack of flares and skinny rear tires. While they're not that fast, they feel like a giant go-cart. The SC's of the late 70's and early 80's are faster and are still a lot of fun with a few suspension mods. By the the end of the 80's, the 911 was getting heavy and you know what that means.

The 964's (early 90's) were even more refined than the 911 of the late 80's. A lot of improvements, but again the feel of the car continued to be diluted. The 993 was by far the best of the air cooled 911's, but the 993 had mostly transformed the 911 into a touring/GT car. Although I still haven't warmed up to the 996, it's a better car than the air cooled model in just about ever respect... It just doesn't have the feel and heart of the old car IMHO.

The turbos (930's) are a whole nother ball game. They have slightly revised suspension geometry and as you know, larger flares/wheels/tires. The turbo power compounds the wicked over-steer of the 911 by adding more weight over the rear, more power, and big time turbo lag. VERY tricky to drive at the limit (narrow bodied turbos like the yellow Ruf are even more hairy). I often tell students that if you can master driving a 930, you can drive ANYTHING at the limit. The turbos had many changes over the years and many were a double edged sword. The power output went up while the cars got more refined and heavier to the point they didn't feel like the street legal race cars that they once were.

You must get your butt in an older 911 on the track, they are SO much fun. Try to find someone with tricked-out 70-84 911 that will let you take it out for a couple of laps, you'll be looking for another toy. ;)

I thought that guy was going to lose it several times. Whew!

We have had 2 914's, 3 911 Targas, 1 928, 1 964, a 993 (mine) and picked up a 996 cab last Summer.

The 914's were fun, pretty under powered though.

The 911's were quick and did indeed give great feel to the driver.

The 928 was very powerful. Sluggish on handling because of the weight.

The 964 was a nice improvement but seemed more like mainly body styling changes to the 911. Quicker and more responsive though.

The 993 runs like hell in any condition.

The 996 has a smoother clutch (which I cant get used to.) It is, like Puder said, more luxury oriented that the previous models. It still hauls ass and rips the turns but I miss the rugged style of the pre 1998 models.

I am anxiously awaiting the 997's debut.

haha no more toys!!! i just bought a 90 euroswift for ****s and giggles, i can fix wrecks on it myself without goign to a body shop :D

so what kind of instructor are you? do you run withthe scca at all?

Your going to have fun with the swift. They're cheap to run and as you said, also easy to fix. I use to have a VD that I ran in formula ford. Good times and low dollar racing. I haven't done much with SCCA over the past couple of years, but they are a great group. I've been cutting down on my track time more and more every year (not by choice!) and now I'm down to only running with the PCA. Although I still have a couple of track cars (GT2 and 911), I think my competitive racing days may be over this year. I just dont have the time it takes to put into it (and I'm sure you know what it takes). In all honesty, I think I'm starting to enjoy the club events (unofficial racing) a little more since it's more relaxed and unstructured. As far as instructing goes, I do it for PCA. They have what they call their "drivers ed" program (for insurance purposes :D). It's well organized and they have tons of events all across the country, probably more so than any other club. I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of great people, run with some top notch racers, and drive some serious hardware with PCA. Only had two scary instances with students driving, the first was when a student froze up and decided to by-pass the bus stop at the Glen, never even lifted... and the other was a woman that decides that being on the track in her husband's 993 turbo was to scary so she stopped the car in the middle of the track after the up hill at Lime Rock and cried her azz off... thank god for the flagers!:D Needless to say I don't take green students out any more. :D