[Revvmaster]

Every now and then we come across a car that defies logic, that seems to throw the laws of physics out of the textbook and into the realms of unrealistic proportions. We all want to be supermen and to achieve this status a car of superhuman effort justifies our "to be" image. We want to push ourselves beyond our limits. At all times.

One car has done this for the last 41 years. And it continues to do so in its traditional way. The Porsche 911.

Nobody does better work on the 911 than RUF. And why? Here's why:

History

RUF was setup in 1939 when Alois Ruf Senior, the founder of the company, started off with a general service garage in Pfaffenhausen, South Germany. Soon the war started and the company had to lie low due to the tough times that World War II set on the country.

However, post war rehabilitation geared up soon. And by 1949 the company was back on its two feet by adding a gas station to its infrastructure. In 1955, Alois Sr. decided to give a shot at making buses. And work it did. Soon the initial orders paved the way for a bus company. Alois didn't stop there. He even tried to build an economy car, ala VW Beetle and it worked very well in South Germany.

If that was not enough, he added a Fiat dealership and a BMW dealership to his line of businesses and became one of the well known individuals in South Germany. However, his son wasn't content with economy cars and buses. What he wanted was a sports car that defied all senses.

His own apprenticeship at his father's garages on Porsches made him a fan of the marque. His first meeting with Porsches happened when he started restoring 356s in 1963. The air-cooled cars captivated him so much so that he decided to start a division for restoring, building and modifying Porsches. His inherent understanding of the Porsche 911 and its characteristics made it the benchmark over which all future development occured.

The first RUF porsche was developed in 1977 when a 3.0 litre engine was bored to 3.3 to produce 217 bhp. Though far less than the standar car's hp production, it went well with the enthusiasts who came across it and proclaimed it to be a natural handler. In 1981, realising Porsche Turbo's weakness of a 4 speed gearbox, it developed a 5 speed gearbox for the car. The very same year they received the coveted Manufacturer's title from the German Vehicle Federation Office and proclaimed its status as a "manufacturer".

From there onwards, RUF has done everything, from building a 911 in 1987 that was faster than the 959 doing a 342 kmph on the Nardo circuit! To developing the 3400 S boxster with 310 bhp in 1999 to the R turbo with upto 590 hp in 2001.

RUF in all cases has built cars that not only defy logic but maintain the same classic lines of the 911s making them very hard to distinguish them as modified RUFs at times. The cars were built to the truest Porsche tradition of balance before power. RUFs are so popular that they have been well received in countries like United States, Brazil and even some middle-east countries. And the best person to vouch for their quality was Ferry Porsche who also owned a couple of RUFs!

Revvmaster

P.S. Post will be updated from time to time. Stay tuned.

[Stratos]

Always... heard and read abt RUF.. being a mad mad tuner !! Gr8 choice dude...he deserves it!!

[Revvmaster]

GTO's contribution to the post

RUF Factory tour

Pics and some facts from the factory



This particular car is a season 2002 GT3 which has been heavily modified by RUF for their personal use as well as for benchmarking.



The flat nose or the shark-nose Porsche as they were lovingly called were built for a short period of time for exclusive orders by Porsche. If my history says correct, it was for the 84-87 period. This was in response to specialists like the mad designer of Europe, Rinspeed who'd developed such kits and did quite well.





Though the car isn't on the dyno, there is good news for us Mumbaiites. The Andheri RTO currently is in the process of ordering three dynos for the city, apparently to certify vehicles for fitness tests. Would love to see some of the desi "rice" cars get dynoed here as well.

Revvmaster

[Domnic]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]The Andheri RTO currently is in the process of ordering three dynos for the city, apparently to certify vehicles for fitness tests.

WOW,
A 2 wheel Dyno costs 20 lakhs (Without duties and shipping), a 4wd Dyno 36 lakhs. But why do the RTO's need them .

Cheers
Dom

[Revvmaster]

Well Dom, as i mentioned before about the vehicle fitness tests, come 2005 and all cars in Maharashtra state (atleast) will have to get a vehicle fitness test done once every year. This is ideally to keep the polluting and non-maintained vehicles off the road.

The Government is proposing something like they did for commercial vehicles, a road life of not more than 15 years.

Revvmaster

[Revvmaster]

The man himself, Alois Ruf



Revv

[shravan316]

Great write up revv.... had heard of the RUF's a couple of times earlier, but, didn't know much about 'em, until now!!
Nice pics too!