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What you're looking at right now – the 2017 RUF CTR, which makes its debut at Geneva – is a radical departure for a company so closely tied to Porsche. Some past RUF creations have utilized more heavily modified Porsche chassis than others, including 2007's CTR3, which combined a Porsche front chassis with a custom rear subframe to make it a mid-engined car. But the 2017 CTR's non-Porsche chassis is new ground for the company.
The occasion is the 30th anniversary of the debut of the original CTR, the Yellowbird, which was a heavily reworked Porsche 911 Carrera with twin turbochargers. As we mentioned last week, its performance was superlative, slightly slower to 60 mph than a Porsche 959 but with a higher top speed, according to Car and Driver period test results. There's not necessarily much about the Yellowbird that informs the new CTR, other than twin-turbocharging and to demonstrate what the company can do.
The new CTR certainly sounds impressive. At its core is a carbon fiber monocoque structure, which is a RUF job. Attached to the monocoque are steel crash structures front and rear. The lightweight chassis allows the finished car to have a dry weight of 2,640 pounds – what the more commonly understood curb weight will be isn't clear. Unlike the CTR3, RUF claims the '17 CTR will be a rear-engine layout.
That engine is a 3.6-liter Porsche-derived flat-six, twin-turbocharged and making 700 horsepower and 649 pound-feet of torque. It is rear-drive only and exclusively uses a six-speed manual transmission. Its performance is suitably impressive: It takes 3.5 seconds for the CTR to hit 62 mph, and 9 seconds to hit 125 mph. Its top speed is 225 mph. Handling is provided by double-wishbone control arms actuating pushrod shock absorbers. The front brakes are six-piston fixed calipers; the rear are four-piston units.
The interior has its priorities straight for a low-production special aimed at true believers. It's explicitly analog and minimalist, and also lightweight. There's a lot of Alcantara and carbon fiber for weight savings, RUF says, and analog dial-type gauges for a classic look.
If you want one, you'd better already have a foot in the door. RUF's making only 30 of them. There's no word on US availability, or pricing, but limited-production cars like this tend to sell out right about the same time they're announced. To give you an idea of what to tell your accountant to prepare for, the CTR3 sold for right around a half-million dollars a decade ago, and we doubt this one will be any cheaper.
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__________________ "The guy in the CR-V meanwhile, he'll give you a haughty glare. He's responsibly trying to lessen his impact, but there you go lumbering past him with your loud V8, flouting the new reality. You may as well go do some donuts in a strawberry patch and slalom through a litter of kittens." Dan Frio, Automotive Editor, Edmunds
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