Limited edition £700,000 RUF CTR unveiled in Geneva

The first home-brewed RUF pays tribute to the model that helped it make its name

German tuning house RUF has been hotting-up Porsches for years, most notably the 911, but has never actually designed its own car. Until now. At the Geneva Motor Show, the company has revealed the all-new CTR – a car that looks uncannily like a classic-era Porsche 911 964.

Don’t be mistaken. It has an all-new carbonfibre bodyshell that’s been created entirely in-house. RUF has also designed a 700bhp twin-turbo version of the classic Porsche ‘Mezger’ flat-six engine which, when combined with a kerbweight of just 1200kg, ensures performance will be fearsome.

Indeed, It’s set to be faster even than the classic 1987 RUF CTR ‘Yellow Bird’, the car that inspired it and stunned the world by setting a 7.3sec 0-100mph time back in the 80s. To see that car in action, check out the film ‘Faszination at the Nurburgring’, to understand why RUF was so excited by it…

There aren’t any copyright issues facing this 911 tribute, either. Alois Ruf is company president and the son of its founder: he says Porsche has OK’d the car’s styling. And what lies beneath? A steel frame, and all-round double wishbone suspension using coil-over springs and dampers. Serious suspension.

The launch car is a manual, of which just 30 will be built: a dual-clutch automatic will follow later. For now, your left leg and left arm will be kept busy managing the hefty 649lb ft of torque being sent just to the rear wheels, and you may want to be particularly cautious when you hear the base price has been set at €750,000. That makes it even more expensive than an American Singer 911.

It doesn’t seem to be stopping people, though. 10 have already been ordered and a couple more were bought from the show stand at Geneva – and that’s before doors opened to the public, too. Perhaps they too were inspired by that classic Nurburgring film, and encouraged by the fact RUF is promising to take this car there too, so it can prove just how much faster it is…

Rob Adams is a writer for AutoCar.