RUF Yellowbird

[MJHanna]

This is from Hans At the Ruf Center in Dallas

"The original RUF Yellowbird has arrived on US Soil and will be for a limited time on Display with us at RUF Auto Centre,an open Invitation goes out to anyone that wants to come visit and
sit in this Record breaking Car and take pictures !"

[Slider79SC]

Did he say how long it will be here? I am going to Dallas athe the end of June.....

[ZAMIRZ]

Slider, you can call them and ask 214-269-1570

or email: info@rufautocentre.com

[Rick Ilcisko]

If anyone does make it to take pictures, please post them for the rest of us to enjoy. I love that car!!!!

[Weaver]

This is not the original CTR, but if y'all wanted some pics and did not see these before, I took these back in 1991.

Sharing some photos of a CTR

[jmz]

Hey Mark and any of the Dallas Pelicans, Where is the Ruf centre? Which part of Dallas?

[CindyDuck]

Sounds like a road trip, it's only 1500 miles We need lots of pics of her A$$.
Mike

[Wil Ferch]

somebody.....SOMEBODY....please take pics of the underside spoiler that runs under the car right ahead of the rear axle....

The RUF home office and others have not been forthcoming in showing or giving data on this detail....

Wil

[sagacis]

I'm planning to go there tomorrow at lunchtime with my digital camera. Any other request areas?

[Walko]

Mark,

can you try and get a hep of photos of the engine bay ie inter coolers and associated both topside and underneath

Thanks

Michael

[sagacis]

I will certainly try. I don't know if they will let me, but it never hurts to ask, eh?

[Icemaster]

If anyone finds out how long it's gonna be there, please post. Got a trip to D scheduled, I'll move it up for this....

[Walko]

Mark

Thanks

Michael

[NoLift911]

Some closeups of how they mount those mirrors would be nice too...

[89911]

Would someone please steal it, strip it, and send me the parts. Thanks, I'll owe you one.

[Slider79SC]

Just got an Email back from them, it is going to be in Dallas until the 20th of June (dang! my trip is on the 27th) and then they are going to send it to the 50th anniversary PCA parade.

Take some pics of the underneath side. The ground affects on the rear is quit sought after.....

[sagacis]

Yesterday for lunch, I visited the Ruf facility here in Dallas to get a look at the CTR-1. The Yellowbird is the reason I decided (at the age of 15) that I was going to own a Porsche. Before that, I was in love with the 930 (beautiful curvaceous hips!), but the Yellowbird is what took me in.

The Ruf facility is near the Addison (executive) airport, near many other exotic and non-exotic car companies. I think that industrial area is home to more used sports and luxury car companies than anywhere else in the Metroplex. The facility shares a building with another manufacturing company, but I couldn’t tell what they made (I was distracted by the Porsches, I guess).

I walked in and saw the CTR-1 sitting right in the front of the showroom. I’m not normally one to get giddy or nervous about meeting famous people, but I was quite excited about seeing this car in person. As I approached the car, Wayne introduced himself. Very nice and open guy. I chatted with him about the history of the car and the famous Road & Track article. I asked if I cold take some pictures, and he said, “Sure. You can even sit in it.”

I was allowed to take as many pics as I wanted (there was nobody else around at first). I thought I was getting descriptive pictures of interesting areas, but after I got the images onto the computer, I saw a lot of the detail was missing. I may have to go back and get some more. ;-) Also, I have most of these pictures in 5 megapixel format, but I’m uploading smaller sizes. PM me if you want to get the high-res.

I realized just now that I was asked to get more detail about the mirror mounting. Looks like I have an excuse to go back, eh?



I always thought the hip-scoop was a cool idea. Turns out the high-pressure area of the engine compartment made the hip scoops pretty much useless as the air was pushed forward while the car was driving. That’s why all other Rufs have bumper vents instead.



Those vents lead (visibly) to an intercooler on each side:




The intercooler/plumbing is identical on both sides. Each intercooler is fed by a turbo on each side. Here’s the engine compartment:



Shots of the bottom were difficult because the car is so low to the ground. I basically just stuck my hand under it with the camera laying on the ground and started taking pictures. In the little viewfinder window, I wasn’t able to see if I was getting any useful detail. When I go back, I can try to aim for more specific areas.





I don’t know what this is a picture off exactly. This was a totally blind shot. I think it’s turbo output side, maybe?



I also took some pics of the front underside. There seems to have been no special treatment to the bottom of this car.





...

[sagacis]

The interior was pretty standard race-ready. Sparco seats, Ruf leather steering wheel, standard dash, full cage. 106K miles. As you can see from the pictures, this is considered a working car. No special detailing was done. The car will probably not be driven while it is here.

While I was crawling around the car, one of Wayne’s friends came in and asked to see projects in progress, so we all three went to the back area to see what was going on. I don’t think I captured everything, but here’s some flavor. Six cars were in the shop when I was there. Hans drives a 944 race car that Bob (tech) was working on. A 997 was sitting, waiting service. BTW, Ruf does regular service for regular Porsches, too. He said they are less than the local dealerships, so if anybody local wants pro service, you could claim a Ruf maintained car. A Cayenne Turbo was on the lift getting a conversion package done. If you see a Boxter with a Rof bumpers, be careful racing it. A 3.6 L 340-hp 911 engine is shoehorned in here:



This will get the full Ruf package for a famous rock star:




Looking back at previous posts in this thread, Wil Ferch requested pictures of the bottom spoiler. I didn’t see a spoiler or anything that was out of the ordinary under there. When I go back, I’ll try to get a better view.

89911, I tried to strip the car and shove the pieces in my pockets, but the fenders wouldn’t fit. Actually, I was asked to empty my pockets before setting in the car to avoid inadvertently scratching anything. I avoided making vrooming sounds while sitting in the cockpit.

When I was leaving, the Slipstream (Maverick Region PCA newsletter) guys were talking with Hans, so look for an article forthcoming. I encourage anybody in the area to drop by and say hi. I really enjoyed my brief visit.
--sagacis

[jpahemi]

If you look at the underside of the CTR showing the front torsion(a-arm) area; you see a grease fitting. I guess they're using poly-bronze.
j.p.

[Wil Ferch]

JP beat me to the punch on the grease fitting...find out what they'te using.

Also...contrary to common convention, they're allowing the front A-arms to droop down toward the inside pivot point... a definite no-no. Arm should be flat (horizintal) to ground or tipped downward toward outer ball joint.....Hmmmmm ??!!?? ......

Would still like a shot of the underside chassis just in front of the trans..where there's supposed to be a "special" undercar spoiler lip ahead of the rear axle....

Wil