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Regardinig Ruf CTRs and flares, as well as the rear fender vents-or lack of.... and Ruf body parts. In the early-mid 90s I spent silly piles of money and time building what would be as close as possible to a California legal CTR. In a nutshell, there was no way, with the technoligy available in the early 90s, to duplicate one. I have first hand experience here so, here goes.
1- ALL authentic CTRs have, as a basic component, Ruf CTR flares. These are exactly 1" wider than SC/Carrera flares. To use these, you have to either expensively modify your existing rockers or purchase the specific CTR rockers [had I to do again, it would be cheaper to buy the expensive Ruf parts]. The rear bumper is also different for a genuine CTR and the parts made in USA are for SC/Carrera flares. This 1" difference makes a much much bigger difference on fitting components than you may think. The funny part is that the differnce is very subtle and unless you are parked very close to a stock SC/Carrera few people will notice. I cannot tell you how many times I had guys at Porsche specific events study my car and comment that they did not realize that Ruf 10x17s would fit under stock Carrera flares......
2-CTR rear bumper/side panels: The CTR used twin turbos and elegantly mounted the 'chargers on the sides of the engine and ran the air straight into the intercoolers which were, indeed, fitted into large openings on each side of the engine compartment It made the engine compartment wonderfully clean and easy to work on.
The first version of the CTR had the aero ducting above the rear flares[I think ugly] to get air moving through the side intercoolers. The later design used those extra vents on the "bumper" panels to suck air out and give adequate flow through the intercoolers. Buyers could order their cars as desired throughout production.
The bottom center vents helped evacuate air out from the under/rear of the car and was common to all CTRs. These were first seen on the Porsche factory prototype 930 in 1974.
If you look carefully, you will notice that the factory CTR front end has a rubber lip firmly attached to the bottom. You could optionally use factory fog lights/grilles/or the taped round duct for front brake cooling. The rubber lip made condiderable differene at serious speeds. None of the replica front ends have provision for this. I have had discussion with a notable supplier but it is felt that most buyers are after "the look" and do not want to pay extra for the genuine aero superiority
Also, Ruf used the stock Carrera rear engine lid. It was far cleaner and neater AND provided less drag- but at a loss of 100lb of downforce compared to a Factory 930 tail. If you look at the side profile of a CTR compared to a Factory 930, you will probably agree that the CTR has a much cleaner and aero look. The bulge for the intercooler and the built up rubber side stakes on the 930 rear adds considerable bulk to the back end. As the intercoolers were on the sides of the engine compartment, there was no need for the extra bulk. If you look...really... carefully you may notice that the CTR had a slight forward rake at speed. This probably helped that smaller tail to provide a bit more rear downforce. Either way it definitely made the cars look great.
The CTRs top speed secrets? Excellent and well thought out aerodynamics, low frontal area [look how big that piggish 959 is by comparison!!], and last,.... but certainly not least.... Herr Ruf very definitely understates his HP figures. Last, no one has noticed the CTR mirrors and the very suble shaving of the rain gutters? [You have to have a well integrated roll cage if you do this!] Both make a differnce to drag and reduce frontal area. He also supplies small inserts that can be glued into the front of existing rain gutters to help lower drag. These are straight copies of 935 bits.
If you think that these low drag pieces do not make *that* much difference you are incorrect. I have had the opportunity to try a variety of 930s at higher speeds. The REAL difference comes in starting at about 140. At 150, the difference is just astounding. FYI- a factory 930 with all the stock body parts becomes noticeably slowed by all the drag at about 140. Up to this point they go pretty well. A narrow body 930 [yes, they are rare but they actually exist] using SC/Carrera body as a base is noticeably slowed at about 150-160. The Ruf... It was really a matter of running out of RPMs, coming up on traffic [you would be shocked at how quickly this happens when you nail it a high speeds on a flat terrain with absolutely no visible traffic], or just running out of nerve.... Another subject we know little of here is that there are still no tires that withstand a constant speed over 200. People running the Nevada open road races can attest to this. Tire blow outs are the constant fear.
The authentic CTR pieces vs the present aftermarket. The Ruf parts are very high quality pieces. A close inspection of these compared to your aftermarket items is revealing. The Ruf pieces fit almost 100% perfectly. The quality of the glass, the fitment inside for the alll of the different light fixtures is well designed and substancial...and definitely time consuming to make. None of the aftermarket pieces is anywhere near the quality/detail work/robustness. [I presently have examples of the aftermarket pieces and they look nice but are not even in the same catagory as far as quality. Think Fiat vs Porsche.]
The genuine Ruf CTR is a definite animal. It is a barely steetable race car. It is NOT a comfy crusing machine. It is intended for one purpose only, to be as fast and responsive as possible. It still has performance levels that would worry the very best preening new supercars. I would own one in a second if I could figure out how to legally drive on on the streets here in California. [And don't bother with suggestions. Every option has been looked at- repeatedly- over the years. I am aware of how to get one here and registered... but there is no ...legal.... way one would be able to drive it, in its intended configuration on the streets here.]
BTW: You sometimes find beautiful examples of these cars appear in Europe for between $85-160k US. The big reason for the price variation is that 50% were built from bodies-in-white and have entirely Ruf vin numbers and the other 50% were built from existing SC/Carreras after the Factory ran out of bare chassis to supply and have Porsche vins with suplemental Ruf vins. People with big money want the all-Ruf cars. People like me don't give and damn and would just love the all Ruf bear of a perfromance car!
Even the replica bits make the cars look much nicer and cleaner. Don't stop playing with them!
Godspeed all
John Rice
356 Speedster/911 total bastard hot rod
73 RS/74 RSR ex-racer-still in race trim...bastard too
74 Carrera-not ruined yet [uhh, probably because I don't have it yet!]
79 930 Fact. Lt.weight Swiss/Euro Hillclimb champ when new. Street car.
new Audi allroad = MY opinion of the Cayenne
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