Its cars may look like the past, but a peek on the skin of the Rüf and you will see it – seeing a man always looks forward.
Alois Rüf JR. The first fully restarted model for the company in 1977, which is 911 Turbo with a pierced motor for Bahn-Ending. Then came five speeds at home to treat Achille Turbo heels. After that, this famous test of Road & Track magazine, when Rüf exceeded 300 km per hour-with the introduction of the likesii, lamborghini and Porsche themselves-and entered history books.
But this is the story of the original only.
In 2000s, Roof He realized the opportunity to separate from building his cars on the bodies of Porsche in white. He saw an opportunity to build vehicles that borrowed the language of Stuttgart design, but it was fully original under the skin.
In a wide conversation with Alois Rüf JR. , We covered that first moment in Rüf freight, early brand experiences in complex structures (and even EVS, and what the future holds for the most popular family manufacturer in Germany.
The following is a question and answer between Alois Rüf and Motor1, which was lightly edited for clarity, organization and continuity.
The initial model RUF CTR Yellowbird
Photo by: Rove
Kyle Kenard, Motor 1: This first magazine test was placed in 1984 Rüf on the map with 300 km per hour, even before Yellowbird returns and exports 200 miles per hour. Tell me a little about this test, what did the company do?
Alois Rüf Jr. , Rüf Automobile: The car led to the test myself, and brought additional tires installed on wheels with me. They had inside the car. I could not get a passenger because I was filled with these two wheels. These tires were Donloop.
Dunlop had test equipment to ensure that it would work more than 300 km per hour. Because in 1984, there was no tire factory that guarantees this speed. It was the most difficult thing at that time; The sound barrier was 300 km.
Dunlop tires shaved tires until they had a lower centrifugal power with the profile. They were on the cylinder for more than two hours, and they did not face a problem.
Motor1: So it appeared in your own car with its own frames. When I got there, it wasn’t the only car in the test, right?
Rove: While I drove my car to the top, the other company that came with two young men, a young couple came, that was from the Porsche Press Department. They brought Turbo 930, and they were not aware of the type of important event that was clear.
Their car achieved 254 km per hour, so there was a big difference – more than 50 km of difference.
Photo by: Rove
Motor1: But your car was not just a workshop, right? Everyone’s dust.
Rove: Ferrari denied coming because they were between 512 BB and Testarossa, and this is my speculation. So the Ferrari club president in Germany brought his 512 -year -old version, BB, and that car was working well. I did 284 km per hour, then there was Valentino Balmononi from Lamborghini. He brought the contour, did 277, and so these numbers were.
Motor1: So she beat everyone, put 50 km per hour on a car made from Porsche.
Rove: Yes, this was the first event, and this was really on the map, especially in the English -speaking part of the world.
Motor1: I wanted to address the concept because your cars continued to break the barriers once … but I do not think that younger readers understand how important the maximum speed of lovers per day. Why was that?
Rove: Well, I think the high speed at that time was important because the Americans, especially, come from a country with very speed restrictions with the maximum speed of 55 miles per hour at the time, which happened after the energy crisis.
It is a wide place with such long distances, and you have this type of speed. Of course, it has been diluted now, and everyone runs between 70 to 80 miles per hour, which is much better, of course. But people love fast cars and love the potential of fasting.
Photo by: Rove
So, if you want to call it times when alcohol cannot be used, what is called the ban in America, and suddenly everyone was chanting the best types of wine and the best whiskey, do you know?
Motor1: As an American, this is completely logical.
But let’s jump forward, because you achieved all this success with Yellowbird, but at some point, you separated from building cars on the bodies of Porsche and started from scratch. Why do you do it?
Rove: First, I must explain that since 1981, we are complete cars manufacturers … and very few, we have become more and more than our independent manufacturer, and a dedicated factory. When CTR3 happened, it was the first car to receive our own silhouette.
But the car platform and the nose of the car were still 997. We used the nose of 997 to the accredited crash. Then from the center of the car, our tube fir grew, which is the bird cage frame, which was fully carried the backfire in the back and the new rear axis. So this came CTR3.
Motor1: But now you build original cars from A to Z, without Porsche parts.
Rove: And now with the anniversary of the CTR we did for Yellowbird after 35 years, this was the car that had a completely new structure. Although it looks again like the Porsche 911 at first glance, that car is from A to Z with completely new bones. New axes, new comment, dual collarbone, sub -frame frame, sub -frame of rear metals, roll cute.
Above the entire car, the skin and carbon go, and the most important part is monocoque in the carbon. This is the first carbon car, yes, a 911 -shaped car. The design is different.
In every corner of the car, you find different designs. You can’t replace anything with another part of Porsche because it is all we have.
Motor1: Was there a conversation at all about the deviation of the classic Porsche shape, as you eventually have the ability to build a full carbon from zero? Or is this shape intertwined with Rüf, should always look like 911 classic?
Rove: I just said it in the last phrase. You should always look like the original 911, but it can be updated.
Photo by: Rove
When you look at our car and strike someone, you see the third brake light, the way it was built in Rüf, you know it is a modern car. Because these are modern car accents, and you will see that if you look at the rear lights, the rear lights have greater, they have all the LED elements in them.
You know this is not retrospective and this is not old, it’s a new thing. But the beauty of the original Figure 911 has been preserved and will remain there. We stay in this way. This car is good forever.
Motor1: When searching for archives, while you are developing vehicles and technology for this CTR3, I also found something interesting. Rüf was built, perhaps the first EV performance in 2008!
Rove: Yes, I hope at that time anyone who does not use the word EV, but we were hostile to the foreground, if you want to say that.
We were not enthusiastic like the auto industry today, because there is a lot of policy in that game. At that time, we wanted to do EV because I am also in the photo world, and we have three power plants. They all work with water energy. A friend of California came to visit him – an electric engineer – we were talking about dinner and said: “Will it be great if we could have a car that graduates from this power plant and then running on the road?”
Then he convinced me that it could be done, then we made a proof. We built a car with 80.0 kilowatt hours of energy, and we were running at an altitude of 350 km in a radius. This was very good. This was driven in Los Angeles, the first first model. As traffic was stopped in Los Angeles, I worked very well because we were recovering well.
But when the car brings to Germany on Autobahn and you have to drive your car to Munich, and you want to drive it like Porsche or like Rüf, you will not reach Munich.
So I knew about restrictions, a law written by natural sciences that become better and better batteries. I understand it, and they will become better.
But personally I think that as long as it does not grow on a tree, it will be difficult to continue to build these batteries for all cars in the world.
Motor1: So we should not expect Rüf EV?
Rove: It was just an idea. It was an experience, it was an experience for us, and I do not want to miss it.
Motor1: What do you see the future of Rüf for the next contract? What are the challenges that you will overcome?
Rove: I have no concern. We remain thermal dynamic, and we will continue to. This is what our customers want, and when the world goes more
Electric and more electrical, there will always be a small place for us.
Since we are a small -sized manufacturer, we can still build thermal dynamic engines and combustion engines.
I also believe in the concept of the new fuel that I started with its incense. I think artificial fuel is a good way to go to the future.
Motor1: Did you run any of this on your cars only for the test?
Rove: Our. We even traveled in Loman to test the director of the director. We ran with artificial fuel. Yes, everything passed in flying colors. There, it was not different from running everything traditionally.
Motor1: I read you are expanding to create something like 30 or 35 cars annually. Does this keep you in a safe pocket as a smaller manufacturer, as you sell enough to overcome the current legislative discomfort, but it is small enough to avoid the most stringent emissions laws?
Rove: Yes. Unless the whole world decreases upside down (laughs), I hope this will not happen.
When you come to Germany, give us a visit. We will show you about the future of Rove.
