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234 mph £330,000 Ruf CTR 3

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Calling Alois Ruf a 'car tuner" in petrolhead circles is akin to saying a diamond is just crystallised carbon. The man who has perfected the transformation of standard Porsches into thoroughbred road racers is venerated by enthusiasts as a deity.

Driving his latest creation, the CTR 3, I can see what all the fuss is about. A small part of my brain wonders if this matt grey, stealth fighter of a car could ghost through Germany's speed "” sorry, safety "” cameras at a velocity that would fry the radar's circuitry.

Since 1975, Ruf's family business, Ruf Automobile, has dissected Porsches in the quest to build the perfect sports car. Once reassembled, they look similar on the surface, but underneath they are so different that Germany's TUV authority (Technischer àœberwachungs-Verein, or technical monitoring association) judges them to be models in their own right.

Like the demands of his customers, Ruf's ambition is rarely satisfied. The CTR 3 is his first homegrown supercar, a machine capable of outgunning and outrunning anything Porsche could sell you. Or, for that matter, anything from Aston Martin, Ferrari or Lamborghini.

It costs £330,000. That may be beyond the dreams of mere mortals, but considering the performance, the 234mph CTR 3 is good value. The Porsche Carrera GT, now no longer made, also cost £330,000 but managed only 205mph. As for the Ferrari Enzo, also no longer made, at 217mph it runs Ruf's machine closer for bragging rights, yet cost substantially more "” £425,000. Today, low-mileage examples of both sell for £100,000 or more over their list price.

After musing over the concept for several years, it took Ruf just 12 months to create the awe-inspiring sight that greeted us at his sprawling factory in the fairytale-named village of Pfaffenhausen.

It's hard to avoid being impressed by the shape of the car; it looks like a modern-day homage to the Le Mans GT1 race cars of the mid to late 1990s. Dissect the shape, though, and the faint silhouette of a Porsche 911 Turbo's front end, albeit dressed with Ruf's expensive carbon fibre bodywork, becomes apparent "” making this one of the most expensive cut-and-shut jobs on the market.

That's because using the front structure of Porsche's own flagship neatly sidesteps crash-testing requirements, saving Ruf the emotional and financial pain of hurling a £330,000 mid-engine supercar into a wall. From the doors back, though, it's a whole new car, with a tubular steel chassis combined with carbon Kevlar.

The swept-back tail is adorned with more cooling vents than a power station, but affords zero rear visibility. Technology comes to the rescue, in the guise of a reversing camera with a monitor set in the dashboard. That may help when parking but it's of no use when you're gunning the CTR 3 down the autobahn. A good job, then, that so rapid is Ruf's flagship, that nothing this side of a Bugatti Veyron will be flashing its headlamps to overtake.

Like the jutting chin spoiler, the towering tail fin "” which rises automatically "” is there to keep the car planted to the road at maximum speed. From a standstill, the rear-wheel-drive machine will hammer through to 62mph in 3.2sec. Then it's just a case of pulling on the lever for the six-speed sequential manual transmission and clinging on for dear life; beyond 4000rpm, the two turbos bolted to the 3.8 litre six-cylinder engine kick into life with a vengeance and the world blurs by outside.

Change gear again and a curious thing happens. As you lift off the throttle pedal, the engine emits a giant sneeze. It's the turbos releasing their compressed air and it would turn boy racers the world over green with envy: not only does the CTR 3 go fast, it sounds fast.

Ruf's strict policy of weight saving is part of the reason. Tipping the scales at just 3,240lb "” due largely to the carbon fibre construction "” it feels light on its feet and agile along a winding B road. This is a car for the driving purist "” someone who likes to be responsible for their own actions and feel the car respond to their every command.

The stiff suspension will put your spine out, the gearlever leaves you with arm ache and overexposure to that engine noise will result in tinnitus. But that, surely, is how a supercar should be. Something that you feel slightly scared of, every time you approach it, key in hand and heart in mouth.

It's a bonus that the engine is happy in a high gear when loping through town. Better still that the Porsche 911 dashboard is intuitive "” who wants to be groping around in a muddle of switchgear at 234mph? And the quilted Alcantara trim, Bose sound system and, curiously, the provision of cupholders mean driving the CTR 3 to a racetrack, rather than having it transported, is not out of the question.

Ruf plans to build 50 of his wildest creations to date. That's nothing compared with the Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari Enzo or Porsche Carrera GT. Only the market will decide if it's too ambitious in these cautious times.

Ruf CTR 3 SPECIFICATIONS

ENGINE 3746cc, six cylinders, twin turbos

POWER 700bhp @ 7600rpm

TORQUE 657 lb ft @ 4000rpm

TRANSMISSION Six-speed sequential manual

FUEL/CO2 n/a

ACCELERATION 0-62mph: 3.2sec

TOP SPEED 234mph

PRICE £330,000

TAX BAND n/a

VERDICT Ruf proves it can hold its own with the big boys

RELEASE DATE On sale now

by Nick Hall
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/in_the_showroom/article5206866.ece
 

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my car baby
 

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the new dash board
 

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