GERMANY 2003 PT.2 (Visit to RUF) - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

alpinadvl · 1st April 2003, 02:28

Please see GERMANY 2003 PT.1 (Alpina b12 purchase) (click here)

Now onto some more fun......

LOCATION: Went to Mindelheim onto Pfaffenhausen to re-visit RUF AUTOMOBILES. My first visit was when I was still in college a while back....sat down with Alois Ruf with the intention of 'learning' more about the company....left with 'learning the value of credit cards and interest rates!!!!!!'

PEOPLE: So, I have some contacts there....Mr. Lieb, who is in charge of service and production....gave my friend and I the royal treatment. I spend a good 4-5 hours there. First, sat down with Alois Ruf, and his wife Estonia. This has been said many times before, but all I will say...is that before anyone commits to a new relationship or marriage...please meet Estonia, especially if you have been infected with the need to drive faster cars!

She is very friendly, as is Mr.Ruf, and I enjoyed talking to them thoroughly. Mr.Ruf still is a polite, and seemingly mild mannered gentleman that I remember from a while back. If that is Mr.Ruf, then Mrs.Ruf is a revved up CTR engine! She is very passionate about Ruf automobiles, and it is obvious from her knowledge of cars as well as her love of the CTR and RCT engined cars!! (pre-996 Ruf automobiles) This is my taste personally also!

the CARS:...first of all...R Turbos all OVER THE PLACE!! Have to say, as I have up to this time only seen pictures....the R Turbo is the NICEST version of the 996. And probably the only version I would buy!

Up CLOSE DETAILS: 1)this car has beautiful intakes on top of the fenders....and those intakes are huge, you cant appreciate the structure unless you see it in person...the intakes feed into dual intercoolers (one on each side), and then an inlet into the engine bay....simple and brutal design!
2) The car as a whole has echoes of the 959, the smaller diameter steering wheel, and traditional green RUF gauges adorn all these cars.
3)Integrated roll cage: no company (including my own techart) integrates roll cages as beautifully as RUF does....unless you know what you are looking at....you may not even know it is there! In addition, no "real" ruf cars have a sunroof!

WORKSHOP: Has been opened up completely from when I remember it. In the background you here engines being revved up to red line....a lineup of 5 cars being serviced on lifts including a 959 (my personal favorite)...all being attended my no less than 7 workers. The 'production line' includes a white cabriolet R turbo, a black R turbo, and ADAM's Beautiful Guards Red R turbo.

Went to see the engine development bays, the painting booth which had just completed a boxster with a blue-gree-purple metallic paint. VERY NICE!

OTHER CARS:
1) my favorite RUF : the yellowbird. This is a CTR (biturbo), that was in all the magazines....and is really RUF's premier car. The rear bumper was off, and have to say I have never seen NICER engine components. There is no engine I can recall that looks as nice as this car!!
2)A Silver CTR2 which has some serious bodywork and intakes (see the pics).
3)An EVO RCT...which is a single turbo'd engine car...in perfect condition.
4)Adam's R Turbo
5)Immaculate conditon 906 undergoing restoration?????
and an original speedster being restored.

TEST DRIVES:
1) R TURBO is first (not adam's car!)......first a little disclaimer, this car is available in many different versions from approx 530hp - 590hp....many different suspension set ups...etc...etc....all customizable to the owners tastes....etc....etc.....lets go for a drive!!!
Mr.Lieb (who's son is Jason Lieb, now a porsche race driver!)...and not a shabby driver himself...definitely able to make me a little unnerved (don't eat prior to a ruf test drive!). The car has a very reassuring engine. This is power with a garuantee!! I hope this makes sense to people reading this...but the impression I got was the car will always reliably produce this power!!! Mr.Lieb was accelerating thru what I thought were 100 degree turns...accelerating seconds before and thru the turns...without a slight hesitation.
Now my turn behind the wheel--> drove it....nice response...solid car....solid feel..
My opinion: The car was WAY TOO SOFT for my tastes which they assured me was because the car was ''stage I'' suspension. But still a car with these power figures....is a no no (for me). Also, I started to notice the car lifting and shifting as I was accelerating with the first three gears....something I didnt like too much either. Mr.Lieb insisted this was because of new tires...needed rebalancing? My bottom line...the car could definitely benefit from harder suspension, stiffer antiroll bars, and four wheel drive! (the test car I drove was a 2wd)....this car is very well built, and screams QUALITY, but seems to lose a bit for the driver's feel. As a passenger, (this may be the difference)....the car is simply amazing!

2)RCT EVO:
Next car....964 chassis-based single turbo, racing prepped track car.....FAST....this car does EXACTLY what you want it to. Excellent driver response...and you can feel this car was meant to be thrown around turns....it definitely benefits from being a light car...with the engine sounds amplified by the lightened and sans-sound deadining interior! This is MY KIND OF CAR. And...as Mr.Lieb commented...it is a "good toy"

The RCT and CTR will make you passionate about RUFs

The impression I get about the R turbo is that this is a car for Autobahn domination...with a very high-quality and "garuanteed" power. The car, dominates for sure. But the CTR/RCT Ruf cars are the ones that SCREAM!

(estonia seems to agree as well)

3)FUTURE RUF:
Apparently Ruf is going to produce their own car soon....NOT a porsche bodied car. So this will be very interesting!....Estonia was very good about not telling me any details. Probably because she didn't want to read about it on this message board!! I imagine it will be something very interesting when it comes out!!!

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR PICS

VISIT TO TECHART
Just some quick notes.....the GT Street...especially the GT Street XL cars are massive!...very wide (as seen in the pics!). They now have a 996 turbo based car producing 600hp!! Even though this thread was intended to talk about RUF....I wanted to mention TECHART....because for me this is my company....the quality they put into their cars is amazing!!...In my opinion...if you want a car that is ALWAYS going to excite you....you must go to Techart. Everyone at this company is excited about their products...and their quality is exceptional. If you are like me and want a car that screams...this is the place to look.
Those who are interested....please pm me, and I will give you a contact, who will answer all your questions...about any car, any porsche, and any techart car. As I said, they take their business VERY seriously.

ALSO NOTE: The workshop is flagged by a poster of my CT3 !! (just thought I'd add that side note)

the end!

MIB · 1st April 2003, 07:33

Nice shots DVL,

But my favourite is the Gemballa 996.

alpinadvl · 1st April 2003, 16:52

MIB....

Have you ever visited Gemballa? Uwe Gemballa is very nice, and I think some of their designs are fantastic....but Gemballa is DEFINITELY a company that likes EXTREME. And I really think that their EXTREME comes at a real cost of QUALITY. Meaning...Gemballa doesn't come close to the quality of RUF or TECHART.

This is from my personal experience. I own a Techart car and A Ruf....and have driven many Rufs, Techarts, Stroseks, and a couple of Gemballas....

And I love their EVO cars, their boxster, their extra widebody 928gts(Uwe'S personal car), as well as their gullwing 928 GTS
but.....they are nowhere near the quality.

TALKING TO GEMBALLA (while still in college): I was sitting with my brother in Uwe Gemballa's office....discussing their tuning philosophy and program for the 964 and 993. Whereby Uwe explained that his company is only interested in producing cars that COMPLIMENT the porsche lineup.,...AND....that his cars are not meant to stand out or look RIDICULOUS.

He SAID THIS....in his OFFICE...which was flagged on EACH WALL....with pictures of the 560 SEC HAMMER GULLWING, the PORSCHE CYPRESS(?sp), and the OTHER WHITE EXTREME 911..........
I just looked at my brother......and did everything I could from laughing....My brother and I laugh about this experience to this day, and have determined that in Uwe Gemballa's mind....their is NO SUCH THING AS EXTREME!!!! God bless the guy!

Gustav · 1st April 2003, 17:02

Gemballa Cyrrus

Yes he is a bit extreme. I thought Gemballa went bankrupt after the 80's and then was re-started? In any case he was really the kign of show cars in the 80s

Those were the 80s.

Alfred, have you visited Koenig Specials yet? They also have survivied the 90s

Hamann7 · 1st April 2003, 20:45

Alf,

It sounds like you are a Ruf RGT kind of guy, which is their version of the GT3.

As a friend of mine always says, Gemballa cars are for pimps. They may hold the Tuner Grand Prix record for the fastest lap at the Ring, but everyone knows that they do not tune their own cars. First, it was Lotec. Now that Lotec is bankrupt, they are using stuff from Cargraphic, RS-Tuning, and TTP. Therefore, they do not get respect from the hardcore Porsche guys. When was the last time you saw a Gemballa component on a race car?

Case in point that the car is for "pimps": Vanilla Ice and his Avalanche. Enough said.

While you are in Germany, you should visit Manthey Racing. They have some pretty extreme Porsches there, as well as an impressive race team.

MIB · 2nd April 2003, 00:08

Quote:

Originally posted by alpinadvl
MIB....

Have you ever visited Gemballa?

NO SUCH THING AS EXTREME!!!! God bless the guy!

I wish.

No I haven't been as lucky as you and been to Germany as yet.

I think when I finally go, I' will do the ring taxi.

I just absoloutly loved the shape of the Yellow Gemballa GUSTAV posted a few weeks ago.

I even loved the wild wing on it. It was extreme, but not over done like some ricers.

I like the way the double pipes had the centre cut out. The T.A ones are the same shape but still have the centre in them.

I have clinched a Contra deal with a famous motorsport photgrapher to take pics of my beast. Then I have a computer GEEK linned up to show me how to post pics.

The Motorsport Photographer has actually seen the E 60 and gave it the thumbs down. He prefers the E 39.

He got to photgraph and drive a McLaren F-1. He was saying that he has photographed a complete race car. Then they would take one panel off and photo again. And take another off until there was nothing left of the car.

Then he would stack all the shots, so this is how they show you half a wheel and half the brakes and expose the suspension.

Its like they had a magic marker and rubbed away the pic exposing what is underneath at each stage.

Whilst I'm not going to pull the beast apart, I'm expecting great shots.

Did I happen to mention that its APRIL.

alpinadvl · 7th April 2003, 02:19

GUSTAV - I have visited Koenig Specials....father and son are fantastically crazy....like mad scientists! They have no hesitation taking a ferrari completely apart and re-engineering it!

HAMMAN - I forgot the name...Yes..the Avalanche!! LOL

Agree with what you said about Gemballa.... interesting thing about the TUNER GRAND PRIX.....the last race had a little bit of rain on the track...the car that came in first was 4WD....the 3rd,4th and 5th place cars were all 4WD cars....and the 2nd place car?....was a 2WD TECHART GTstreet!!! and was behind the lead car by something like 0.4 seconds. The distance between the GTstreet and the 3rd place 4wd car was something like 2-3 seconds.
(I may be a little off with the numbers but the point is made!)

MIB - I agree with you...I like some of the styling on the Gemballa cars better....particularly their hood and rear spoilers! But as HAMMAN said...the tuning is NOT DONE in house!

HAMMAN - You are right...I do like the RUF RCT...so I probablly would like the RGT as well! Never heard of Manthey Racing....I will check them out next time I am in germany!

PS...didn't ROOK racing win the Tuner Grand Prix?

Gustav · 7th April 2003, 03:21

Oh fun. I wrote a letter to Willy and got a reply from his son and him when I was 15

I've also visited them when I was 15 and sat in the Koenign Competition Evolution with 1000 HP

But my taste have changed a bit since then

alpinadvl · 7th April 2003, 15:33

Quote:

Originally posted by Gustav
........ I've also visited them when I was 15 and sat in the Koenign Competition Evolution with 1000 HP ........

Gustav,

the more I see it...the more I think we have the SAME tastes!...but we're from different countries!!!

Hamann7 · 7th April 2003, 19:35

Alf,

I think Roock won it a couple of years ago, but the current record holder (I believe) is the Gemballa GTR 700 with something like a 7:32 on the 'Ring. However, Roock's reputation is even worse than Gemballa. If you look on the Rennlist board, there are a plethora of bad comments about Roock's shady customer service, and their downright dishonesty.

As a further testament to 2WD at the track, from what I understand, the winning Gemballa GTR 750 is not based on a 996TT but rather a 996GT3. So it is also 2WD. When you think about it, the GT3 really is a smart decision for a starting platform because it is light and agile. Had TechArt started with a GT3 for their GT Street, the results may have been even more favorable, but I believe their basis was a GT2. But from a marketing standpoint, starting with a GT2 is better because it is associated directly with the 996TT.

When you visit Manthey Racing next time you are out there, ask them about their 996GT-MR, a converted 996 Turbo that puts out around 700hp and outaccelerates a Ferrari Enzo! It is really quite a piece of work. I have not had the chance to visit them, but I am planning to perhaps this summer to help me with my GT3 project.