Alois Ruf's Yellowbird-Ride of my life!!
 

Christmas does come more than once a year. I got back from a PCA Porsche breakfast where I not only got to see the famed Yellowbird that was the World's fastest car in 1987, but was fortunate enough to get a ride in the Yellowbeast.

The driver of the car is close friends with Alois Ruf and is storing it for him at his house in Santa Barbara. He is not only a great guy, but an orthodontist by trade. I've got three kids with crooked teeth, so we agreed that if I sent my kids to him to get braces, he'd give me a ride in the Yellowbird. Hey, $30,000 in braces for a ride in the Yellowbird sounds like a pretty good trade to me. :roflmao:

So how do you describe the experience of riding in a car that tops out at 211 mph and gets there as though it is starving for speed and devours whatever road is in front of it?

What was it like to ride in THE car (Vin 001) that established Ruf as the premier manfacturer of German Supercars and is certainly destined to become a piece of automotive history that will be remembered for decades to come?

What was the feeling I got when he jumped on the throttle in first gear, then second, now third, as I watched the needle of the speedometer climb like a missile seeking its target of 350 km?

How do I describe this experience?

I can't. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then riding in the Ruf Yellowbird is certainly worth 2,000 feelings of elation. I thought my 3.6 turbo was fast, but this car pulls so hard and accelerates so rapidly, your brain doesn't know how to react. My simple male brain reacted by putting a stupid grin across my face that is still with me at this moment.

I owe this ride to Mike Harley, a very good friend of mine who is the editor of Der Auspuff magazine and had the courage to ask the orthodontist to give me a ride.

I'm normally fairly outspoken and articulate, but in the presence of this car I became the nerdy high school geek trying to ask the prom queen out on a date. I pretty much stuttered, mumbled, and grunted while within a 30 feet radius of this car.

I admire those of you priveledeged few who actually own a Ruf and I someday hope to join you. If I don't achieve this honor, then please allow me a ride in your beast and I'll promise to be grateful. I'm sure I won't distract you by talking while you drive, but you may hear a mumble or grunt followed by a goofy grin stretching from ear to ear.

I'll get some pictures loaded when my brain returns back to "normal."

Kevin

3.6 turbo

Great write-up... pics please :)

Pics pics pics

I still remember my first ride in one in the early ninties. It was a rush that ended all too soon. The handling was scary though because, at that point, it was still on it's original Dunlop Dunlocs'.

great write-up

The write-up put a smile on my face. Good job man, now back to all this accounting. :S

:roflmao: Hilarious...

To All: what exactly did the yellowbirds have to make them so damn fast...and even so when compared against the turbos and supercars of today?? They started as 930s...(you take it from here.. :p )

Didn't the Yellowbird have the "normal" 911 body (narrow) and Turbo drivetrain to cut resistance? Not sure as I'm going back to the 80's myself.Or am I mixing it up with something else? LOL.

THANK YOU for the experience. I remember that car so fondly and am glad to see it still exists.

Den.

RogueM3,
They started from the old 3.2 carrera bodies.

The YellowBird was built from a 3.2 Carrera chassis / platform. RuF simply added turbo spec P&C's, their own rods, modded the G50 5 spd, used twin K26's and I'm told Porsche 962 Motronics ECU.

They removed the rain gutters, had more aerodynamic mirrors and bumpers.

The car was very light and produced ~469BHP-520BHP (@ max boost).

and they added on their slightly wider fenders

according to Adam T, he got 521bhp at 1.1 bar of boost

That's right Sameer... I believe RuF limited max boost to 1.1bar and obtained 520BHP, which is pretty much inline with Protomotive's turbo conversions on Motronic based Carrera's, which is 550BHP @ 1.25bar ;)

I don't think RUF added their own wider quarters. They just had the OEM Carrera ones widened by 1" to accommodate the wider rims.

Ruf did and do have the extra wide fenders for sale. It's added onto the stock carreras 3.2 fenders.

Kevin,

Sounds like a great car. If you ever get to The Tampa, St Petersburg area give me a call and I will let you experience my 930 with 755 rwhp. I would like to see how they compare in seat of pants feel.

David