JPP

Hi Guy's, Wondering if the RUF guru's here can chime in and educate me a bit more.
Monday I had the pleasure of getting a ride in a '97 993 RUF BTR cab .. what an incredible car! It's a widebody conversion done at one of the North America RUF centers here. Anyway, that made me go back and look at this Aventurine coupe at Sloan that's been discussed here recently and I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed that this car is a narrow body! https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ferrerid=66492


So ... what are these beasts anyway? I'm assuming the BTR (Gruppe B Turbo RUF) is just one step in the RUF evolution but were they also offered in several body types and configurations? The thread on Sloan's car calls it a BTR-2 .. were there evolutions within the BTR development? I've only seen widebody TurboR's for instance .. did RUF build a narrow body version as well? Did RUF do hand formed in-the-metal brake venting or special bodywork on the Turbo R's like they did on the BTR for instance? The car I rode in Monday had these beautifully hand formed brake vents in the lower rear quarters that were just like the ones I saw on top of the 997 and 991 RUF cars rear quarters when I visited there last August ... all hand formed smooth metal transitions like the factory Turbo S quarter ducts.
Thanks in advance ... JP

ctr2

Depending on how much you want to spend, why not look for a Ruf vin numbered car. There are a ton of conversion out there.

JPP

Well, to be honest, I'm not really looking to buy, just to understand so if I see one, I'll know what I'm looking at. But, I'm under the impression that there aren't many RUF vin cars in North America. Maybe a handful at most ... am I wrong?

nyamg

I' m interested, could you point me in the right direction?

ZAMIRZ

Way more than a handful or even two or three.

You could configure a BTR however you wanted, but I have not seen a RUF VIN BTR Targa, although Barrett-Jackson auctioned off a Targa with BTR conversion a few years back, which is pretty unique.

I haven't heard of any evolutions of the BTR on the 993 platform, but previously on the g-series impact bumper cars there were BTR 3.4, BTR 3.4 lightweight and later, BTRIII that featured Motronic and optional 6-speed gearbox. The BTR-2 moniker is often used because the AWD versions are sometimes referred to as BTR-4.

As far as the hand-formed bodywork, I have some pics of a BTR cabriolet that has unique rear 1/4 panel vents, but I haven't seen a Turbo R with anything that is unique to RUF as far as metal bodywork (excluding the shaved gutters). Some of them had the Porsche Turbo S rear 1/4 panel ducts fitted like mickfluff's car. Could you post an example of the formed-in-the-metal brake venting on the BTRs? Are you talking about the front bumper or on the rear 1/4 panels?

My $.02: The attraction to the BTR is that it can be rear-wheel-drive, lightweight and single turbo, which gives it a much more bad boy personality than the plush AWD, 993 biturbo...and that in '95 they had beat Porsche to turbocharging the 911, just like they have done now with the 991-based RT-35.

bbs993tt

IIRC, the BTR is a single, large turbocharged engine while the Turbo R is a twin turbo setup. I've driven a 993 BTR - WILD AND WOOLY!

bbs993tt

Probably more than you'd think. I've seen quite a few come through Ruf Dallas and have a friend that has owned 2 Ruf VINs himself.

ctr2

i believe that Ruf has built fewer that 30 Ruf vin cars per year. Since 1983, thats less than 900 vin cars manufactured, including all models in 30 years.

JPP

Actually, it has both .. the upper front bumper has two elongated vents with full radius at both ends, backed with black anodized screening and the rear quarters have these vents (older picture before the current owner bought the car and cleaned it up) you can just see them forward of the wheel arch at rocker level ...

Bgoldey

FWIW....The RUF BTR 2 is described on P. 314 of the Porsche Data Book.
993 based, turbo charged engine, fixed rear spoiler. Modified nose w/ larger air inlets, 2 additional top vents. 420hp/435ft-lb. Turbo charged, intercooler, altered camshafts, aux oil cooler, exhaust/Motronic mods. LSD, tuned suspension, larger discs/calipers 18in RUF alloy wheels. 0-62 in 4.1 sec.

JPP

Yup .. that sounds about what felt I experienced Monday ..

ZAMIRZ

JPP, FWIW, the front bumper does not have sheetmetal enhancements. The bumper cover is polyurethane and the two heat extractors are cut open. But, the client could request it any number of ways. There were a few different front valence configurations that I've observed. One with two vertical slats, I like to call it the "widemouth", and the other that is fitted to Pong's car with the two nostrils on either corner. I think the nostrils are just an insert, whereas the widemouth does necessitate cutting of the bumper cover to fit it at the top corners. Other BTRs also came with the stock bumper with the two slits on trailing edge near the hood and fitted with RS splitters at the bottom.

Widemouth with slits:



Nostrils but no slits:



Slits + RS Splitters:

JPP

^^^ This car was in this configuration when the owner bought it but he modified this using a stock Turbo front bumper but retaining the two slits on trailing edge near the hood as you've described. Here's the before and after:
As purchased:

After with modified Turbo bumper:

JPP

^^^ That is a D. Morris Design 993 Cab hardtop BTW .. black leather headliner details are like Louis Vuitton quality :-P

ZAMIRZ

^That's a great looking car. I've only got photos of one other 993-based car with those rear brake cooling ducts in the lower rocker panel.

The old front valence is interesting as well, especially with the exposed stainless steel bolts and front lip that runs the full length of the lower bumper cover. Is it documented as having come from RUF that way? Do you have the contact info of the owner? I'd love to get in touch and add it to the registry I maintain.