-
RUF CTR Yellow Bird
Although this car is not an official Porsche product because it is tuner-designed and produced car, it is an important piece of 911 history. It is also one of the fastest Porsches they ever built. All throughout the Porsche 911 production, independent tuning companies introduced numerous versions with more power or design enhancements. This showed that the 911 as a concept still had big potential.
But, the German tuning house, RUF, was on another level. Their Yellow Bird was far more powerful, faster and agile than anything on the market in the late 80’s. Porsches are cool road trip cars, but modern models are a bit boring. They are so perfect and comfortable, they kill the essence of driving a sports car, but not the Yellow Bird.
RUF introduced the CTR in 1987 and the Yellow Bird was a highly tuned 911 featuring numerous upgrades. They included a special aerodynamic kit, NACA intercooler intake ducts, a big rear wing, a front bumper and special wheels. The biggest news was turbocharged 3.2-liter flat six with whopping 469 HP and 408 lb-ft. It made the Yellow Bird one of the fastest cars of the era.
The 0 to 60 mph acceleration was possible in just 3.65 seconds and its top speed was unbelievable 213 mph. The Yellow Bird was brutally expensive and extremely rare, but it showed that the 911 concept is extremely capable. It also proved there is so much to extract from a flat six engine. If you want one, you’ll have to search. They only built 29 Yellow Birds from scratch and the converted a few others from the customer’s cars.