well, about two weeks ago.

visited Pfaffenhausen with some friends. Alois was kind enough to let us view his new baby being developed on their dyno. also got to chat with the guy in-charge (ex BMW and Sauber Formula One, worked on the McLaren F1 motor).

as mentioned, engine still in development, so revs were limited to 6,500RPM. production motors will rev to 8,500 and develop 550HP in normally aspirated form. twin-turbo versions to output around 900HP, though that's at least 2 years down the road still.

as has been published before, the motor is a totally new ground-up design (i.e., not based on any other motor), and is a flat-plane crank V8. so basically like the Ferrari and TVR V8's.

needless to say, it sounded NOTHING like the flat-6 lump we've come to know. there wasn't a proper exhaust on the motor (just a crude muffler to exhaust the gasses out of the dyno room,) so i imagine production engines mounted in the RGT-8 will sound very different. but the closest thing i can compare the sound to is a big displacement sport bike.

some interesting bits of info i picked up from my visit... the engine is marginally taller than the the Metzger lump, so there's going to be a slight penalty to center-of-gravity (others have remarked on this before). however, the engine is also 40 kilos, or almost 90 lbs lighter than the flat-6, as well as being shorter (i.e., length, not height).

also, the motor will be designed first for the 6-speed tranny, but there's nothing to stop them from eventually allowing it to be fitted to the PDK tranny.

yes, the engine is very very real, and if all goes according to plan, should be very interesting.

i've asked for permission from Ruf to post the video I took of the dyno run. if/when they give the go-ahead, post it here.

 

Very cool man! Thanks for posting. Still don't know how I feel about a 911 with a V8 though.

 

Thanks for the update, I have been wondering what has been going on with this car. 550 na in a 911 shells sounds amazong, Do they have any simulated performance figures??

 

I'm not sure.

Whenever RUF set out to make something better out of an existing product (CTR, CTR2, BTR, R-GT, Rturbo etc) - it always ends up fantastic. But when they set out with their own ideas from scratch, it usually becomes utter crap (CTR3 etc).

I hope I am proven wrong, but a V8 in a 911 doesn't sound right.

 

So are you going to get an RGT-8? Looks amazing. Thanks for sharing.

 

guess time will tell. I agree the CTR3's look certainly isn't to everyone's taste, and there aren't enough of them to have had many back-to-back tests vs other cars. however, the few independent reviews out there (Evo magazine, plus the dedicated Porsche rags,) have generally been quite favorable on the performance and driving experience...

oh, another bit of info i forgot to mention that i was told was, the V8 engine was supposed to be launched together with the CTR3, so that it would be a Ruf car with a Ruf engine.

obviously that didn't pan out.

i know what you mean. then again, a water cooled engine in a 911 didn't seem right either.

my Ruf bias aside, its nice to see them pushing themselves and moving into totally uncharted territory for a Porsche tuner (yes, i know of course they are technically a manufacturer).

they got balls, and i hope they succeed.

 

I think it is a great idea...I love what they are doing. Thanks for sharing

 

That is very interesting, I had no idea. Funny how they lost their one chance to drop a V8 into one of their cars without upsetting any Porsche purists. That is one of my many gripes with the CTR3, too - a 500+ K car and it still "only" has a flat 6, the only car they've ever made that shouldn't

I truly hope they succeed too (my bias aside too, my RS had some RUF parts, ha) - actually refreshing to see one of the tuners step away from the HP battle for a change and do something different.

 

Is the CTR3 really a bad car?

I'd still have one.

 

By pure luck i was there when they have fired that engine for the first time about 3 months ago,you can imagine how everyone rushed to the dyno room as the the noise got louder and louder as the revs went up....
That English guy ex BMW F1 is a nice guy and cool to talk with