CarBrandLogos archive · RUF · 2007
The first Ruf that was not a 911 underneath, and the mid-engined one.
Discover the storyPhoto: Brian Snelson from Hockley, Essex, England · CC BY 2.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the RUF CTR3, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
Every fast Ruf until 2007 had started as a Porsche shell. The CTR3, launched in Bahrain to mark twenty years since the original CTR, did not. It uses the front section of a Cayman grafted to a bespoke steel and aluminium rear structure, with a chassis developed with the Canadian engineering firm Multimatic, and the engine moved from behind the rear axle to ahead of it.
Ruf CTR3-rear · Brian Snelson · CC BY 2.0
02
That changes the character entirely. Instead of the pendulum balance the CTR exploited, the CTR3 has proper mid-engined weight distribution, wide bodywork of Bennett Soderberg's design with a long, low tail and prominent air intakes over the rear haunches, and a 3.7-litre twin-turbocharged flat-six behind the cabin. Transmission is a six-speed sequential manual, with a seven-speed PDK offered on the later Clubsport.
RUF CTR3 · Adam Woodford · CC BY 2.0
03
Production has been very limited and very long-running: the original to 2012, the Clubsport to 2023 and the Evo since. It is the car in which Ruf stopped being a company that improved Porsches and became one that designs its own, which is the direction the firm has continued in with its carbon-monocoque cars.
Ruf CTR3 Genf 2018 · Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0
At a glance
Engine
3.7 L CTR38 twin-turbocharged flat-6Designer
Bennett SoderbergBody
2-door coupéTechnical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the CTR3's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →Contemporaries from the 2000s
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