If you’d like a trip back to simpler times when a Porsche 911 Turbo was still a frightening thing that skipped, danced, and deployed its power in a brutal fashion, but would like that feral character hardened and sharpened by modern tech, you’re in luck.
RUF Automobile might’ve made its name with their wildly modified 930s, but the successive generation did quite a lot for their reputation as well. The 964-based RCT built upon the new technology brought with this chassis and, like the Yellowbird before it, made it a visceral, slightly deranged beast with an integrated rollcage and a semblance of civility. With the newest variant, the RCT Evo, takes up where the standard RCT left off. Underneath its classic shape is a spate of modern bits of tech which only amplify the driving experience.
“While the technology has evolved since 1990, the formula for a fun car has not,” head of marketing Estonia Ruf said in a statement. “The car has the same feeling you might expect from a 964, but with more power and less weight for a higher overall performance.” In other words, she continued, “The recipe didn’t change, the ingredients just got better.”
The newest RCT Evo can be optioned with plenty of subtly integrated modern tech.
This latest version will set buyers back a bit. The basic package starts at $425,000 (plus a donor car) and goes up from there depending on whether the buyer prefers widebody or narrowbody, steel or carbon. In the case of the latter, the full carbon skin is a little more conducive to airflow than the original 964’s sleek shape, trims weight, and of course, improves the power-to-weight ratio.
Speaking of, the single-turbo 3.6 produces more than most would need in such a lightweight car. The 425 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque may not be headline-worthy by today’s outrageous standards, but the fact remains that any RUF product is always more than the sum of its parts and never relies on sheer grunt to sell.
How beautifully they blend old and new.
Other modernizing options include center-lock wheels, carbon-ceramic brakes, and RUF’s trademark integrated rollcage, and like the rest of the retrofits with this car, they’re integrated subtly to help preserve the classic, unbridled feel of a 964. After all, the analog directness is what sets this supercar apart from a more modern, tech-saddled 992 Turbo, but yet, it blends the best qualities from both eras in the seamless fashion that so many restomodders, hot-rodders, and tuners try to emulate, but for whatever reason, can never quite hit the mark.
View Comments (3)
Instead of destroying 964s, can't people just get a GT2 RS for that kind of cash?
Sure, but getting RUF to give your 964 a makeover is a far cry from ruination.
I would take a little bit of issue with the statement that Ruf “made their name with wildly modified 930s”... recall that the iconic Yellowbird CTR was based on a narrow body 911, not on a Turbo. Sure the car was twin-turbocharged but wasn’t based on a 930 per se.