Rare RUF CTR2 Is a Porsche on Steroids, Doesn't Come Cheap

Competition breeds excellence. Looking at the automotive industry, manufacturers have constantly been engaged in "battles" against each other. After all, if you're building the fastest cars on the planet, that's an excellent tool for attracting more customers. And the competition was intense in the last decade of the 20th century. Companies like Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, Bugatti, McLaren, and Jaguar were all fighting for the spotlight.

Ferrari's flagship back in the day was the F50. With an F1-derived V12 engine, it had a claimed top speed of 202 mph (325 kph). Ferrari built 349 cars in total between 1995 to 1997. Jaguar launched the XJ220 in 1992, but most potential customers withdrew their deposits after the switch was made from a V12 engine to a turbo V6. 275 of these cars were built, and they were supposedly capable of going up to 212 mph (341 kph).

Then there was the Bugatti EB 110. Built between 1991 and 1995, these were even rarer than the Jaguar, with less than 150 units ever built. Only about 30 of those were built to Super Sport specifications, and those were capable of going up to 218 mph (351 kph). The fastest Lamborghini Diablos of the '90s could also go past the 200 mph (322 kph) marker. But Porsche was slightly behind, even if considering the extreme 911 GT1 Straßenversion.

But there's always a bigger fish. But I'm not going to go into the Dauer 962 topic now, because that's a race car for the street. Instead, let's have a look at what RUF was doing at the time. The German company scored an impressive achievement in 1987 when they released the CTR, also known as Yellowbird. The CTR was the fastest production car in the world when it was released, with a top speed of 213 mph (342 kph).

Fast forward to 1995, RUF introduced the CTR2. While the CTR was based on the 3.2-liter Carrera, the CTR2 was built from the 993 version of the 911 Turbo. Understanding why the CTR and the CTR2 are so special is rather simple. You just have to look at the name: Group C Turbo Ruf. That means that the CTR2 is running an engine with a similar architecture to the one used in the Porsche 962 Le Mans Group C car.

RUF built less than 30 units of the CTR2, 12 of which were upgraded sport versions. What makes this particular car even more special is that it comes with an AWD chassis, and it was built in 1997. That means it has more power than the cars built in 1995 and 1996. The twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter unit was capable of producing 580 horsepower and 506 lb-ft (686 Nm) of torque. According to RUF, this vehicle should be capable of hitting speeds of 220 mph (354 kph).

That makes it one of the fastest production cars of the 1990s. It may not be as fast as a McLaren F1, but who knows what a bit of extra tuning can achieve in that sense. It's a good thing that it has an integrated roll cage for extra added safety. The CTR2 weighs in at less than 3,000 lbs (1,360 kg) and should be capable of running the quarter-mile (402 meters) in about 11 seconds.

This particular vehicle is no garage queen, as its odometer reads 30,447 miles (49,000 km). Admittedly, the Arctic Silver Metallic isn't the coolest color for a CTR2, but the green leather interior looks rather special. It's currently located in London, in the United Kingdom. The asking price is no joke, as it's set at £625,000 ($852,630). That's considerably less than what you would pay for a 918 Spyder. But it's also more expensive than one of the newer, top-spec 911 models.