RUF 3.4 RSR

The 1973 2.8 RSR is perhaps the most desirable classic 911 of all. Now the king of Porsche specialists has created a homage to it

- RICHARD LANE

TESTED 26.5.22, PFAFFENHAUSEN, GERMANY ON SALE NOW PRICE £508,190 (EST)

In 2010, Alois Ruf Jr took a customer out in one of his family firm's cars. There was nothing unusual in that act itself, particularly for an haute manufacturer, where production volumes are infinitesimal by wider industry standards and the boss is just as likely to be found observing test benches as sitting in the board room (assuming that there is one).

The difference this time was that the car, although authentically Ruf, wasn't referenced in any official literature. More than that, to anybody not embedded within the small factory operation in Pfaffenhausen, it didn't even exist. An almost illicit one-off, its remit was to satisfy Alois's need for something that could express the wildness of 1970s Porsche motorsport, only in road-legal guise and with Ruf standards of everyday drivability.

No surprise that this idea hit the bullseye. The client decided he too needed one, and the result is this stunning Blau Metallic 3.4 RSR. It was completed only this year, and while that isn't to say that every 3.4 RSR will take Ruf more than a decade to build (nothing like), the process is extremely involved.

In fact, the transformation from E-series 911 chassis to spectacular 1973 Carrera 2.8 RSR homage is so labour-intensive that Alois says constructing each individual car is comparable to constructing a complete prototype. It means that, in addition to fulfilling orders for the carbon tubbed SCR supercar, plus the main business of restoring and gestating icons such as the 964 RCT Evo and developing big-power, high-speed packages for the current (992) 911, Rufhas capacity for one 3.4 RSR annually.