Ruf has revealed a new 1000-plus-hp twin-turbo flat-eight engine at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The engine is currently in a prototype form and is expected to be used in a production car soon. Boxer engines are rare in the current automotive landscape. The Porsche 911, of course, still employs an array of flat-six engines, and Subaru's entire gas-powered lineup packs flat-fours, from the BRZ sports car to the three-row Ascent SUV.
Ruf is known for ultra-high-performance cars that may look like Porsches but feature unique chassis and bodywork, such as the legendary CTR Yellowbird that hit 211 mph back in 1987 in a famous Road & Track comparison test. Given Ruf's connection to Porsche, it's no surprise that the company is working on a new boxer engine, but the number of cylinders represents a significant departure from the company's storied history of flat-sixes.
View Price on AmazonDesignated the B8 and internally referred to as "Erprober" or "Tester," the engine is still currently in prototype form, making its debut at Goodwood in a modified Ruf CTR3. The eight-cylinder boxer is twin-turbocharged and displaces 4.8 liters, with Ruf claiming that it produces over 1000 horsepower and 737 pound-feet of torque. No other specific details about the engine were provided.
The engine was designed and developed entirely in-house, Ruf says, and it's housed inside a lengthened CTR3, Ruf's mid-engined sports car that looks like a stretched Porsche Cayman on steroids. The CTR3 prototype's body is 3.9 inches longer to accommodate the engine, and the B8 is hooked up to a six-speed manual transmission. The test car's special livery is inspired by the Blossom Yellow hue that gave the 1987 CTR its Yellowbird nickname, and it includes graphics that symbolize the eight-cylinder setup.
Ruf says the B8 is not yet ready for production, but "serves as a dedicated testbed for technologies that will shape a future RUF model." We imagine it won't be terribly long before this engine appears in a production-spec Ruf. The B8-equipped CTR3 test mule will run up the Goodwood Hillclimb twice a day from Friday, July 10, to Sunday, July 12, during the "Supercar Run," and will be piloted by rally, stunt, and drift driver Tanner Foust.
Source: caranddriver.com
