Thanks to a new car press launch in Portugal our day at Porsche ended up being cut a bit short because most of the factory staff was out of the country. At first glance this would seem like a shame, but as an old football coach once remarked to me sometimes you’ve got to make lemonade out of lemons. Today that meant dropping in on world renowned Porsche tuner Alois Ruf and his Ruf team.
Dropping in might be the understatement of the year - while we were at Porsche we off handily asked about famed car designer Freeman Thomas’ 911 - which was wrecked just over two years ago, just days after it’s first resto job was completed. At the time we were in the middle of filming a show for Discovery Science show that was titled, “Classic Car Hunters”. The basic premise of the show was following resto jobs of extremely rare barn find classic cars from their initial stages to completion and eventual entrance in the famous Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance.
The Famed Yellow Bird which set the Nübergring Lap Record
(Note more below including riding in the famed Yellow Bird!)
During the show we meet up with Freeman and his R Grouppe 911 - even though the car wasn’t going to Pebble, since it was Freeman’s personal resto project it seemed like a car that was worth some screen time. After all, Freeman is the man who penned the Audi TT and countless DaimlerChrysler concept cars. Besides that he’s quite literally one of the friendliest and most down to earth designers I’ve ever had the pleasure of spending time with. I really enjoy listening to his personal automotive philosophy and his general approach. It’s not only inspiring, but amazing apt at pinpointing what our general culture will evolve into.
Freeman Thomas’ R Grouppe 911
The surprise - at least for me - is that when he’s off work and on his own time, he spends countless hours pouring over old photos of old werks Porsches because that’s where his passion lies. He’s a man of many cars, but only one soul - so to speak. The 911 is his dream, the car of his youth. The car that he wished he could have bought years earlier. And it shows when he’s around his 1970’s 911, which he’s hand built from a standard 911 into a replica of a true werks 911. The car was simply magnificent when he finished it. But then tragedy struck. Coming home from his first car show, the restored 911 was T-boned by a cell phone driving SUV soccer mom.
The result was a total wreck. The car was simply destroyed.
Instead of taking the easy way out Freeman did the near unthinkable. He decided to restore the car once more. Only this time at Ruf - the Porsche resto experts and the Porsche tuning magicians.
Apparently word of such a profound resto job spreads fast - when the subject came up at Porsche their attitude was we needed to go to Ruf. So we did. And it was magical.
First and foremost because we caught Freeman at Ruf on his vacation working on his pride and joy - but perhaps more personally, because the trip offered me the chance to ride with Ruf Test Driver HB in the famed Yellow Bird!
For the uninitiated, the Yellow Bird is the Porsche of all Porsches. The granddaddy of them all as Keith Jackson might say. This 911 CTR set the Nürburgring course record in the late 1980’s at an amazingly superb 211 mph. Back then this was an unthinkable record and it still is today. The car is simply an engineering marvel. A rocket on four wheels.
When you first climb inside the car feels like most 911’s. The only clue that even remotely suggests you’re in for a treat is the serious roll bar and racing seats with four point harnesses. But the second HB fired up the Yellow Bird it was clear this was no ordinary 911. The car emanates a wickedly devilish rumble. The kind of sound that Al Pacino makes when he’s angry. It’s unintelligible, but evil. Then the car engages and while the sound continues to echo the depths of hell, the ride is fairly normal. But normal doesn’t last long.
Minutes later HB and I are sitting four cars back in “rush hour” traffic for the Bavarian countryside - which means two farm tractors and two super subcompacts in a line when I ask if the cops in the area go easy on Ruf Porsches.
“No, they’re cracking down on us”, HB says with both hands off the wheels before swiftly swinging into the oncoming traffic lane and rocketing us forward at warp 9 on the warpdrive. It’s incredible. The torque curve on this puppy must be insane. The car just pulls and pulls and pulls, until there’s no daylight left in the world. It’s like a real world motion blur for your eyes and your soul. Wicked power delivery with a super smooth chassis.
Words can’t describe just how special this adventure is - actually to be completely honest it’s the most fun I’ve ever had as a passenger in a car and the experience left me completely speechless and utterly giggling like a twelve year old girl. I was beyond blown away. Your move so fast you can’t comprehend just how quickly you’re processing the countryside vistas and the general driving information.
Fifteen minutes into the ride I can’t think it can get any better - but then I ask the linchpin question, ‘how come 911’s are known to slide around?’
It’s a softball question because I’m looking for a useable sound bite, but the result is not words but actions. Instantly I can see the light bulb over HB’s head illuminate. Apparently I’ve said the right words. The next dozen turns are all completely sideways. The Yellow Bird hauling ass as it drifts from corner to corner. At the end of each slide, HB double clutches and punches it. The 911 never hesitating as it blasts forward with an unrelinquished passion for a totally excessive kind of speed.
When we finally roll back into the pits I can’t verbalize what I’ve just experienced. The crew asks me what it felt like and I can’t explain it. My hands are shaking, I want a smoke, I have a gigantic grin on my face.
Finally, after a few minutes the first words out my mouth… “This makes the Ducati feel slow”…
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