RUF RK Coupe - Carrera Killer

Catching up with Alois Ruf these days can be almost as difficult as catching up with the Porsches that bear his eponymous green logo. We managed to do so just a few hours after he finally returned home following a series of trips that had him crisscrossing continents: Germany to Bahrain, California to Puerto Rico. We were anxious to learn more about his new 440-bhp, mid-engine, limited-edition wunderkind-the dramatically styled RKcoupe, the car he traveled to California to proudly unveil at its world premiere at the Quail Lodge Motorsports Gathering in Carmel.

Herr Ruf was understandably tired when he returned my call, but, as any true enthusiast, not so tired that he couldn't talk cars. And not just about his cars, or Porsches in general. He has a keen interest in automotive history, one that, he explained, played a key role in the development of the RKcoupe and the RKspyder that preceded it, the first RUF automobiles to be designed outside of Pfaffenhausen. In fact, the first to be designed outside of Germany, as Ruf had joined forces with Alfred Stola of Studiotorino in Turin, Italy, to carry out the styling.

"We met about three years ago," Ruf says in answer to my question about choosing an Italian firm to design cars for a company not only geographically (Pfaffenhausen sits roughly between Stuttgart and Munich) but also philosophically centered at the heart of German automotive technology. "I like the style and philosophy he holds concerning Porsche, and he was impressed with what we do on the technical side. We thought we could do something together."

It was Ruf's sense of automotive history that paved the way for the project. "Remember, the liaison between Italy and Germany has been very successful in the past with the Abarth cars," he continues. "Plus, the coachbuilding tradition of Torino is complementary with our job in modifying the engines and suspension. So why not have a RUF car with an Italian body?"

What really sealed the deal was the history of the man who would be in charge of sketching out the design of the RUF RK series and then overseeing its transformation into a production vehicle.

"What impressed us most was Stola's designer, Aldo Brovarone," Ruf confides. "He is of the old school and has a good feel for the lines of a car like we wanted to build."

The 81-year-old Brovarone retired from Pininfarina in 1988 and works for Stola not as a consultant, but, he says, "as a hobby, to keep me in shape." Speaking of shapes, Brovarone has come up with some historic ones, including the Ferrari 375 America Coupe Speciale that was a one-off made for Gianni Agnelli, the Ferrari Superamerica Superfast 2, and the prototype for the Ferrari Dino 206/246. Before joining Pininfarina, Brovarone worked for Piero Dusio at Cisitalia

Brovarone had done a sketch for Stola in 1999 of a Boxster that had extended the 550 Spyder theme to include a cut-down wraparound windscreen and gill-like air vents on the rear fenders. This was to be the basis for the initial collaboration between RUF and Studiotorino, the RKspyder that debuted in the summer of 2005. The RKspyder was based on a Boxster chassis, although Studiotorino says that only the left front fender panel remains unchanged from the "body in white" as delivered directly from Porsche.

"It is a true roadster; remember, there is no top," Ruf says of the RKspyder. "You can only drive it in good weather." Then he laughs. "We have driven it in the rain and you can stay dry as long as you go fast enough. But in the '50s cars like that existed. Even the Speedster was only slightly weatherproof."

Just as the Cayman evolved as a hardtop version of the Boxster, the RKcoupe is an evolution of the RKspyder. Stola said there were no plans for a closed version until Brovarone surprised him with a set of sketches for one in September 2005.

Brovarone has turned to his past to create the most dramatic element of the RKcoupe. He has replaced the hatchback glass of the Cayman with a rear deck that features an upright window inset between two "sail panels" that, from the side view, continue the fastback lines of the production Cayman.

This has great appeal to Alois from a historical as well as a visual perspective: "The major change is in the roofline to one that has a smoother surface to resemble that of both the Ferrari 246 Dino and the Porsche 904."

This change, which also affects the shape of the rear fenders, requires a new rear bulkhead that reshapes the passenger compartment. Production of the RKcoupe is limited to 49 cars. Studiotorino will do the bodywork and interior and then ship the chassis to RUF for final assembly, including all the mechanicals and painting.

Since RUF has built its reputation on 911-derived cars such as the initial Yellowbird and its turbocharged descendents, I'm compelled to ask why he did not choose to drape a 911 in an Italian suit.

"We have shown what we can do with the 911," is his reply. "The Rt12, with 650 horsepower, is a good example. The mid-engine layout here has a lot of value for development."

The same thinking applies to his choice of a compressor rather than turbocharging the 3.8-liter engine: "It is the right solution for the 996/997 engine where turbocharging is expensive and complicated. There is less mechanical drag and less heat build-up."