Spa: RUF CTR yellowbird, Ford RS200, Lotus 340R, TVR's, etc.

[Wutputt]

As promised, the next Spa track day topic. This time I only went in the morning, cause in the afternoon I was hunting down Porsches at the ring :P No supercar this time, though the regulars and the a couple of rare cars attended this track day.

The high-res pics can be found on this page (http://users.skynet.be/fa344132/fotokes/spa20051003/Spa_20051003.htm).


The most amazing car that day, was this original RUF CTR Yellowbird. My 3rd or 2nd one. Only a few of these were made (I don't know the exact number, but it must be something in the twenties). I'm always thrilled to see one of these rare beasts. But not only it rarity is thrilling, this thing accelerates really impressive when the boost kicks in. Astonishing car!

http://users.skynet.be/fa344132/fotokes/spa20051003/DSC_1514_small.jpg


Next rarity are these Ford RS200's. Made specifically for group B rallying, these things fly as well. I've had never seen one before. Seeing three together was a nice track day gift :D

http://users.skynet.be/fa344132/fotokes/spa20051003/DSC_1446_small.jpg


And now one of those mad British cars: a TVR Tamora. It looks different, it goes fast and I like it.

http://users.skynet.be/fa344132/fotokes/spa20051003/DSC_1485_small.jpg


Another British beef is this Noble M12 GTO 3R. According to JC Darth Vader lives in its engine bay.

http://users.skynet.be/fa344132/fotokes/spa20051003/DSC_1386_small.jpg


Some sort of Elise track day meeting must have been going on this day, cause the amount of Elises present was enormous. I guess one out of two cars was an Elise.

http://users.skynet.be/fa344132/fotokes/spa20051003/DSC_1734_small.jpg


And its sportier twin brother, the Exige, looking mean as always.

http://users.skynet.be/fa344132/fotokes/spa20051003/DSC_1656_small.jpg


But if an Elise or Exige isn't back to basics enough, a nice 340R may be the way to go:

http://users.skynet.be/fa344132/fotokes/spa20051003/DSC_1438_small.jpg


And to finish with, one of the last 348's ever produced: a 348 GTS:

http://users.skynet.be/fa344132/fotokes/spa20051003/DSC_1691_small.jpg


High-res pics can be found here (http://users.skynet.be/fa344132/fotokes/spa20051003/Spa_20051003.htm).

[Pehtren]

:shock: :shock:

you some really rare cars 8) i must say that i never saw a ford rs 200, or just the back is a little not familiar :)

but 340 i like, andf the 348 GTS is amazing :lol:

thanks for the pics 8)

[blaszek]

Unique photos, unique cars, uniquely. Ford RS200 - genuine legend of motorization. Beautiful captivation of car of mark Lotus. Look how me nicely. Several are in Poland from these cars only Ferrari 348GTS but unfortunately, we will not see on polish ways remaining :cry:

[blaszek]

Unique photos, unique cars, uniquely. Ford RS200 - genuine legend of motorization. Beautiful captivation of car of mark Lotus. Look how me nicely. Several are in poland from these cars only Ferrari 348GTS but unfortunately, we will not see on polish ways remaining :cry:

[TT]

WOW, I really dig those RS200 shots!!!

[stradale]

Very nice cars here as well. The RS200s are very rare. I have never seen one in real life, let alone three.... on a racetrack. They're not exactly sexy, but from the rear they have something interesting about them. I bet they were nippy, as they saw the light just around the time group B was killed off because the cars had become ludicrously fast.

[dingo]

Maybe not as special as the last one, but still a bunch of nice cars. :D

The Yellowbird is just :drool: and I love the pics of the red 360 with fogged up headlights!! :D

I also love this pic......just funny how both guys are looking up while you are obviously concentrating on the car. :lol:

http://img356.exs.cx/img356/3672/dsc1758e9yn.th.jpg

[Darkel]

3 Ford RS200 and a yellow bird would've already been worth the trip :D I once read about the RS but I barely saw any recent pics of it; the Tamora isn't that common either

Such a shitload of Elises there :shock:

Thanks for the pictures :wink:

[c0wb0y007]

Wutputt,

The yellowbird definitely is a rare sight here in Belgium, although it's an old car it still looks bonkers and it's true wolf in cheaps' clothing even when it is a "porsche" :)

A friend of mine who has an Elise didn't mention it that there was a trackday at Francorchamps. So, it might have been too pricy or he just didn't know.

Thanks for sharing those

Cheers

[racer_f50]

That purple Exige is awesome! That color really suits the car :D

[sl55kleemann]

Nice cars at Spa in winter!

Thanks for the pics :wink:

[Wutputt]

Are you sure that's a Yellowbird? Looks more like a yellow CTR. I mean, the Yellowbird is a turbo, hence should have the air intakes above the rear wheels ... nah? :?

I always thought the CTR was the Yellowbird :? The CTR was granted this nickname after beating some notorious records. About those air ducts on the rear wings; I though these were an option, or were part of some package with even more power. Correct me if I'm wrong ;)

Even so, this car definitely was turbocharged. A 3.4 NA doesn't accelerate that hard even in a light RUF shell, and exhaust note contained a big turbo blowing sound.

But it could be there was a regular CTR and a Yellowbird version. But I've never heard of this distinction. If you have more info, enlighten me ;) Or if there is a Porsche guru in this section, tell us more about this amazing car.

[Wutputt]

I also love this pic......just funny how both guys are looking up while you are obviously concentrating on the car. :lol:

http://img356.exs.cx/img356/3672/dsc1758e9yn.th.jpg

There was a naked female delta-pilot flying over :lol:



@ all: thanks for the comments ;)

[RC45]

Nice RS200 sight. Prefer those 3 cars over all the others ;)

Parts of it look familiar because if I recall a number of parts were Ford Sierra bits.. like the tail lights, door frames and a bunch of other odds and sods.

I think the funniest part is that the GroupB 600hp momster was built by Reliant... those slow 3-wheel pices of shit :P

Sadly, many of the 200 RS200's built were smashed to bits in that silly eurosport of Rally Cross.

Pointless, if exciting - but really sent a lot of awesome ex-rally cars to an early death.

[harryo2b]

The famous "YellowBird" series of RUF's are actually called CTR's, which RUF disignated as Groupe C Turbo Racers. The slats above the rear wheels were to allow more airflow into the oil coolers and air coolers in the engine bay, approx. hp was around 493. It was a single KKK turbo added to a modified Porsche engine after RUF blue printed the engine and reworked it for max hp and efficiency. As stated the Yellowbird was a name given by i think it was Road and Track in 1987 after a super car test of the car after it blew away the competition, and all CTR's didn't come in yellow. Recently saw a "Tornado Red" CTR at RUF in September during my visit. The CTR2's (2nd Generation) were based off of the 993 chasis and had 520+hp and either came in regular or Sport versions.

harrY

[RC45]

^^ What he said -
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/8873/carjpg8cn.jpg

I have that magazine somewhere.

[Wutputt]

Thanks for the history lesson, Harry and RC45!

But I still have a question: is there a reason why this one doesn't have the air ducts above the rear wheels?

[harryo2b]

If i remember correctly i don't think that would be the case, Ruf didn't have power stages yet at that time. Either the customer didn't opt for the inlets or this may not be a RUF VIN CTR but instead a full RUF conversion to CTR spec. Of course i can't tell from the pics if its one or the other but that would be my explaination.

A pic of a CTR in for restoration prior to hand over to new owner. This is a RUF VIN CTR and photo was taken while i was visiting RUF for the day. Notice no air inlets.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/assfacekilla/Ruf%20Tag%202005/YellowBird.jpg

[frodefe]

I think that the air inlets are only to be found on the initial CTR press-car.
Test showed that they did not perform as intended, thus they were left out from the rest of the production series.

Happy new year by the way!

PS If anybody has the original R&T magazine, and are willing to scan/share, it would make the beginning of 2006 great..

[taygunho]

thanks for pics Wutputt.

[Wutputt]

@ Harry and Frodefe: thanks for the further info. The theory of the air ducts only being on the test car sounds like a plausible explanation to me. Maybe we should send RUF a mail to be 100% sure about this matter?

[stmoritzer]

as I said before in your other post, too many pics to browse in one day :shock:

The black Exige is hot!
Never saw the Ford RS200 before ?!