It was deemed the “Yellowbird” by Road & Track editors during a two-day event at VW’s Ehra-Lessien track where the journalists were collecting data for a story called, “The Fastest Car in the World.” The blow-off valve for the twin-turbo, (the only twin-turbo 911 in the world at the time) chirps like a canary, further validating the name. During that event it reached 211 mph. Alois Ruf custom built the car for the event. He took a standard 930 and replaced the steel doors, hood, and decklid with aluminum ones, modified the engine significantly (including two huge turbos) and installed the Ruf five-speed gearbox that helped build his company. The car weighs only 2,662 pounds, coupled with 469 horsepower and 408 ft.-lb. of torque. Only 29 were built and they are known to outclass almost any high performance car of the time.

Following the release of the new 993-chassis, Alois Ruf went to work building a new CTR that would once again sit in the upper echelons of automotive performance. Capable of 220 mph and 0-60 in 3.6 seconds, the CTR2’s performance was the stuff of legend among its contemporaries. Fitted with all-wheel drive, a Kevlar body, and a Ruf-tuned 3.6-liter, twin-turbocharged, flat-six generating 520 hp and later 580 hp, the car was light, quick, and agile on any surface. To prove the car’s dominance, Ruf enter two CTR2s in the Pike’s Peak Hill Climb. They were both street legal and driven to and from the race. They placed second and fourth and set the overall top qualifying time. They went on to win another twenty races, ranking the CTR2 as one of the most successful performance cars of the 1990s.

RUF is an incredible automaker in their own right—while it may seem easier to start with an existing chassis to create your model line, when you consider how much work goes into each RUF you quickly realize that this is not necessarily true. Creating a RUF is not easy; starting with modern Porsche body-in-whites (meaning, a bare welded-together chassis without VINs, sold to RUF), RUF does the rest of the assembly, fitting mostly bespoke components and re-engineering nearly everything else to craft an entire package engineered to work together from the get-go. First, there’s the integral rollcage that RUF installs in each chassis, a signature element that adds rigidity and safety—a tradition started with the CTR2 in 1996. After that, things get wilder. The RGT-8 is a good example: it doesn’t even feature a Porsche-based engine. Instead, RUF designed its own original V8—a 4.5-liter flat-plane crank masterpiece—from scratch in two years flat. The resulting engine is less than an inch longer than the 3.6-liter flat six found in a normal 911, and it’s a full 88 lbs. lighter. To make matters even more interesting, it produces about 550 horsepower without the aid of turbochargers or superchargers. Outside, the RUF is enhanced with special aerodynamic bodywork for a unique look, and RUF also fits upgraded suspension in several flavors. The RGT-8 is a fine example of what makes RUF special; completely redone from top to bottom, the result is a vaguely familiar shape with completely unique driving characteristics.

Car enthusiasts are sometimes confused about why RUF is considered a manufacturer rather than a tuner modifying another’s creation. However, when you consider the amount of work that goes into producing the incredible Rt 12 S, you’ll understand the difference. The “donor” car is first completely disassembled to allow for the installation of an integral roll cage, welded right into the chassis. The body is then modified, with an entirely new front facisa, even wider rear fenders with conspicuous additional air scoops, and a larger rear wing made out of carbon fiber. And then there’s the engine, completely rebuilt with custom RUF-specified parts to produce a supercar-shaming 675 horsepower. Unlike some amateurish hopped-up tuner car, however, the RUF is highly civilized—you could fetch groceries with it if you’d like—but call out all the ponies and the Rt 12 S will take you well past 200 mph.

The Rt 12 S is an incredible supercar, but the Rt 12 R is all the S is—and more. The addition of all-wheel drive and nearly 50 more horsepower are part of the story, but you might be surprised to realize that the R also weighs about 40 lbs. less. Starting with the traditional body-in-white, RUF completely rebuilds or replaces the rest of the componentry, and the result is stunning—730 horsepower and 693 ft-lbs. of torque, enough to rival all but the most extreme supercars. Partially that’s due to the 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged “boxer” six, and partly that’s due to the nearly supernatural ability of the R to translate that power into forward momentum using the all-wheel drive system. 0-60 times are nearly irrelevant; they’re in the low 3-second range, or in other words, rocket-ship quick. The limits of adhesion are nearly impossible to reach on a regular road—it takes a serious roadcourse to take the R to its limits. That the R is capable of being registered for road use (in some parts of Europe, at least), is perhaps the strangest part of the equation considering its manic performance. It should be noted, though, that while the R can do things that few cars can equal, it does so precisely and without drama; a skilled driver can use this car as a finely tuned racing tool.