In 1987, Road & Track pitted the CTR against contemporary supercars like the Ferrari 288 GTO, Porsche 959 and Lamborghini Countach. The result was a win for the Ruf, which clocked 209 mph at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test track. The magazine said of the CTR: “At each gear shift the Ruf went slightly sideways, only to straighten for an explosive burst of speed to the next gear, more like what I imagined a top-fuel dragster to be than a perfectly drivable road car.”
A year later, the magazine’s 1988 World’s Fastest Cars edition saw the CTR go even faster, reaching 211 mph and setting a new street car speed record.
Priced at $177,000 with the exchange rate of the day, the Ruf CTR was described as “an incredible piece of work for the money,” with the magazine concluding: “There are other cars that will cost you just as much or more, but try to find one that is faster. By our reckoning, it can’t be done.”
Despite the Yellowbird nickname, the CTR was also available in colors other than canary yellow. A black example sold at auction in 2018 for $1,022,500. In total, 30 examples of the CTR were built.
