On my first visit to Ruf's terracotta-tiled workshop in Pfaffenhausen, I was greeted by a half-dressed Porsche 550 Spyder being loaded with one of the company's 4.1-litre Mezger engines.
The technicians, in forest green overalls, said it was a silly and possibly dangerous idea, but the client insisted, and deep down these men were happy to oblige. That machine is out there somewhere, terrifying people with 900bhp per tonne. In an adjacent bay was an original Yellowbird, casually. I remember Rafael Riethmüller, a warm and fastidious test engineer, saying something along the lines of "imagine doing 212mph when a Mk2 Golf GTI was a fast car", from his wheelchair.
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