Ruf Automobile has built an engine with eight cylinders and much horsepower. It’s called the ‘Boxer-Eight’—or B8 for short—and it has been slotted into a modified RUF prototype ahead of a demonstration run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Fitting, because this B8 churns out more than 1,000hp and 1,000Nm torque and—oh, what’s that, the whole ‘boxer-eight’ thing? Yes, Ruf has built an engine with eight horizontally opposed cylinders. A flat-eight, which isn’t usually bolted into road cars.
No, they’re normally associated with racing machinery, and of course, it was Porsche who pioneered the flat-eight for Formula 1 and sports car prototypes decades ago. “A boxer-eight has never been part of our story,” said boss Alois Ruf, “or anyone else’s in this form, so we decided to write a new chapter in automotive history.”
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That new chapter is internally known as the ‘Erpober’ (which translates to ‘tester’), with a displacement of 4.8 liters and two turbochargers, slotted into a modified Ruf CTR3 to showcase the fact that it’s being designed for future road use.
Said CTR3 has been stretched by 100mm so that it can absorb those eight flat cylinders, and also features a six-speed manual gearbox. “The decision to use the CTR3 supercar was strategic,” said Ruf, “allowing [us] to test the limits of the new engine’s performance while remaining under the radar.”
Not so much under it anymore, not least with that new livery that depicts eight furious cylinders working furiously. “When designing the B8 livery, I wanted the graphics to tell the story of the car before anyone even heard the engine,” said Mr. Ruf. “Every line represents movement, and the flowing form of the number eight became a natural symbol, not only for the new boxer-eight cylinder, but for the endless pursuit of improvement and refinement that has always been part of our family’s philosophy.
“Combined with the unmistakable Blossom Yellow of the CTR Yellowbird, the design honors our heritage while looking confidently toward the future.”
We do not know when this future will materialize, but we do know Tanner Foust—you may have heard of him—will be driving the prototype B8 at Goodwood throughout the weekend.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
