Gooding Christie’s Offers One-Off 1998 RUF Project Dragon at No Reserve

Gooding Christie’s is bringing one of the wildest Porsche-based specials ever built to Retromobile New York Auctions this November: the one-off 1998 RUF Project Dragon, offered at no reserve. For enthusiasts who live by the “if you know, you know” creed of RUF, this is a rare chance at something truly singular.

The Project Dragon was inspired by the legendary CTR2 Sport. RUF set out to apply everything learned since: carbon-fiber construction, better suspension and braking, improved engine management and computer-aided design. The result keeps the visual language of the original while pushing it much further.

The story behind the car is as appealing as the car itself. The collector who commissioned it owned several CTR2s, standard and Sport, and called this the car he wanted to build back in 1997/98, before the technology existed.

Per Gooding Christie’s, the car keeps the original’s rear clamshell bi-wing and very wide body, but its outer shell is entirely carbon fiber, integrated with the roll cage, a RUF signature. Separate airflow paths in the rear bodywork feed induction air to the engine and cooling air to the charge-air system, and the twin turbochargers use specially designed pressure pipes.

The numbers are serious: a quoted 621 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 834 Nm of torque at 5,000 rpm, delivered exclusively to the rear wheels.

The look is just as bespoke. RUF developed a series of paint samples starting from Blut Orange and Continental Orange, arriving at Dragon Fire Orange. The classic RUF Lollipop seats are trimmed in semi-aniline leather, with seat backs in Dragon Fire Orange and contrasting RUF logos.

Delivered new in March 2024, the Dragon showed just 759 miles at cataloguing and presents as virtually new. It comes with its RUF build book, manuals, service records, paint and fabric samples, a car cover, tool kit, air compressor and first-aid kit.

Register to bid and browse the full catalogue through Gooding Christie’s. A one-of-one RUF with a story this good is unlikely to come around again.

About the Author

Eve Nowell

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Eve Nowell writes about cars for Backfire News, and she comes by it honestly—she grew up in a racing family, around engines and pit lanes before she was old enough to drive. That world isn't a beat she picked up; it's just where she's always been. At Backfire News she covers off-roading, classic car culture, motorsports, and the people behind the machines. She writes with the enthusiasm of someone who genuinely loves this stuff, but she's a stickler for getting the details right—the kind of writing that holds up with actual gearheads. She's still early in her career and building her own voice, bringing a fresh take to a world she's known her whole life. Her work runs across racing coverage, truck and off-road culture, collector vehicles, and the wider lifestyle that comes with all of it. When she's not writing, she's usually trackside, out in the garage, or chasing down the next story worth telling.

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