Car of the Day - Gumpert Apollo
Gumpert is managing to put itself well into the spotlight as a builder of hyper performance cars, if not a builder of good looking ones. It seems these days no matter the uncertainty of global economics there is a market for hyperexotic hypercars and their builders seem to be able to sustain a business on 50 car per year or less. I guess it doesn’t hurt that the company was formed by Roland Gumpert, former manager of the Audi Sports department, as well as other ex-Audi employees Under Gumperts management Audi scored 25 victories in World Championship races and gained 4 Rally World Championship titles with the legendary Quattros.
Gumpert first debuted it’s Apollo at the Geneva’s International Motor Show in 2006. While I wouldn’t call it ugly, it certainly is no beauty. The people that are buying a Gumpert are not buying them for their looks though. It is the shear unadulterated performance. In its current guise the Apollo can achieve 0-60 in under three seconds while going onto a top speed of 232 mph. It lapped the Top Gear test track in 1:17.1 pushing the Ascari A10 from top spot. And the big one - it lapped the Nurburgring in 7:11.57 in the hands of Florian Guber taking the “production car” lap record.
What makes it so fast - a 800-hp, biturbo Audi 4.2-liter FSI V8 and a weight of just 1200 kg. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder one thing is an absolute, and that is form follows function. The Apollo is a race car for the street, and the design exercise was more about taking existing race car technology and knowledge and building it into a street legal car. Priority was also put into making this a safe street legal race car with the chrome-molybdenum tubular space frame integrated with a monocoque fabricated in carbon-fiber passing all crash-tests regulations. There is a cashbox that offers additional protection.
The Apollo is available in 650hp base, 700 hp Speed and 800 hp Sport options with the base version just shy of 300k Euro.
Rod Halligan
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