Gumpert Apollo was a very niche supercar from the early 2000s. It was the brainchild of Roland Gumpert who is, interestingly, the man behind Audi's famed Quattro AWD system. His dream of building a car company not for the 'profit' point of view, but solely for the heart-warming driving experience is what led to the creation of this mad machine. Gumpert Apollo is literally a thing of dreams.
To start with, this track-car for the road looks, unlike any other supercar to date. Mr. Gumpert had taken all sorts of mystical inspirations for his supercar. The logo comprised of a Griffin; a creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Then there is the name 'Apollo' - A Roman god who is mostly related to medicines, music, poetry, and prophecy.
But this Frankenstein of names bundled together to come about as a hardcore track-focused supercar, ready for the road. Ironically the creation of the brains behind Audi's Quattro system was only offered in RWD and packed an engine derived from the Audi RS6 of the time. This is a special car that was solely built for the joy of pure unadulterated driving pleasure.
The Gumpert Apollo was a $600,000 track-car for the road that could technically be driven up-side-down at over 120 mph. All hail the 'Aero'gods!
Costs Over Half-A-Million Dollars; And Came In 3 Versions
It was quite a bold move of Gumpert to put a sticker price of upwards of $600,000 on the Apollo. The base version half-a-mil was the least powerful with 650 horses. Atop that was the Sport version with more aggressive bodywork and bumped up performance figures rated at 750hp. And then there was the Gumpert Apollo R, a track-only iteration of this already mad machine that was rated at 850 hp.
An Audi RS6-derived Engine Was Used For Its Mental Performance
Gumpert sourced the rear-mid mounted of the track-spec Apollo from Audi. It was taken from the very much unsuspected 2002 RS6. This engine had been heavily modified to make it track-worthy. It added modified fuel injection, for chunkier performance, along with a dry-sump lubrication system, cos you need all the force to tackle those insane G's!
Two K26 turbos and an improved air-charge cooler were slapped onto this seemingly sober 4.2L V8 engine. In the base layout, the Gumper Apollo churned out 650 hp and 627 lb-ft. The Apollo S was a bit more mental version that churned out 750 hp and 664 lb-ft.
And if that wasn't enough, the track-only Apollo R which was rated at 850 hp and 701 lb-ft would likely tickle you. But the irony here is that the company founded by, seemingly, the father of Audi's Quattro system was only offered in RWD. But it was fun, and when coupled with the 6-Speed manual sequential gearbox, the experience was pure love.
Gumpert Apollo Does 0-60 Mph in 3 Secs; Has A Top Speed Of Over 220 Mph
A car of such caliber will always perform in high standards and accelerate like there is no tomorrow. And that's exactly what the Gumper Apollo did. In its base form, the Apollo Gumpert had a top speed of 224 mph and did 0-60 mph in just 3 seconds.
That's insane perks coming from an Audi RS6's engine and puts into limelight the serious internal tweaks that had gone into it. For reference, the Porsche Carerra GT (one of the Holy Trinities of its time) took 3.8 seconds to hit 60 mph and had a top speed of 205 mph. Now that was something to brag about!
Aerodynamics Was Godly And Had A Torsionaly Rigidity Closer To An F1 Car
It is wrapped in fiberglass around a tubular Chromoly frame and looked exactly like a Griffin of the automotive world (now we get why he put that Griffin in the logo!). Optional carbon fiber was also offered to push the limits even further and this allowed the Gumper Apollo to weigh in anywhere between 2,400 lbs. to 2,600 lbs.
The aerodynamics on this racecar for the road was so well-sought after that it could produce as much downforce as a DTM car and also technically be driven upside down when rolling at over 120 mph.
The aerospace-grade chrome-molybdenum steel used was precisely tuned to take on literally anything that was put to it. It required more than 40,000 Nm of force to be twisted by even one degree, that is about 10,000 Nm less than that of a Formula 1 car!
Interior Was Comfy Despite Being Drive-Focused And Bare Minimum
We generally expect such a track-focused car to have a sore-worthy interior layout with minimal padding and a neck-wreaking experience. But surprisingly the cabin of the Gumpert Apollo was luxurious and comfortable. The seating was just slabs of cushion slapped onto the hub wall, but it was well-padded to not give you a sore day.
Much of the components were shared with Audi but the dashboard was still very elegant what it was and came wrapped in leather. It came standard with a 4-point harness and you could kiss your knees sitting in it, but hey, you don't get to see a 'comfortable' racecar every day.
Gumpert Is Gone, But 'Apollo' Gets A Spiritiual Successor
As much as we love the Gumpert Apollo, and Roland's conception of the idea to make a serious track car for the road, it was sad to see it wither away. Gumpert filed for bankruptcy in 2013 but went into liquidation, thanks to an anonymous backer.
It was soon after bought over by a Hong-Kong based venture who also owns De Tomaso. They renamed Gumpert to Apollo Automobil GMbH and has now given us the mad-new Apollo IE, an even more radical V12 super that is well worthy to be called the Gumper Apollo successor!
Sources: Autoblog.com, Evo.co.uk, Wikipedia.org, Topspeed.com