Have You Ever Heard of – The Gumpert Apollo?

We remember the first and as it turns out the only time we ever saw a Gumpert Apollo in the flesh like it was yesterday. It was the summer of 2008 and we were hooning down to Le Mans for the 24 Hour race in a Nissan Skyline R32 GTR, indulging at every opportunity, as you do, in the toll booth grand prix. For those unfamiliar with the tradition it’s a game as old as time itself (or at least as old as toll booths anyway) whereby you floor it as soon as that barrier raises in a bid to be faster than everyone else off the line, whether they know they’re playing or not. Feeling rather pleased with ourselves as we shot away from paying the latest in a long line of levies, safe in the knowledge that we were out in front, those preliminary feelings of triumph and celebration were suddenly and unceremoniously dashed as what can only be described at the time as a U.F.F.O (unidentified very, ahem, fast object) breezed past us like we were driving a milk float rather than a tuned and fairly zesty JDM rocket ship.

The offending article. A friend managed to snap the Apollo as it sailed past.

Amongst cries of “what the hell was that!?”, as we watched said car disappear into the distance unable to ascertain any boot lid badging, debate raged as to the make and model. We had absolutely no idea what it was that had just so effortlessly overtaken us, having never seen a Gumpert Apollo before. It wasn’t until later on when we returned home that we were informed of the car’s identity by a friend that was also travelling with us at the wheel of a BMW E39 540i who had recently seen it appear on Top Gear, whereby it was piloted by The Stig to become the new fastest car around the track. It was a record that instantly earned the car muchos kudos among viewers and one that stood for two whole years.

Much like the Skyline we were piloting back then (we still regret selling that one) the Gumpert Apollo utilises twin turbochargers. The difference with the German supercar, however, is that they’re strapped to a 4.2-litre Audi V8 as oppose to a straight-six, pumping out an eye-watering and Godzilla-destroying 690 brake horsepower. Combined with impressive aerodynamic proficiency and a much lower curb weight of just over a ton, thanks to a tubular chromoly chassis and fibreglass and carbon fibre body panels, this mid-engined, rear wheel drive two-seater can hit 60mph from a standstill at a French toll booth in 2.9 seconds, and boy don’t we know it. Not even the impressive power and four-wheel drive setup of the GTR could save us from an absolute trouncing.

Hitting the streets in 2005 (we had to double check that this was, in fact, eighteen years ago) the Gumpert Apollo was the brainchild of Roland Gumpert who envisioned building a car that was as happy and perfectly usable on the street as it was on a race track. This wasn’t a particularly revolutionary concept with the likes of the Porsche’s revered 911 GT3 having been unveiled in ’99 but it is much more commonplace nowadays with many manufacturers blurring the lines between road and track performance.

Herr Gumpert was no stranger to performance cars having spent time in the ’80s as race director at Audi, picking up numerous titles along the way, with time served behind the wheel as a development test engineer for the German manufacturer earlier on in his career too. Suffice to say he could write a pretty decent book as far as onions are concerned and it was with this deep understanding and experience of making cars go fast that he decided to create his own company Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur in 2004. Enlisting the help of fellow Audi alumni and subsequent five-cylinder turbo whisperer Roland Mayer, Gumpert set about designing and building the Apollo.

Arguably not the prettiest car in the classic sense the design of the Apollo, by Marco Vanetta, is more akin to the lines of a racing car with a few hints of Bugatti Veyron thrown in for good measure, a car that just so happened to be produced at a similar time. But then that was the whole point. This was a track car for the street, or vice versa, and Gumpert had succeeded in bringing his initial idea to fruition But it wasn’t just the two Rolands that made this dream a reality; a host of technical boffins were brought in to help develop the car too. These lab-coated experts at various German universities assisted with the necessary research and development required for such a bold project and were integral in making the Apollo such a special vehicle.

It was out there, it was fresh and it had the figures to back up any performance claims with a record breaking lap at the Nürburgring. And we all know how important those numbers are when it comes to lending credibility to a sporty number. We’ve already mentioned the 690bhp engine that was available in the “sport” version of the car but there was also a standard version (if the Gumpert Apollo can ever be called standard) and a race version developing 640 and 790bhp respectively. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and after just nine years in business the company went into liquidation, putting an end to any vehicle production. The Apollo moniker does live on as an enterprise today but without Gumpert or his namesake after being purchased by a consortium who have produced a small number of sports cars since, none of which have had the impact of the original Apollo.

The Gumpert Apollo was as mad as a box of frogs upon its release and to this day still looks pretty space-age with performance to rival much more modern supercars – testament to Roland Gumpert’s initial vision – and despite having moved on to pioneering work in the methanol fuel technology industry his legacy and contribution to the car world is indelible. Seeing that jet black Apollo blast past us on the French autoroute back in 2008 – like Maverick buzzing the tower – is a cherished and lasting memory that will stick in the old grey matter until we shuffle off this mortal coil and we’re thankful to have caught even the slightest glimpse of a truly legendary piece of automotive greatness.