The Gumpert Apollo is as fast as it is expensive, having set the record for the fastest lap time of any car driven by the gearheads at Top Gear. But that isn't good enough for Roland Gumpert, who is about to unleash a faster version called, appropriately, the Apollo Speed.
Gumpert is keeping the Speed under wraps until the Geneva Motor Show next month but promises the car will do zero to 62 in 3.0 seconds, zero to 124 in 8.9 seconds and hit a top speed of 224 mph. That's 4 mph faster than the Apollo.
As for the body, well, it still looks like the Predator's helmet. But with a twin-turbo eight-cylinder engine cranking out at least 650 horsepower, who cares?
We say "at least" because Gumpert offers the 4.2-liter Audi engine in various states of tune producing 650, 700 or 800 horsepower and as much as 663 foot-pounds of torque.
Why Audi engines? Because before he started building absurdly powerful sports cars, Roland Gumpert was a development engineer at Audi and director of Audi Sport in the 1970s and 80s. The automaker won 25 World Rally Championship races and two WRC driver's and constructor's titles under his leadership.
He founded Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur in 2004. Say what you will about its looks - Top Gear named the car Quasimodo - it's freakin' fast. Autocar called it "the most exciting vehicle to ever wear number plates." And The Stig, Top Gear's top driver, flogged one around the Power Lap in 1:17.1, shaving two-tenths of a second off the Ascara A10 to post the show's best lap time ever.
The next generation Apollo Speed will carry on Gumpert's long tradition of, er, speed. The car's increase in power over previous Apollo cars can be largely attributed to its reegineered, less restrictive induction system. The Speed gets larger wheels and more muscular wheel arches, a new front splitter, beefy six-piston brakes and an adjustable rear spoiler. Power flows through a paddle-shifted oil-cooled six-speed gearbox.
Like Apollos of the past, the Speed's interior comes equipped with a "whole panoply of details" including A/C and a DVD. Don't expect loads of comfort, though - Apollos are renowned for their race car-like interiors, and the Speed provides a removable steering wheel and four-point safety harnesses that the company says provide an "intense bond" with the car. They also keep your limbs in a tidy pile should things go pear-shaped.
Gumpert isn't saying what the Speed will cost, but the Apollo starts at $385,000. Gumpert wouldn't provide anything more than the teaser shot, so we've included some pics of the Apollo.
Meanwhile, we're wondering if Gumpert will offer a road-going version of the hybrid it raced at the Nurburgring.
Photos: Gumpert
