Road Test: Gumpert Apollo

One of our friends over on PureGT.com, Boss Cerbera, received an invitation to drive a Gumpert Apollo. He wrote a great review of the car that we have to share with you.

The review

A couple of weeks ago I received an invitation to drive the Gumpert Apollo. Around Brands Hatch. Obviously, I mulled over the proposition for about, erm, a nanosecond. I first heard about, and saw some information about, the Gumpert a few years ago whilst on business in Italy’s ‘supercar valley’. I registered that it looked a bit odd and had an even odder-sounding name. Then the car broke cover a while later. It’s not been a car that has particularly floated my boat but my mate Gruffy is a fan of them. All I knew before today was that it was “race engineered” and apparently goes like sh1t off a shovel.

When I first saw a TVR Sagaris drive down Bristol Avenue it occured to me it looked like the angriest car on the road. When I first saw the Apollo come growling down the Brand Hatch pit lane, I changed my mind. Staring at an approaching Gumpert is like a punch on the chin. And that name… Gumpert. It’s grown on me, probably because I now have a better understanding of who Roland Gumpert is: Audi’s long-time motor sport manager who brought us ‘quattro’ and Audi 25 WRC race wins and 4 WRC championships.

UK concessionaire Racetech UK laid on quite a schedule for their blue Apollo S today. Their ‘Stig’, tin top racer Tony Gillam, was continuously either thrashing the car around with a passenger strapped in or, even more gamely, strapping himself in while guests gave the car a whirl.

For a spot of preparation, I fired the Diablo around for a few laps before it was my turn in the Apollo… Before I got hold of the steering wheel, Tony gave me a couple of hot laps. Our exit from the pit lane was like being fired out of a cannon. The car was using its “running in” map so had “only about 550bhp”. It’s more than adequate. :eek: Tony demonstrated the car’s ability to be steered on the throttle and how its [adjustable] traction control works. Yes, they were quick laps.

Then it was my go… The Apollo is LHD but it took no time at all to adjust to this. It didn’t take very long to get comfortable with the car’s performance either. The Apollo is a remarkable machine. Plainly, it goes like stink. But most remarkable of all is how the whole package gels together. The twin-turbo 4.2 Audi V8 is brutal but entirely progressive in its power delivery – no quirky turbo rush to catch you out, just masses of torque and monumental thrust. Catch up traffic ahead and there’s no need to hesitate to let the faster of the cars pass the slower one – just stab on the gas and overtake them both …and still have time to pull back on to the racing line to take the next corner. Coming out of the dip at the foot of Paddock Hill and into the Diablo’s braking zone for the Druids Hairpin, I could punch in another gear and give the Apollo another burst of gas, and still have time to drop two gears and brake for the hairpin. Jumping the kerbs and flicking the tail with the power through the left-right kinks of Surtees felt fantastic. A whiff of understeer as the nose went light turning into the crest of Clearways was immediately neutralised with a clogful of gas. Being really savage, the traction control would arrest it, be a little more progressive and the Apollo just fired out of Clearways like a missile.

The chassis is probably the best I have ever driven, period. Within a couple of laps I was confident to steer it on the throttle, tickle the traction control and generally hoof it about like I would a TVR – TVRs I’ve had ten years with, the Apollo just minutes. That’s ALL about the predictability and feedback of the Apollo’s chassis and the engine response.

WHAT a car! Roland Gumpert & Co – I salute you.