When former member of the Volkswagen Family, Roland Gumpert->ke1055 decided to leave the marque back in 2004 in order to create his own interpretation of the track ready and road legal super car he was out to make a statement. His current creation is powered by a 700 HP version of Audi’s bi-turbo 4.2 Liter V8, the Gumpert Apollo can go from 0 to 120 MPH in just 8.9 seconds and has a top speed just shy of 225 MPH. However if you want to be taken seriously as a super car manufacturer, you need more than just straight line performance. That is why back on August 13th, Roland hired 26 year old driver Florian Gruber to pilot an Apollo Sport around the Nurburgring, the young racing driver crossed the line in exactly 7 minutes and 11.57 seconds. Setting a new record for a production car around the Nordschleif.

The new record is over 10 seconds faster than the Viper SRT-10 ACR that is currently in third and a full 15 seconds ahead of the Nissan GT-R/Porsche 911 Turbo conspiracy. It is even faster than the upcoming Lexus LF-A around the 'Ring. If you can think about it in racing terms, if you can compare the lap times between an F1 car and the similarly shaped Indy car at the 2.71 mile, 15 turn Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal where both cars race. Sebastien Bourdais was able to win pole position in the Indy car with a time of 1:20.396 while Jenson Button won the pole in his F1 car with a lap time of 1:15.217. In this instance 5 seconds is the difference between night and day, a racing engineer would kill for that kind of advantage; and we are talking about a few hundred horse power and a couple hundred pounds difference. So spread that around the 12.9 mile Nordschleife circuit complete with its 33 left and 40 right turns; completing a lap in only 7:11 is quite an impressive feat.

Press release after the jump.

PRESS RELEASE

Seven:Eleven, Fifty-seven

GUMPERT apollo sport sets new lap record for road legal cars on legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife to 7:11,57 min

(Altenburg/Nurburg)

It is August, 13 th.

The air has a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and the sky is clouded. At 12:55 p.m. professional race driver Florian Gruber (age 26) crosses the line of the Nurburgring Nordschleife and unleashes the 700 hp of his GUMPERT apollo sport. He has set off into a race against the clock. His only objective: To break the record for road legal cars on the legendary 13 mile racetrack, once felicitously entitled “the green hell” by racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart. And to beat the existing official record of the Donkervoort D8 RS06 set almost 4 years ago.

7 minutes, 11 seconds and 57 hundreds of a second later Gruber crosses the line again. He has proven: The GUMPERT APOLLO SPORT is officially the fastest road legal factory car ever to circle the Ring until today. With an average speed of around 106,78 mp/h (171,84 km/h) the apollo was by 3,32 seconds faster than the former record holder. And – by the way – more than 13 seconds faster than the Maserati MC 12 in 2008. And, well - I even could have gone a little faster”, said the pretty unimpressed driver after coming back into the pits. And not even one drop of sweat on his brow after the record lap. The apollo sport in standard factory specification was equipped with road legal MICHELIN Pilot Sport Cup tires and an adjustable suspension by KW suspensions.

“The conditions were good, but not perfect – so we have still got potential to go faster”, concluded Florian Gruber. From his point of view, the apollo has the potential to even break the 7 minutes mark. And Roland Gumpert, former Head of AUDI SPORT and managing director of the GUMPERT Sportwagenmanufaktur, adds with a wink: “It is great that we broke the record and that we were able to show the potential of the apollo – but at this stage there is no need to go faster. We don´t want to demoralize our fellow competitors by now...”

At a glance

GUMPERT APOLLO SPORT (700 HP)

Transmission: sequential six-speed gear box with synchronisation and oil cooling, twin plate clutch configuration (diameter 2 x 200 mm), rear-wheel drive, differential lock by Torsen

Chassis: long and pushrod-operated double transverse control arm suspension with fully adjustable dampers front and rear and anti roll bar in front

Brakes: two circuit BOSCH-ABS brake system with six piston callipers, inside ventilated discs (378 x 32 mm) all around

Wheels & Tires: Aluminium cast wheels with centre look front: 255/35 ZR19 rear: 345/35 ZR19

Dry weight: 1,200 kg (For cars with standard equipment without filling. Special eqipment may increase this value.)

Allowed total weight: 1,550 kg

Length: 4,460 mm

Width: 1,998 mm

Height: 1,105 mm

Wheel base: 2,700 mm

Wheel gauge: front: 1,670 mm, rear: 1,598 mm

Tank capacity: 120 litre

Engine: V8-cylinder-Biturbomotor with 90 degree cylinder angle, light metal cylinder heads with 5 valves per cylinder, four overhead camshafts, hydraulic valve clearance compensation, double-flow exhaust system with three-way catalytic converter, dry sump lubrication

Cubic capacity: 4,163 cm3

Engine performance: 515 kW (700 HP) at 6.500 rev/min

Maximum torque: 875 Nm at 4.000 rev/min

Litre performance: 123.7 kW/Litre (168 HP/Litre)

Maximum rev.: 7,200 rev/min

Top speed: 360 km/h / 224 mph (Depending on equipment, county related specification, gear ratio and engine power)

Acceleration figures: 0-100 km/h in 3,0 s 0-200 km/h in 8,9 s