“It has always been a dream of mine to have a car that has so much downforce, such aerodynamic efficiency that you could drive on the roof of a tunnel at high speed - and this car can.”
These were the words of Roland Gumpert a little over a decade ago when he was fresh of leaving his job as the director of Audi Sport. During his tenure with the Ingolstadt-based automaker, he oversaw a team that won a total of 25 World Rally Championship races and four World Rally Championship titles.
In 2004, Gumpert officially founded GMG Sportwagenmanufaktur Altenburg GmbH in Altenburg, Germany, thus paving the way for the birth of one of the most exotic niche German supercars of the past decade: the Gumpert Apollo. Since it’s debut in 2006, Gumpert has developed four different versions of the Apollo, including the recently debuted 2010 Apollo Sport that made its first appearance at last year’s Geneva Auto Show.
In the six years since its debut, Gumpert has gone from the Apollo to the 2010 Apollo Sport, an impressive run of supercars that has become a fashionable name in the industry, giving Gumpert all the validation he needed when he said that he wanted to build his own supercar on his own terms.
Details on the Gumpert Apollo after the jump.
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The German supercar maker, Gumpert, is adding a new two-seater Tourer model to their lineup, and has debuted it at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. The Tornante will be based on a new central engine chassis and V8-powered drivetrain, and will be designed by Touring Superleggera. This model will be setting a new standard for Gumpert as high-end engineering, sportiness, and elegance will come together to join the street-legal performance of the Apollo. The Touring designed Tornante will feature composite body panels placed on a space frame and a carbon fiber monocoque. These elements will allow the Tornante to be much more spacious than the Apollo.
Call us crazy, but it doesn’t seem as if the exterior design for the Tornante is all that different from the Apollo. The biggest difference we can see is the open top on the concept, which led us to believe that the gullwing doors would be eliminated from the overall design, however Gumpert has been editing multiple parts of the design to incorporate even larger Gullwing doors than ever before. During product development stages Gumpert wanted to utilize the expertise that TOURING designers have been putting into their cars for many years. According to Gumpert, the synergies between the two companies led to a great relationship, “teams from the two companies discovered soon that they share the same respect for efficiency and essentiality.”
This team has been able to develop a new model for the limited Gumpert lineup and been able to use many parts from the Apollo at the same time. This does not mean that the two cars are the same in any respect- rather Gumpert knew that it had to change several key factors in the new model in order to expand their customer base and please the requests of Apollo owners. Most of these upgrades or changes have to do with creature comforts and driveability. Let’s be honest, you’re not going to be driving your Apollo to work everyday, it’s basically a race car for the street. Gumpert wanted to revise this aspect of the car and include more storage space and improve comfort, but not compromise performance.
UPDATE 03/02/2011: This review has been updated with the Tornante Tourer’s official specs, as well as some new images!
More details on the Gumpert Tornante by Touring after the jump.
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Gumpert unveiled the new 2010 Apollo Sport supercar today at the Geneva Motor Show. The new supercar will be offered in two versions: black and white. The Apollo Sport is powered by a 750 hp engine (an increase of 50 hp over the previous version) mated to a 6-speed sequential transmission that can now shift in a mere 40 milliseconds, with faster gear changes thanks to rocker switches on the steering wheel.
The 2010 Apollo Sports gets a new designed front and tail, LED daytime running lights, a completely re-designed flap-controlled exhaust system and flaps in the tail area.
Image via Flickr.
Press release after the jump.
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Gumpert revealed at the Geneva Motor Show the most powerful Apollo ever. The Apollo Speed is powered by a 4,163 cm3 V8 engine with 5 valves per cylinder that delivers 700 HP at 6,500 rpm and a peak torque of 645,3 lb ft of torque at 4,000 rpm. The engine is mated to a sequential six-speed gearbox with synchronization and oil cooling, twin plate clutch configuration.
The car can go from standing still to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.0 seconds. A speed of 200 km/h (124 mph) is reached in just 8.9 seconds. His maximum speed is over 360 km/h (223 mph).
Press release after the jump.
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Last month we reported that Gumpert will compete at the 24 Hours Nurnburgring in May with a hybrid Apollo. And today we bring you the first images and details about the car.
Instead of using the road-going Apollo’s 650bhp, 4.2-litre V8, engineers have opted for a 3.3-litre V8 and a 100kW electric motor that together produce 630bhp. The petrol-electric racer also comes with a regenerative braking system that charges its lithium-ion batteries.
Ex Formula 1 driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen and American Le Mans series driver Dirk Muller will be piloting the Apollo hybrid at the 24-hour race, which takes place on 24-25 May.
The car will compete with models like Porsche 911 GT3, Dodge Viper, Lamborghini Gallardo, BMW Z4 and Chevrolet Corvette.
