Apollo marks 20 years with stunning Evo track car
The Intensa Emozione was already a wild hypercar; now 10 new ones are set to be truly extreme...
The first production Gumpert Apollo was made almost exactly 20 years ago, the first example leaving Roland Gumpert’s GMG Sportwagenmanufaktur Altenburg GmbH in October 2005. What a couple of decades it’s been since then, the Apollo destroying the Top Gear lap record (which really was the barometer of supercar speed in the '00s) and redefining road racer exotica for those lucky enough to drive one. The icons of the era like the Porsche Carrera GT and Ferrari Enzo were fast; the Apollo showed how fast the future was going to be, thanks to a twin-turbo version of the 4.2 Audi V8.
But the latter part of the decade hit Gumpert hard, and the company filed for bankruptcy in 2013. Eventually it was acquired by a Hong Kong based consortium, renamed Apollo, and brought back from the dead along with De Tomaso (which was owned by the same outfit). The Apollo Intensa Emozione was everything you once dreamed of a supercar being: furious nat-asp V12, styling to make a Lamborghini look tame, and speed to turn you inside out. With some assistance from HWA, the Apollo Intensa Emozione brought the name back in unforgettable fashion.
Now there’s a new one. The Apollo Evo, as might be surmised from the name, represents a further evolved version of the previous IE, complete with a new carbon monocoque, more power, and motorsport-influenced aerodynamics. In case the appearance didn’t give it away, the Evo will be suitable only for track use (at least until Lanzante road converts one), just 10 will be built, and Apollo suggests that it’s made ‘a pure-bred track car that delivers the emotive thrill of the past through the engineering technology of the future.’
To that end, the Ferrari V12 remains, now 800hp strong (against 780hp before), driving the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential. Top speed is beyond 200mph, the 0-60 less than three seconds. There’s also a new titanium exhaust included in the Evo, promising ‘myriad performance and design benefits’ as well as, you’d imagine, a soundtrack to die for.
There are proper changes under the skin of the Evo as well, with new carbon underpinnings compared to the IE. Which feels like an enormous endeavour on such a small-scale production, but the claim is of a 10 per cent reduction in weight and a 15 per cent improvement in stiffness, so it’s clearly not a small change. The monocoque, subframes and crash structures are now all carbon fibre, the improvement in rigidity ‘bestowing the driver with absolute confidence to take the Evo to its spine tingling limit.’ Aiding car and driver in that task are ceramic brakes, forged aluminium wheels and Michelin Cup 2 tyres. Apollo says that the aerodynamics have taken inspiration ‘from modern day Le Mans Hypercar racers’, and certainly it wouldn’t look out of place liveried up on a grid, but no claims are yet made for extraordinary downforce figures. We’ll see the interior in full later this year.
“Following the success of the Apollo Intensa Emozione, it was obvious for us to push the envelope even further,” said Niko Konta, Apollo CEO. “To extract the fullest potential from the platform, we have fine-tuned an already exceptional design while applying the latest in cutting-edge technologies and processes to truly take the Evo to another level.” The first delivery is expected for the first half of next year. Wonder which track day it’ll be going to first…
I remember back in the day (when I went out more often...) I went to Germany Dülmen to visit the Wiesmann factory, but before I went there I also saw that then the new Apollo car was also near buy, so first went over there to look and to sit in it, sadly not drove it lol.
I thought I still had a picture of it, but can't find it back.
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