Tuesday 20th March 2018

Gumpert Apollo S: Spotted

The supercar that could drive upside down and once tried to turn the market on its head...

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Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH, the automotive brand that created the collection of vents and wings you see before you has had quite the patchy history. It all started well, with founder Roland Gumpert's knowledge helping Audi Motorsport dominate WRC stages in the 1980s, taking four World Rally Championship titles and winning 25 WRC events. With a resume littered with victories and Championships, he was approached by MTM founder Roland Meyer to assist in building a prototype supercar and securing the trust of Audi to sign off on the use of its engines for the project.

Within a few years, two mid-engined, rear-wheel drive prototypes were under construction, with a road-ready version of Mr Gumpert's car finally entering production in 2005. The Apollo was previewed in three states of tune, standard, Sport and Race - this model being a Sport tune, offered with 700hp from its 4.2-litre bi-turbo V8. Both Sport and Race models were fitted with carbon-fibre panels over a tubular steel frame weighing around 1,100kg and making for a three second 0-62mph sprint. The massive downforce generated by its ungainly design - it was said at the time to be capable of sticking to the ceiling of a tunnel at the right speed - meant it was capable, in the right hands, of setting a 7:11 lap at the Nurburgring - the quickest lap ever set by a production car at the time.

Despite that prowess, however, the Apollo was never the easiest car to drive. Plenty of videos show drivers getting it wrong, with this very car having an incident of its own at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Before its trip up the famous hill, it was Gumpert's press demonstrator, receiving lots of coverage in magazines, on TV and online. It was also upgraded to 2008 spec with a Carbon Apollo Race GT1 air box and the latest software updates increasing the power up to 720hp. Since its 'off' as the ad describes it, the Apollo S had been in storage before being recently recommissioned and put on the market.

Even though its product had plenty of positive reviews, the market proved too tough for Gumpert, and the company went into liquidation in 2013. It was eventually bought three years later by the Hong Kong consortium, which also owns De Tomaso, and is now aiming at reviving the brand with the Apollo IE.

If your pockets are deep enough to spend a quarter of a million pounds on a car, the usual suspects are of course all available for similar money - Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren et al. However, those may a be a little too mainstream to compare with the Gumpert. A bonkers machine which put function ahead of form years before McLaren's Senna caused a stir, the Apollo is certainly deserving of recognition and what better way to recognise it than to own one yourself?

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SPECIFICATION - GUMPERT APOLLO SPORT

Engine: 4,163cc, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: sequential six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 700@6,300rpm
Torque (lb ft): 675@4,000rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
First registered: 2007
Recorded mileage: 6,000 miles
Price new: £275,000
Yours for: £235,000

See the original advert here.

[Boydie88]

Looks like a VX220 on multiple steroids. Love it.

[BarbaricAvatar]

"...which put function ahead of form years before McLaren's Senna caused a stir."

Except the Apollo still manages to be good-looking in a macho, purposeful fashion while the Senna is ugly as sin.

[thegreenhell]

I've always liked these, but I'd have to fit a different steering wheel if I was ever to buy one.

[fakenews]

They're great, have seen a couple of these in the wild (one at the Ring) and they get so much attention. I'm thinking at that price an Aventador would be further up my imaginary list though.

[TIGA84]

How many were built out of interest if anyone knows?

I think someone on here had one from memory as well.

[Henrico]

BarbaricAvatar said:

"...which put function ahead of form years before McLaren's Senna caused a stir."

Except the Apollo still manages to be good-looking in a macho, purposeful fashion while the Senna is ugly as sin.

In real life the Senna actually looks quite sexy

[CrispyMK]

Is it just me or does the car look wonky in the front on and rear facing photo. I can't work out if the photo is wonky, the spoiler is wonky or the grounds unlevel. Might just be my eyes.

[Dynamic Space Wizard]

Hmmmm... Shall I buy a car that leans slightly to the left, or shall I buy a straight one? It's a difficult choice.

[F1GTRUeno]

Never understood why people think these are ugly.

Especially straight ahead it's very good looking indeed.

[will_]

I wonder who owns it - was there ever a UK franchise/dealer? I think it spent a reasonable amount of time at Mototechnique being sorted out after the crash.

Parts and insurance must be interesting in terms of cost!

[dukeboy749r]

BarbaricAvatar said:

"...which put function ahead of form years before McLaren's Senna caused a stir."

Except the Apollo still manages to be good-looking in a macho, purposeful fashion while the Senna is ugly as sin.

[DavidStarkey11]

That steering wheel looks like it's straight out of 2 Fast 2 Furious.

[Turbobanana]

Not sure why it took so long to repair - it looks like it's made of Lego, no?

[DiscoColin]

F1GTRUeno said:

Never understood why people think these are ugly.

Especially straight ahead it's very good looking indeed.

From some angles it actually looks okay, but in general it is very fussy and a bit of an aesthetic mess to my eye (I've seen a few in person at the Autosport show and the 'ring over the years and it just doesn't work for me).

[MiataMini]

thegreenhell said:

I've always liked these, but I'd have to fit a different steering wheel if I was ever to buy one.

Looks like an eBay special haha

[RushDom]

I have good memories of thrashing everyone online in Project Gotham Racing 3 with the Gumpert. Love it.

[JEMAutomotive]

Not sure which requires more bravery, buying it or driving it in anger !

[Gameface]

I think that's rather cheap actually.

[Gecko1978]

if you do buy this for 250k how do you service it or fix it etc if it goes wrong. TVR were well catered for post there collapse and de tomasa used Ford V8s (i think) but this uses lots of bespoke parts an would audi have spares for a 700bhp engine etc. Seems to me you might buy this an never be able to use it

[AyBee]

Gameface said:

I think that's rather cheap actually.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought that - next to an Aventador/720S and about a third of the price of an un-flipped Senna (if you can get one), it doesn't look like bad value!