When people hit 50, they think about a well-deserved retirement: however, talented German engineer Roland Gumpert has discovered his design "second wind". Gumpert had 30 years of work for Audi, the development of the all-wheel drive car Volkswagen Iltis - the winner of the famous rally "Paris-Dakar", as well as the creation of the legendary Audi Quattro. Roland could have quietly retired after such achievements, but in 2000 he had a dream: to build a new generation of supercar.
According to Gumpert's idea
the car was oriented to public roads, had lightness and power, and also had the aerodynamics of DTM championship cars. In 2001, the engineer returned from China to Germany: there was an opportunity to realize his dream.
Roland Mayer, head of the MTM company, asked Gumpert to help build a prototype of the future car. The conditions were simple - turn the car into a production car and use an Audi engine. The engineer opened his own company, Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur, specifically for the project.
The yellow press claimed that Audi had ordered Gumpert to build a car that was superior to the Porsche 911 GT3 in all respects, even though Audi and Porsche were owned by Volkswagen - the competition between the two brands was fierce.
Photo: amian-cars.com
For the Gumpert Apollo, an 8-cylinder 4.2-liter engine from the Audi RS6 was selected and boosted. Roland did not need to build the engine from scratch: his efforts are focused on the body, which turned out to be light - the supercar weighs 1100-1200 kilograms depending on the equipment. There is no seat as such in the car: to reduce weight, it is formed together with a fire partition, and is customized to the needs of the customer.
The interior is also laconic and rational. The Apollo's body has a second important feature: a tremendous downforce, which at 270 kilometers per hour becomes equal to the weight of the car.
Thanks to the reliable grip of the wheels, the car brakes with an acceleration of up to 3 g - and that's without aerodynamic brakes with high cornering stability. The supercar can reach a theoretical speed of 400 kilometers per hour, limited by the strength of the tires.
The Apollo body is one of the strongest among supercars: Gumpert assures that after a collision with a concrete wall at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour, the pilot will remain alive.
At the time of the car's debut (2005), Roland Gumpert had passed the age of 60, but this did not prevent him from testing his brainchild in the Divinol race, which took third place. The car was then tested in a supercar comparison test.
Photo: amian-cars.com
The Gumpert Apollo took the Nurburgring circuit in 2007 - only one car, the Radical SR8, achieved a better result. According to Top Gear, the Apollo was the fastest car on a lap until the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport was introduced.
Over time, Gumpert thought about the environmental friendliness of supercars. As part of an experiment in 2008, a 630-horsepower Apollo modification was created for participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. The car did not win the race, but without any breakdowns passed the most difficult race on a par with the famous competitors.
British magazine Evo compared the alliance between Gumpert and Audi to the alliance between Pagani and Mercedes-Benz: thanks to joint work with an international car manufacturer, a tiny tuning firm has turned into an exclusive brand.
Interest in the Apollo was unprecedented, and Roland Gumpert hoped to build 150 cars for customers. In fact, 40 were produced - but even this was considered a great success by the "retiree" because the birth of a new sports "legend" had taken place against all odds.