The Gumpert Apollo was a sports car produced by German automotive manufacturer Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH in Altenburg. Gumpert filed for bankruptcy in August 2013, thereby ending the production of the Apollo.

History

In 2000, Roland Gumpert proposed a new generation of

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

s. One of the primary criteria for this car was that it be street-legal yet ready for the racetrack. He returned to Germany at the end of 2001, after over three years in China where he was the head of sales and marketing responsible for the development of the dealer network of the

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The o ...

- VW joint enterprise there. Subsequently, automobile designer Roland Mayer asked him if he would assist in building a prototype

. Audi approved Gumpert's involvement in this project, on the condition that, if they did eventually develop a new sports car, it would not be a prototype, but a series product. The company, located in Altenburg, Germany was founded in 2004 under the name GMG Sportwagenmanufaktur Altenburg GmbH. The technical guidelines were defined and the first designs of the car were drawn by Marco Vanetta. Upon Vanetta's completion of this process, the first 1:4

scale model A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototype ...

of Gumpert's car was produced in 2001. Gumpert continued with the development of the Apollo, along with the Technical University of Munich and the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences. They assisted him with the constructional work,

computer simulations Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be det ...

, and wind tunnel tests. This research and development helped forming the blueprint for the first 1:1 scale model. Finally, two prototype cars were constructed. Production of the Apollo started in October 2005. Soon after the first fully functioning road car made its way to Europe, the car became fully road-legal and was sold in various Gumpert dealerships. Very soon after, car reviewers praised the car's speed and cornering. During a review in ''Autocar'' magazine, chief test driver Matt Prior stated that "the Apollo recalibrates the meaning of pure speed and driving feel." On Series 11 of '' Top Gear'', the Apollo lapped the Top Gear test track in a time of 1:17.1, setting a record that lasted for 2 years until surpassed by the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.

Motorsport

In April 2005, the Apollo made its racing debut in the Divinol Cup. It was driven by Belgian race car driver Ruben Maes; he finished third on the

Hockenheimring The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it has ho ...

race track. Three years later Gumpert announced that they would enter a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

version of the Apollo in the 2008

24 Hours Nürburgring 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smalles ...

, driven by 2004 winner Dirk Müller and ex-

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...

racer

Heinz-Harald Frentzen Heinz-Harald Frentzen (born 18 May 1967) is a German former racing driver. He competed in multiple disciplines including Sportscars, Formula One and DTM. He had his most success in Formula One, entering over 150 Grands Prix and winning three. E ...

. Three months passed between the first discussions and the finished hybrid Apollo. The Apollo was driven in the

in May 2008. The hybrid Apollo delivers up to , powered with a 3.3 litre V8

twin-turbocharged Twin-turbo (not to be confused with a twincharger setup, which is a combination of a supercharger and a turbocharger) refers to an engine in which two turbochargers work in tandem to compress the intake fuel/air mixture (or intake air, in the case ...

engine coupled with a electric motor. The car has the ability to recharge the battery under braking.

Design

The Apollo weighs between and (depending on options), and is fully street-legal. It is a mid-engine, rear wheel drive two-seater constructed on a tubular

chromoly 41xx steel is a family of SAE steel grades, as specified by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Alloying elements include chromium and molybdenum, and as a result these materials are often informally referred to as chromoly steel (common var ...

frame, with

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...

or optional

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English The use of the English language in current and former member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was largely inherited fro ...

body panels. Gumpert claims the design of the Apollo is optimised so that the car could drive upside-down in a tunnel if driven at speeds over , but this has not been tested. The Apollo set a 7:11.57 lap time at Nürburgring achieved by German car magazine Sport Auto.

Engine

The Apollo uses a 4,163 cc bi-turbo

intercooled An intercooler is a heat exchanger used to cool a gas after compression. Often found in turbocharged engines, intercoolers are also used in air compressors, air conditioners, refrigeration and gas turbines. Internal combustion engines Most ...

version of the Audi

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight- cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and u ...

. The 90° V8 has a closed-deck light metal crankcase with

dry sump A dry-sump system is a method to manage the lubricating motor oil in four-stroke and large two-stroke piston driven internal combustion engines. The dry-sump system uses two or more oil pumps and a separate oil reservoir, as opposed to a conv ...

lubrication. The light metal cylinder heads have five valves per cylinder, four overhead camshafts, VarioCam Direct variable valve timing on the intakes, and hydraulic valve clearance compensation. The double-flow exhaust system has four

oxygen sensor An oxygen sensor (or lambda sensor, where lambda refers to air–fuel equivalence ratio, usually denoted by λ) or probe or sond, is an electronic device that measures the proportion of oxygen (O2) in the gas or liquid being analysed. It was d ...

s to monitor the gas mixture, and a 3-way

catalytic converter A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device that converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction. Catalytic converters are usuall ...

. Modern controls include an on-board diagnostic system, eight-coil

electronic ignition An ignition system generates a spark or heats an electrode to a high temperature to ignite a fuel-air mixture in spark ignition internal combustion engines, oil-fired and gas-fired boilers, rocket engines, etc. The widest application for spark ig ...

, sequential multipoint

fuel injection Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All com ...

, and an electronic (

drive by wire Drive by wire, DbW, by-wire, steer-by-wire, fly-by-wire or x-by-wire technology in the automotive or aviation industry is the use of electrical or electro-mechanical systems for performing vehicle functions traditionally achieved by mechanical link ...

) accelerator system. There are 3 engine types available: * Base version - approximately * Sport version - approximately * Race version - approximately Speed overview (650 hp): * Top speed: * 0-: 3.1 seconds * 0-: 9.1 seconds

References

External links

{{commons category, Gumpert Apollo
Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur

Gumpert USA
Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles Cars of Germany Cars introduced in 2005 Automobiles with gull-wing doors First car made by manufacturer Racing cars Sports cars Coupés