Gumpert Introduces Apollo R Racer, Street-Legal Apollo Enraged Counterpart

The Geneva auto show's annual rollout of rare, exotic, and beautiful automobiles comes in large part from small automotive design firms and boutique carmakers displaying their latest and greatest among those of the big automakers. Gumpert is one such outfit, reliably showing up to the Swiss show with some ridiculous new derivation of its Apollo supercar. This year, showgoers can double down on Gumpert's unique brand of crazy by taking in its new non-street-legal Apollo R race car, as well as a barely street-legal version of same, lovingly christened the Apollo Enraged. That's a pretty awesome name if ever we've heard one; it at least partially makes up for "Gumpert." Apollo R Putting out between 640 and 740 hp, Gumpert's workaday Apollo models are already well-suited to the racetrack, so turning one into an actual GT race car does not represent that much of a stretch. The carbon-fiber body—seen here in black, gold, and red war paint—appears little changed next to its street-legal counterparts, other than the omission of non-essential lighting elements and the expansion of the dorsal air-intake opening. The R's supercharged 4.2-liter V-8 gets a big boost to 849 hp at 6000 rpm and 723 lb-ft of torque at 4000 rpm (on racing fuel) by raising supercharger pressure, adjusting ignition and control timing, and optimizing the intake and exhaust systems. A seven-speed sequential manual transmission is shifted via toggle switches on the steering wheel. To the chassis, the R adds a titanium rear anti-roll bar while ditching the automatic-ride-height system. The R's interior goes heavy on black Alcantara and carbon fiber, but, being a race car, loses all cabin furnishings save a pair of racing seats and six-point harnesses. With a fire extinguisher, a data recorder, 18-inch wheels, and Michelin slicks, the Apollo R weighs in at about 2425 pounds dry, according to Gumpert. Prices start at a cool $645,000. Apollo Enraged Take the above race car, add a finished interior with Bluetooth, a rear camera, climate control, navigation, and other tokens of civility; swap in a slightly less powerful supercharged 4.2-liter V-8 with just 770 hp and 679 lb-ft of torque, backed by a paddle-shifted seven-speed sequential transmission; and put street tires on 19-inch front and 20-inch rear center-locking wheels; and you get the Apollo Enraged. It weighs a claimed 165 pounds more than the Apollo R, but Gumpert's most powerful street-legal car ever can accelerate to 62 mph in the same claimed 2.9 seconds as the Apollo R; due to aero differences, it has a higher projected top speed of 205 mph versus the R's 191 mph. The Enraged model also gets automatic ride height, larger brakes front and rear with ceramic rotors, and menacing LED running lights. Want one? At current exchange rates, the Apollo Enraged costs $865,000. And finding the money will probably be easier than finding the car itself, as Gumpert is only making three. Ever. Our advice to those who missed out: Put your crazy-money order in for a crazy Apollo well in advance of next year's Geneva show. from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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