Gumpert may have been renamed as Apollo Automobili after being purchased by a group of Hong Kong investors, but its supercars live on.
While the Arrow has shinned under the spotlights in Geneva last month, the older Apollo S enjoys some well-deserved attention in Monaco, where lenses were recently pointed at an example driven by 21-year old Gabriela Jilkova.
Women driver stereotypes are thrown out of the Apollo’s window, for Jikova is actually a professional racing driver, thus has no problem giving this bright orange example some stick on the Principality’s streets, to the delight of car spotters.
Not as audacious as the lady driving a Ferrari F40 with high heels, she nevertheless was at ease with Apollo’s performance, which uses a bi-turbo intercooled 4.2-liter V8 engine, sourced from Audi and offered in three versions: 650 PS (641 HP) Base, 700 PS (690 HP) Sport and 800 PS (789 HP) Race.
The exotic machine can sprint from naught to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just over 3 seconds, reach double that speed in 9.1 seconds and will keep accelerating all the way up to 360 km/h (224 mph). When it was featured in Top Gear, The Stig drove it on the track and recorded a lap time of 1:17.1, becoming the fastest one on the board until the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport took away its crown.