Everything you need to know about the Gumpert Apollo is there from the outset, worn on the sleeve and clearly visible the first time you look at it. Or should that be stare at it. Compact, brutish, uncompromising, and fearsomely fast, the Gumpert Apollo looks like an old Group C racer for the road, and it is probably as quick as one too. But maybe a bit uglier

The Gumpert absolutely blasts down a straight like low-flying military jet, and every road is shrunk, every straight is dealt with and dispatched in a fleeting second. But it is also reassuringly communicative, and very surefooted  the blue car we drove is set up to resolutely follow the front wheels, and it turns in confidently at ridiculously high speeds. You then feed in the power, timing it so the turbos come in just as you get it all straightened up, and car just erupts down the next straight

Roland Gumpert, founder, managing director and the driving force behind Sportwagenmanufaktur, has created a manufacturing environment that combines engineering excellence with a broad automotive and racing competence. Experts within the motorsports scene are all familiar with the name Gumpert: In the mid 1970s, the long-standing Audi manager was the driving force behind the development of the four-wheel drive Iltis, the original predecessor of today's Quattro. In 1979 he not only succeeded in preparing the gnarled four-wheel drive Iltis for the Paris-Dakar rally, but also achieved victory. In the years that followed under his management, Audi Sport won a total of 25 World Rally Championship races and was the 4-time winner of the World Rally Championship. Gumpert's professional success is distinguished by his ability to combine innovative ideas with proven technology effectively and successfully.