The Apollo Intensa Emozione (IE to its friends) is a curious car. Revealed in 2017, it was a successor of sorts to the track-special Gumpert Apollo (though Roland Gumpert has nothing to do with it). It came with a 6.3-litre Ferrari-derived mid-engined V12, 780bhp, 561lb ft, a huge price tag, a 2.7-second 0-62mph time, a 208mph top speed, and plenty of exclusivity. Only ten would be made, y’see, and owners would be walked through myriad, almost unlimited options to make their IE just so.
Created as an homage to the GT1 racers, the IE was a love letter to excess, and… angles. It can’t escape notice that it’s on the extreme end of the zero-to-pointy scale. After its reveal, the IE popped up here ‘n there, company reps promised wild power figures from its naturally aspirated engine, but then it sort of… vanished.
In the near decade since the car’s unveiling, the business changed hands, the ten IEs were built and a somehow even wilder Apollo EVO is now under development. Apollo is ready to start shouting about its latest model, but also its heritage, which means the key to the IE was ready and waiting at an airfield near Ingolstadt.
The wildness of the car’s design hasn’t lessened since 2017. It’s so pointy, and so purposeful. A brief glance screams SPEED, but a longer look shows the care and attention taken in making it look like something that’d stand out in even the most rarified collections. Its fixed, and wild rear wing draws the eye wonderfully, and promises race car levels of downforce if used properly.
Its exhausts’ 3D printed titanium tri tips like an angry snowflake (when the IE was announced it was said that just that part cost more to produce than a then new BMW M4 was to buy), and its interior… well, it’s really quite mad. Owners have their backs scanned to ensure the padding that sits on the IE’s exquisitely finished carbon tub fits their shape perfectly. The ‘wheel and pedals can be adjusted to meet their feet, ensuring the driver stays in the middle of the car.
The starter switch is mounted on the ceiling, and, after a short start up procedure, activates the V12’s delicious hail of noise. While the interior doesn’t miss out on the aesthetic drama of the exterior, the moment that motor fires up anything other than the noise blurs into the background.
Its six-speed sequential gearbox needs a clutch to switch between neutral, first and reverse; the rest of the time you just need to pull its satisfyingly chunky paddles to switch ratios. Pop it into first, lift the clutch gently, and then… it flies. Weighing just 1400kg, the IE’s 780bhp has little to move, and boy do you feel it when you put your foot down. It feels light, nimble, and endlessly powerful. It’s reminiscent of a Lotus Elise, albeit one with four times the usual grunt, three times the engine, and no hard to identify creaks.
Its steering is the right kind of light, too. It offers incredible feedback, telling your fingers exactly what’s going on up front, but it doesn’t feel like a work out. The pace at which the IE can change direction is akin to an endurance racer – the GT1 inspiration isn’t skin deep, it’s the real deal. As do the brakes: AP Racing discs that wouldn’t feel out of place going round La Sarthe. Here they’re more tuned for the gentleman racer, perhaps, but that’s more than enough for 99% of… anyone.
Its looks make it stand out, but the way it drives is something else entirely. Light, fast, sonorous, and exciting, the ten Apollo IE custodians have something truly special on their hands. If the IE’s this good, the EVO will be something else.
