A few weeks ago I drove up to the famous TT Circuit in Assen, the Netherlands, for the SuperCarMadness event, mostly to check out the various Lamborghini cars that would attend, yes, I’m a Lamborghini enthusiast, but as the title of the event already implies, SuperCarMadness is the perfect venue to get up close to some of the world’s most expensive and rare hypercars, like a Bugatti Chiron, Zonda’s, McLaren P1 … and this absolutely stunning Apollo IE Red Dragon, finished in an amazing shade that changes from orange to deep red, while you can still see the carbon fiber weave through the hue, magnificent.
Make no mistake, this V12 hypercar comes with a base MSRP of $2,700,000, and only 10 units of the Apollo Intensa Emozione will ever be made for the entire world, with an engine borrowed from the Ferrari F12, this 6.3-liter naturally aspirated beast delivers 780 hp and 759 Nm of torque, the six-speed sequential gearbox from Hewland allows for an acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in a mere 2.7 seconds, while this Red Dragon doesn’t run out of breath until she reaches a top speed of 335 km/h or 208 mph, and that stylish triple exhaust at the rear releases some amazing screams into the atmosphere (check out the video at the end of this article), rumor has it this Apollo IE Red Dragon comes with a $4,000,000 price tag.
The Apollo IE comes with a carbon fiber chassis that has been developed in cooperation with HWA AG as a modern-day GT1, to meet and partly exceed FIA LMP2 safety requirements, the resulting chassis is so stiff there is no requirement for a roll cage, which saves weight, keep in mind HWA AG isn’t a stranger to GT1 race cars as they created the most successful GT1 race car in history, the Mercedes-AMG CLK GTR, but there is no need to get in touch with Apollo anymore, all of the 10 units are sold, and most of them, if not all, have been delivered to their owner by the time you read this.
Roland Gumpert created his own company back in 2004 to build the fastest German car ever, which would become the Gumpert Apollo in 2005, sadly things didn’t turn out well, and Gumpert was liquidated in 2013, but the rights to the Apollo name were bought by a Hong Kong based consortium, creating Apollo Automobili GmbH, which would unveil the Apollo IE in 2019, during the development of the original carbon fiber Apollo IE prototype concept, multiple racing drivers took the prototype onto the track to fine-tune the chassis for the production model, subsequently this really is a race car for the road, an insane hypercar, one of the rarest in the world.
The Apollo IE has been designed from the start with extreme aerodynamics in mind, the car weighs just 2,755 lbs, which is achieved by using as much lightweight carbon fiber as possible, wherever you look, outside or inside, you’ll see exposed carbon fiber, some parts are made from high-strength steel, titanium, or aluminum, however, but the Apollo IE is a masterpiece of carbon fiber engineering, and with that massive rear wing, which isn’t active mind you, the car can generate 3,000 lbs of downforce … on a car that weighs less, this means you could drive the Apollo IE upside down … theoretically.
And the track feel continues in the interior, the seats seem to be fixed onto the carbon fiber chassis, much like the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento, inside the Apollo IE you get multi-point harness seat belts to make sure you are seated securely doing 300 mph on the track, and just as you would see in a thoroughbred race car, the pedals are actually higher than the lower part of the seat while for visibility, and dramatic impact, the top of the steering wheel has been cut, and while there are traditional rear view mirrors on the gullwing doors, there are also rear-view cameras fitted, with the display alongside the center LCD in front of the driver, redundant systems, just to make sure you’ll notice the car you’ve just passed.
Let’s take a look at some detailed shots of this amazing Apollo IE Red Dragon seen in the Netherlands recently, and make sure to check out the videos below the image gallery, you might want to get those headphones out … the sound this GT1 hypercar for the road unleashes on the track is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever heard:
Two YouTube videos of this car during the 2022 SuperCarMadness event in Assen:
