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| The carbon fiber is very strong as evidenced by the shoe prints. |
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| A heat exchanger is mounted in the side pod, so vents are built into the bodywork to allow the hot air to escape. |
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| The rear looks a bit like a Transformer, but the rear bodywork and diffuser do their parts to provide a lot of downforce. |
If you’re looking for a relatively affordable track weapon that you can drive on the street (subject to local laws and regulations), the KTM X-Bow isn’t a bad way to go. At the other end of the fast track day vehicle spectrum is the rare exotic sports car. Enter the German made Gumpert Apollo.
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| Starting from the front, we can make out a few aero features. A relatively deep front splitter (for a so-called street car) with small end plates combines with the louvers on the top of the fenders to generate frontend downforce. Looking at the driver’s side front wheel, you can see the opening in the fender to allow air to escape the wheel well. That’s also the distinctive tread pattern of a Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tire often appearing on track biased vehicles (examples: Viper ACR, 911 GT3 RS). As for the front openings, I’m guessing they are for the radiator and brake cooling. |
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| One center locking nut holds the wheel on. 6-piston brakes with slotted 2-piece rotors provide the stopping power. Above the tire, you can see the fender louver. Fender louvers are often seen on race cars as they allow air to escape the wheel well area. By giving air a route to escape up-and-over as opposed to down-and-below, front-end downforce can be increased. I believe the rear vents allowing air to escape out the rear of the wheel well should reduce drag and reduce front-end lift; air going under the car will probably create lift, so giving the air alternate escape routes should reduce lift. Notice the flat side skirts which should help prevent the air going down the sides of the car from curling under the car. Again, it’s done in the name of downforce. Andrew Brilliant, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong! |
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| The cockpit of the Apollo really does look like something out of NASA and the Apollo space missions. Rear window? Who needs that? Drivers of the Apollo must subscribe to my theory of how to merge onto a highway: If you’re going faster than all of the other traffic, you don’t need to look behind you! |
