Kinsmart Gumpert Apollo S

In the world of exotic cars there are well-known models from Lamborghini and Ferrari, for example, but then there are some that come and gone by trial and error.  Some diecast manufacturer's have managed to capture their trials before the cars disappear into history.  One of them is the Gumpert Apollo S and Kinsmart is one of the few diecast companies who have replicated this rare exotic car.

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In 2000 Roland Gumpert was an Audi/VW executive who oversaw sales in China and wanted to create a race car for the road.  Designer Roland Mayer asked to be a partner in creating this new sports car, and Gumpert agreed.  In 2004 the GMG Sportwagenmanufaktur Altenburg GmbH was created in Attenburg, Germany to begin development of the sports car.  To help design the car the Technical University of Munich and the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences assisted in development with wind tunnel tests and computer simulations.  The car was built in 2005 and lasted until 2012, no doubt short because the amount of costs that went with the project and the amount of profit return for such a small production run would make the company short-lived.  The style of the car was made with a spaceframe cab attached to either carbon fiber or fiberglass body panels.  The shape of the car was so good that the car could be run upside down at 190 mph in a wind tunnel, though that was yet to be tested.  With help from VW /Audi, the Apollo uses a dual turbocharged 4.2L DOHC V8 from Audi that produces 690 horsepower through a six-speed automated manual transmission.  Top speed is 223 mph with a 0-60 in 3.1 seconds.  Fast for a car at that time!

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Kinsmart did a nice job with the look of the Apollo as no matter what color you get you always get the blacked-out multi-spoke wheels with center lug nut, air intake on the roof, and rear spoiler.  All of this looks great in white as this was my only color available for my tester, which also had some issues with tires that were so loose that they were spinning on the rims (turns out dirt managed to get inside the tires so I cleaned out the car and the dirt from the inside fo the tires to resolve the issue).  The front has an aggressive looking headlights with integrated turn signal lights in red, Gumpert badge on the hood, and large intakes just above the lower chin spoiler with LED running lights.  The front fenders also have air extract vents in black, while a cool feature on the sides is the exit vents of the front fender that wrap around the doors and lead into the rear fender ducts.  S logo's in red adorn the front fenders, while a black stripe on the roof align the gullwing doors in perfect fashion.

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At the rear the taillights are round LED's inside a black housing, dual rear spoilers (a smaller one is just below the large black one), Apollo S badge just above the triangular vent, rear engine vents that also house the quad exhaust tips, and a lower diffuser.  A very radical looking car!  Now the engine bay is really covered up so Kinsmart brightened up the area with a black intake scoop and a silver vent grille.  Inside it's a cramped cockpit that is sparse, yet offers some nifty details.  The starting point is the front seats with headrests that are integrated within the rear bulkhead and not the seats.  The headrests say Apollo S while the seat backs have the Gumpert logo on them.  The center stack has silver trim where the radio and HVAC controls lie, silver on the air vents, and a 3-spoke steering wheel with a digital gauge readout just behind.  Even the door panels have some detailing if not a whole lot.  This is one very stunning mid-engine supercar that looks great and has the power as well.  Plus this will likely be one of those one-timer deals that will disappear into history if it was not for this diecast replica.

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