Page 50 - Decadence

to get downstairs and pull the covers off the car that we were all there to see.
The sun had moved round and was lighting the stage as we gathered for the unveiling. I’d already had my preview, but as they simultaneously drew the red branded covers from the two cars I was still struck by the sheer presence of the design. The Gumpert was an ugly duckling, the Apollo is a supermodel. In fact it looked like something that had been developed in the secret laboratories of Bruce Wane Enterprises with Batman at the drawing board. I was standing closest to the black car, (both nished in raw carbon) which just looked dangerous... the open aero had been used as a design cue and it worked. The slots and ns and scoops had a purposeful but elegant line about them, both smooth and jagged at the same time. As I walk slowly around the car the details became more and more apparent. The triple tail pipe nisher that is 3D printed and costs about £30k. The aero n that starts at the roof and joins the rear wing. The size of the car, with a footprint that would make a Bentayga feel slim, this is a monster of a car.
We spend a good hour or so looking, sitting in, listening to, touching, feeling and photographing the IE. In true race car style the steering wheel
comes off so you can get in. I slid into the drivers seat, which is xed, it’s basically a trimmed cockpit (obviously tailored to suit each customer) which was a perfect t for me. The wheel and pedal box are adjustable. There is no overhead rear view mirror, but two camera screens either side of the dash binnacle. All the switch gear is where is should be, the wheel mounted rotors and knobs have a lovely rm click to them. Every detail is very well thought out and machined to jewellery quality. The coolest thing is the starter switch. Buttons have become the norm, but this is an aircraft style overhead pull lever mounted were the rear view mirror would be. In fact the cockpit feels as much jet ghter as it does racing car, but the nish, although being minimal and functional screams quality and luxury, which is a strange juxtaposition.
Lunch is being served up on the terrace, so we make our way upstairs in anticipation of the ne food and wine that a venue such as this offers. By this time we have established that we will not be driving these cars today. They are for us to see and feel, but as prototypes are not homologated for the road yet. The dinning room is set with four large round tables, each with name tags at the places. I nd my name between Norman Choi and designer ex McLaren Joe Wong and opposite Paolo Garella the CEO of the company that brought these guys
dream to reality, so we get to talking cars as the wine is poured and our starters arrived.
I asked Norman about his car, his history and what rocks it for him in his garage. His reply was quite interesting. He’s had a collection of the worlds best super and hyper cars, as do most guys that run billion dollar global investment funds, but he said after a while he realised that they drove like Honda’s, fast Honda’s but still Honda’s. I knew exactly what he meant. He went on to talk about how he felt all the modern tech on board our performance cars, that gives them such amazing performance also sanitises them. The control systems that stop your average millionaire killing himself when he plants his right foot, take the soul from the car. Obviously a true petrol head, Norman wanted to produce a car that offered the emotion back into driving. Made it an involved experience again.
Sitting between these two guys as the spared vocally about performance, aerodynamics and almost analogue power was quite refreshing. They didn’t want hybrid power they wanted pure race car petrol driven performance, maybe not quite with the brute force grunt of the Zenvo for example, but the screaming Swiss watch movement of an Italian thoroughbred. From the sound of the engine it could quite easily have been born in Modena. There was no speci c information about the origins of the power unit, other than it was a naturally aspirated 6.3 litre V12 that will rev to 9000rpm and produce 780 horsepower. Mmmm
Norman tells me his plan is to build 10 IE’s as a limited edition super track car and use the knowledge and indeed, customer feedback to develop the next road going Apollo. Personally I would love to see the IE on the road, but the aero ns and spikes would need a bit of, shall we say, calming down to pass most countries tests. Which would almost take some of the “emotion” out of this beast. I can’t wait to get it out on a circuit, the companies forefather has given the IE a lot to live up to, but sitting with Norman, his designers and Paolo I get the feeling I won’t be disappointed.
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