First let’s get the obvious out of the way: Gumpert is pretty funny name, and the Apollo is not the most esthetically pleasing of cars

OK, now that that’s done, seems that the fine folk at Gumpert have added a hybrid drive train to their already prodigiously powered Apollo and are going to race the darn thing at this year’s Nurburgring 24 hour race.

Good for them.

Racing is the best way to prove an engineering concept. It’s also the best way to get the bugs worked out of an engineering concept. And not only that, it’s a great way to sell new engineering concepts to the general public.

I know, hybrids have been more or less accepted by the public at large (except for the knuckle-draggers that believe global warming is some sort of a scam), but what the general public does not see hybrids as is fun or the least bit performance oriented.

The best way to cure that: Racing.

And a good way to go about that is to add a hybrid system to a car that already cranks out 630hp from its twin-turbo V8, put it in the very capable hands of former F1 driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen & longtime DTM racer Dirk Muller and let the beast out on the Nurburgring .

It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out, and not just results-wise.