Whoops. Driving a Gumpert Apollo is no picnic, as BTCC driver (and former cage fighter) Tony Gilham found out this past Saturday at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, when he slid one into the hay during a hillclimb attempt. Gilham's ok, as is his passenger, who spent some time at a local hospital.
According to the passenger, Nancy Atkinson Turner, posting on YouTube:
I was the passenger. Right hand side. Tony Gilham was driver on Left hand side. The freakiest thing about this video is I have NO recollection of him trying to drive it off. I just remember impact then him getting out. I was covered in straw like Worsel Gummage and 6 hours later at the hospital the nurses were still plucking it out of my 'noon'
I'm unfamiliar with the use of "noon" in this case. Any Cockney rhyming slang linguists among us, please lend a hand.
Another eyewitness posted this account via YouTube:
The thing you don't see in this video is that the crash sent a marshal flying when it hit the hay stacks. Fortunately he was OK too. Glad you're OK Nancy - My dad was one of the marshals who was helping and trying to get you out of the car. He told me you were laughing about it at first - That's adrenaline for you!
The Gumpert Apollo is one of the best, worst cars ever built. It's undoubtedly track-capable — considering the Sport model's scorching Nürburgring lap time of 7:11.57 (it's also fifth among Top Gear power laps, at 1.17.1) — and yet is a murderous beast to drive. I've yet to attend a Gumpert event during which someone — even counting experienced drivers — didn't turn it into a backwards-facing Toro lawnmower.
I'd scream "Save The Gumperts" if I didn't think that was an impossible task.
UPDATE: Turner informed us that her "noon" is her "noonie" i.e. her ladybits.