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The Untamable Gumpert Tornante from Gumpert and Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera is a street legal Supercar. Find out just what that means!
Some creatures cannot be tamed. Clothe them and feed them you may, but the next moment a brute inescapably bursts forth in a feral display of power. Such are bears, wolves, and now, the Gumpert Tornante. The Tornante is a street-legal racing car designed by Gumpert, a German-based supercar company, in collaboration with the famous Italian coachbuilder, Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera. The Tornante is more civilized than its predecessor, the Apollo, but its wild nature remains strong.
No car that exits through the doors of Touring Superleggera is merely manufactured; it is imagined. A two-seat roadster, the Tornante begins at a wide blackout grille, and continues to retract over bulging wheel arches into a radically raked windshield, surrounded by a deeply contoured waistline, and ends with the roof making a line drive for the hefty haunches. The body is sleek and defined, another ultramodern offering from Touring Superleggera.
But do not let the art distract from the science. An army of air intake ducts and a rear air diffuser streamline the body and provide downforce. The vehicle boasts a lightweight chromoly steel monocoque spaceframe clothed in carbon fiber panels, and rests on a double wishbone suspension with adjustable dampers specially tuned for a sporty yet comfortable ride. The roadster also has adjustable ride height, making the Tornante a more street-ready vehicle. Massive gullwing doors add a timeless dash of style.
The Tornante is an unabashed supercar. A 4.2-liter twin-turbocharged V8 makes sure of that. The powerplant’s mate is a TT40e six-speed sequential double-clutch manual transmission with paddle shifters. The gearbox is representative of Gumpert’s obsessive attention of detail and performance, with shifts taking place within 40 milliseconds. Assisted by sequential multi-port direct fuel injection and dry sump lubrication, the Tornante cranks out a whopping 700 horsepower. With a top speed of 187 mph and a sub-three second 0-60 sprint, the Tornante makes good on its supercar promise. Incidentally, the same engine, housed in the Gumpert Apollo, set a former Nurburgring lap record at 7 minutes, 11.57 seconds.
The Gumpert Tornante occasionally masquerades as a city-slicked cruiser. It has 25% more interior volume than the Apollo and offers amenities such as heated seats, air conditioning, double-layered glass and other features, creature comforts conspicuously absent in most high-performance supercars. Despite its civilizing touches, the Tornante remains untamed and undomesticated. Shift it into fourth gear, and you will see its wilder and truer side.