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For 28 years, West Berlin was walled in to keep the forbidden fruits of Western Europe out of the austere Eastern Bloc. Would-be escapees had to cross the anti-vehicle trenches and an open plain - affectionately known as the death strip - and then scale the wall itself before the dogs or sniper’s bullets ended their bid for freedom. The wall was ugly, oppressive and cast a sinister shadow of fear over the city, but it was an engineering masterpiece in its own way.
Its sinister purpose and brutal straight-edged look came to symbolise the Eastern Bloc. And now we’re back, exactly 20 years after the wall came down in a similarly vicious, sinister and downright destructive supercar, the fastest car that nobody has heard of: the Gumpert Apollo Sport.
And I am thinking about escape, too. The car is hemmed in on every side by Berlin traffic, a bus runs ominously close to a frighteningly expensive wing, a cyclist sits ahead and a slip on the clutch could smear his yellow jersey all over the road and bring this test to a premature halt.
I feel for the bite point with bomb-disposal levels of care as the Apollo trickles gently after the fast retreating traffic. I’m slower than everyone else, I am sweating and an angry Golf driver is venting his frustration on the horn.
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