The zero-to-60 mph time of just 4.3 seconds is faintly ridiculous for more than two tons of car, but it will keep storming all the way through the gears to more than 185 mph. And it does so with a sound of rolling thunder at every step of the way courtesy of the big-bore exhausts that generate so much heat they're surrounded by hand-cast shields at the rear to save the bodywork.
Outright speed is one thing. Getting the car to handle was quite another, and Gemballa went to work with the lightweight wheels and stainless steel coilover suspension kit with infinite rebound and 14-setting compression damping. Do you need that much race-bred tech on a tank? Probably not, but it's kind of cool knowing it's there and the overall effect is to transform the big and luxurious SUV into an apex-carving sports car that makes the most of its wider stance, achieved beneath the skin with 12-inch-wide Continental CrossContacts clothing alloys offset by 30mm.
It's no 911, but throw it in and the big bus corners hard and flat. It's a surreal experience. Crucially, it stops too. Gemballa has fitted 420mm steels to the front hubs, which haul speed off only marginally less effectively than a full frontal impact with a brick wall. He could have gone for ceramics, but then he despises the lack of feel that seems to part of the PCCB DNA; the on or off feel of Porsche's optional brake system is annoying at best and downright frightening at worst. And these brakes come blessed with a depth and range of emotion that the supposedly more advanced system just can't hope to match.
So the Tornado GTS, then, is more than just a body kit and a little added attitude. It's a ground-up rework to create a whole new niche of car. It's hardly practical anymore, as you have to watch the front splitter on speed humps; even a scratch in this luxurious matte gunmetal grey paint would turn the insurance adjusters into crying, shivering wrecks. And it can seriously only carry four people. Because forget the wild exterior for just a moment. The interior is something else altogether.
You can keep the bench-style back seat, but in this purist example Gemballa ditched it and fitted four carbon-fiber seats trimmed to the kind of luxury you'd expect in a business class seat. And then, of course, he signed them. The rest of the interior is a mass of carbon, two-tone leather and Alcantara, and then there's the advanced and separate multimedia systems in the front and rear.
Look behind the wheel, too, and you'll see genuine paddle shifters. Porsche's persistence with the frankly awful rocker switch gear changes in its automatic and PDK cars has gifted Gemballa the chance to make a strong business from these simple, elegant wheels with the plastic paddles. One customer ordered 21 just a few weeks ago for his whole collection of Porsches.
This, and thousands of other small touches go some way to justifying that frightening base line price, that and the guaranteed exclusivity it brings to the table, of course. It would have been easy to just boost the power, but Gemballa went the whole nine yards and didn't blink at the price of new round taillights, tailor-made lightweight wheels and even door handles that mirror the profile of the car, to create the complete package and the ultimate Super Sport Wagon.
But it's not quite there yet, because Gemballa is planning a rear-drive version, cutting more weight and creating an SUV that can powerslide on demand. If you think the overpowered SUV market has gone too far, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Gemballa Tornado GTS
Layout
Longitudinal front engine, all-wheel drive
Engine
5.0-liter V8, dohc, 32-valve. Twin KKK-BorgWarner K24 Turbochargers (21.75psi), racing intercoolers, Gemballa sport air filter, competition exhaust, remapped ECU
Transmission
Six-speed automatic
Brakes
OEM calipers with 420mm rotors
Wheels And Tires
Gemballa GT Sport alloy, 12x22
Continental Cross Contact, 335/25