History In the making - what dreams may come

We are referring to the Hulme.F1 Champion 1967 – a dream that has become a reality in just two years.

The Hulme supercar takes its name from New Zealand’s only Formula 1 champion, the late Denny Hulme and represents a massive undertaking for New Zealand, which is ready to take on supercar manufacturing on a global scale.

You want that again? With the Hulme supercar, New Zealand will be producing a highly desirable car to be built here and marketed internationally as well as locally, assuming New Zealand buyers are prepared to dip into their pockets for an undisclosed figure estimated to be between $400,000 and $600,000.

But that’s not important right now.

What is important is how we got to this stage, which has been labelled Stage 1 by SupercarsNZ Limited, the company promoting the Hulme F1.

It started as a wish on the part of Jock Freemantle, who really wanted to get back into motorsport after some years. He looked at getting into a Saker race car - a kit design out of Palmerston North – but couldn’t actually get into it.

He bumped into a friend of his, Bruce Woods, who was responsible for setting up a transport design class at Massey University. Woods mentioned that 75% of his students wanted to design cars, which was exactly what Jock was looking for.

He and Bruce determined that such an undertaking could become reality even here in New Zealand.

By 2002 Tony Parker was brought on board and it was he and Jock who realised there was no taking on the mass market when it came to New Zealand manufacturing cars from the ground up, but why not tackle the supercar market?

Why not indeed? The Massey University Industrial design department went to work designing the supercar that would eventually become New Zealand’s first entrant into the world of highly desirable automobiles.

There are four crucial elements that needed to be taken care of however, some more mundane than others.

First, whatever the car was going to be, it had to be spectacular – and it is – it had to have a support network in place from design to concept to sale, it had to have help from expert suppliers, many of whom would have to come from outside New Zealand, and then the fourth and perhaps the most annoying element, funding.

The Hulme F1 is a car that is built around the wow factor. At its unveiling last week, comments ranged from "that’s the most beautiful piece of automobilia I’ve ever seen", to "it’s a stunner, an absolute mind blowing car", to "Oh my god, I’ve just got to have one," and variations on a similar theme.

As far a support goes, the supercar has a cast of many that are all too eager to see the car succeed.

Suppliers? The rest of the world seems to be fully behind our fledgling industry.

The supercar is a reflection of true Kiwi spirit that we should have recognised back in the 60’s when we were recognised as a nation to be reckoned with in motorsport.

The Hulme supercar is a mid-engine design with a high-tech powertrain and chassis that gives the driver the feeling of driving a Formula One car on the road.

The car features a modified
BMW M5, 5-litre V8 engine producing 450hp. It transfers power to the rear wheels via sequential six-speed transmission assisted by a limited slip differential. Brakes are ABS-assisted.

The chassis is of tubular construction and measures 4.6 metres in length, 1.9 metres in width and a nudge over 1 metre in height.

And because this is a road goer, it is equipped with driver and passenger airbags. Anyone asking about cupholders will be banned for eternity from driving this car.

This is only the first of what is planned to be a long series of car designs emerging from New Zealand.

This vision will be achieved by consistent reinvestment in the knowledge base in New Zealand and as such, SupercarsNZ Ltd has committed to reinvest a significant percentage of all profits in the School of Transport Design at the Wellington campus.

At the unveiling, Greeta Hulme said that her late husband would have been "really chuffed" with the spectacular design of the car bearing his name.
Anyone interested in being a part of this history-making venture should advise SupercarsNZ via the form attached. l