Supercars have been released under the McLaren name for decades, but there was an attempt to use another New Zealand-derived driver for the same purpose.
Denny Hulme won the World Drivers’ Championship in 1967 as part of Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac’s golden era using of course a Repco engine.
During a 10 season career in Formula 1, Hulme achieved eight Grand Prix victories, one pole position, nine fastest laps and 33 podiums.
Outside of Formula 1, a Le Mans podium as part of Ford’s GT40 breakthrough in 1966 and a successful alliance with Bruce McLaren in Can-Am proved dominant before turning his hand to touring car racing.
It was at the 1992 Bathurst 1000 where Hulme sadly passed away after suffering a massive heart attack on Conrod Straight, with the Benson & Hedges BMW M3 veering towards the right-hand-side wall and coming to a stop just before The Chase. He was pronounced dead at Bathurst Hospital aged 56.
Some 15 years after his passing, the Hulme name returned to the fore following the a concept supercar using his name.
The Hulme F1 used a V8 engine from the BMW M5 producing more than 370kW and weighed just 1175kg using the then-latest composite materials in addition to a space-frame chassis to ensure its lightness.
Mounted in a north-south configuration, the engine sends drive through a six-speed sequential gearbox through the rear-wheels. Stopping power was provided by a six-piston caliper across all four wheels supplied by AP Racing. ABS was provided by a Bosch system.
Spearheaded by Kiwi entrepreneur Jock Freemantle and designer Tony Parker, the first prototype was built in 2005 as production was envisaged to be 25 units a year, with the intention of a minimum of 150 being purchased.
A prototype known as the CanAm featuring a Chevrolet LS7 V8 sourced from the Corvette Z06 was constructed and received rave reviews, but the project was shelved in 2014.
Freemantle was later diagnosed with cancer and passed away in 2016, but right through his final years he alongside Parker continued to share ideas of a new Hulme.