Interesting Hulme Supercar Blog
Discussion
It's not a similar price at the current exchange rate!
The Noble is a massively over priced sportscar from a manufacturer who built an amazing following with a couple of stellar products at a reasonable price. I don't expect them to do especially well with this - after all would you buy a Noble M600, or a Ferrari or a Mclaren or a Lambo etc etc?
The Hulme was a nice idea but unfortunately the price was daft (at any exchange rate) the car ugly compared to it's concept drawings, and the company and expertise behind it unproven (as manufacturers of sports cars).
I think Jock Freemantle thought he could cash-in on the sort of patriotic frenzy that Britten or the red-sock Americas cup campaign generated, only he forgot about just one thing, the others were already there, already successful before the frenzy started!
Ultima GTR anyone?
The Noble is a massively over priced sportscar from a manufacturer who built an amazing following with a couple of stellar products at a reasonable price. I don't expect them to do especially well with this - after all would you buy a Noble M600, or a Ferrari or a Mclaren or a Lambo etc etc?
The Hulme was a nice idea but unfortunately the price was daft (at any exchange rate) the car ugly compared to it's concept drawings, and the company and expertise behind it unproven (as manufacturers of sports cars).
I think Jock Freemantle thought he could cash-in on the sort of patriotic frenzy that Britten or the red-sock Americas cup campaign generated, only he forgot about just one thing, the others were already there, already successful before the frenzy started!
Ultima GTR anyone?
As much as I'd love to see the Hulme succeed, it's really just a nice body over a steel spaceframe with a Chev engine in the back. Back when they were touting a full carbon tub and a BMW-derived engine, the price was still steep, but perhaps justifiable.... as it stands now, the prospect is a bit laughable.
Unfortunately when I got really close to the Hulme in the flesh it was distinctly underwhelming, and everyone who I've spoken to about it with any significant experience of performance cars has been similarly unimpressed.
It's a spa pool that isn't visually compelling, doesn't have a sound to make you spin around and from what I saw at Taupo, doesn't handle particularly well.
The Britten comment is interesting. That is an example of something that had some innovative attibutes for its time but ended up as a complete failure from a business perspective. When John Britten sadly died in 1995 there was only a small window of opportunity to leverage the bike into a successful business. For whatever reason a deal was not done quickly enough and both the technology and the brand depreciated very quickly.
Apart from anything else the Hulme has taken much too long and not made sufficient progress.
It's a spa pool that isn't visually compelling, doesn't have a sound to make you spin around and from what I saw at Taupo, doesn't handle particularly well.
The Britten comment is interesting. That is an example of something that had some innovative attibutes for its time but ended up as a complete failure from a business perspective. When John Britten sadly died in 1995 there was only a small window of opportunity to leverage the bike into a successful business. For whatever reason a deal was not done quickly enough and both the technology and the brand depreciated very quickly.
Apart from anything else the Hulme has taken much too long and not made sufficient progress.
Always been impressed with the engineering of the Britten but went off it a lot after reading Tim Hanna's book. I orignally had the impression it was some guy in his shed but probably an operation the same scale as Ducati's racing department was built off lots of free labour.
Kim Newcomb achieved just as much if not more on a far smaller budget without abusing the generosity of everyone yet barely anyone even knows who he is.
Kim Newcomb achieved just as much if not more on a far smaller budget without abusing the generosity of everyone yet barely anyone even knows who he is.
Let me be clear about this, at no point was I comparing the quality or achievement of the Hulme project with Britten - they are not comparable! One hit well above his weight and achieved some astonishing results and the other was just a pipedream trying to cash-in on Kiwi petrolheads sense of patriotism.
I know the chap who did a lot of the development work on the Britten's engine. I've been lucky enough to get my own tour of the factory, sit on a few bikes, see what they were working on for the future etc but that was a long time ago. Sadly, from what I gather, John's widow was pushed and pulled in various directions about how best to handle Johns legacy and take forward what was then a very marketable brand. I suspect the opportunity now is all but lost unless the right person is found along with a shed-load of cash.
I've also been told that John designed nice looking things but lacked the engineering skills to put his ideas into solid, winning products. That was largely down to all the other people he worked with or contracted out to. I don't want to belittle his achievements though - not many people can manage what he did with so little resources at his disposal.
I know the chap who did a lot of the development work on the Britten's engine. I've been lucky enough to get my own tour of the factory, sit on a few bikes, see what they were working on for the future etc but that was a long time ago. Sadly, from what I gather, John's widow was pushed and pulled in various directions about how best to handle Johns legacy and take forward what was then a very marketable brand. I suspect the opportunity now is all but lost unless the right person is found along with a shed-load of cash.
I've also been told that John designed nice looking things but lacked the engineering skills to put his ideas into solid, winning products. That was largely down to all the other people he worked with or contracted out to. I don't want to belittle his achievements though - not many people can manage what he did with so little resources at his disposal.
The Hulme has been a wonderful idea and if it had got the financial support to slip the V10 M5 motor and SMG into it, it would have been a superb car.
However Jock and his mates never had a real plan to ever get the thing built. We offered to provide funding for the first vehicle and have it used as the global show car. They wanted an investment and then the option to buy one.
This, like the Britten was a "build it and they will come" in my opinion. And it has stagnated too long.
Instead of the Ford V8, something like the engine out of the 335i would have been better. The M1 had a 6 cylinder in it...
However Jock and his mates never had a real plan to ever get the thing built. We offered to provide funding for the first vehicle and have it used as the global show car. They wanted an investment and then the option to buy one.
This, like the Britten was a "build it and they will come" in my opinion. And it has stagnated too long.
Instead of the Ford V8, something like the engine out of the 335i would have been better. The M1 had a 6 cylinder in it...
J T said:
. . . It would be a real loss to see the project finish, but I am always wondering when the point will be that the investors decide it is not worth it and will want to get out. At a purely uneducated guess, I would say maybe 2 or 3 years remain before the project will just be too out of date and underdeveloped to be a viable commercial project.
I would say it has already had too many hits to be resurrected by a loose collective of small to medium investors. Maybe another 6 months if a single major investor wants to jump in. After that it's toast.Sad but I think there's more chance of the government raising the open-road speed limit . . .
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