Hulme CanAm news - Kiwi go - 2009

Somewhere off the coast of Australia lies a place called New Zealand. Or so we’re told. You might know it for its tasty lamb steaks, or for its rugby team who run around in black shirts while performing terrifying tribal dances.
 
But you probably won’t know it for its supercars. Until now. Meet the Hulme CanAm –officially the third fastest thing to come out of NZ, after engineer and racer Bruce McLaren, whose name still lives on in F1 – and Denny Hulme, NZ’s one and only F1 world champion. Hulme was the inspiration behind the CanAm, hence his name being slapped on it.
 
The car has been around for a few years already – we presume its creators have been too busy entertaining sheep to actually put it on sale – but it’s just got a new engine. So replacing the previous M5 engine is an all-new 600bhp LS7 unit from the Corvette Z06, enough to send it to sixty in under three seconds, and on to about 200mph.
 
Pretty quick, then. After a recent shakedown at the Kiwi round of the A1GP, the car is moving a bit closer to production (there’s an open-roof version too, if you’re feeling hardcore). Expect to see it on sale sometime next year.
 
Kind of reminds us of the Caparo T1, which has sort of slipped off the radar recently. Let’s just hope the CanAm doesn’t go the same way as that – we’ve had enough scorched TV presenters for one decade, thanks.