Te Puke Library hosts exhibition of Denny Hulme memorabilia

Greeta Hulme, widow of motor racing legend Denny Hulme, with Western Bay Museum manager Paula Gaelic and some of the personal items that are on display in Te Puke Library.

The life and achievements of Te Puke's Denny Hulme are being celebrated across the Western Bay.

The Western Bay Museum in Katikati is currently hosting a major exhibition called Champions in their Field, with one of the key exhibits Denny Hulme's 1955 MG FT.

He bought the MG when he was 19 years old, then tracked it down and bought it back when he returned to New Zealand once his international racing career was over.

The exhibition highlights Denny's life as well as those of Dave Gallaher, the Ulster boy from Katikati and first All Blacks captain, and Greg Davis, the Katikati senior rugby player who captained the Wallabies after being overlooked by All Black selectors. The exhibition also celebrates 140 Years of Katikati Rugby and Waihi Surf Lifesaving Club.

In Te Puke Library there is a complementary, but altogether different, exhibition.

Denny Hulme's widow Greeta has loaned a range of keepsakes and memorabilia from her personal collection for the display, which also features a long and impressive list of his motor racing achievements

''It puts a different perspective on things than the main exhibition in that [the exhibits] are all very personal,'' says Western Bay Museum manager Paula Gaelic.

Possibly the most spectacular is the trophy Hulme was awarded for winning the 1973 Swedish Grand Prix. He led the race for less than two laps after passing Sweden's Lotus driver Ronnie Peterson who had run into tyre trouble.

Reigning world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, Peterson's teammate, had also had to retire in the closing laps of the race with gearbox troubles as the Lotus cars looked to be heading to a one, two finish.

The glass trophy has the appearance of green ice and has a polar bear moulded into it.

A model of Hulme's McLaren M23 in which he won the race is also among the model cars that are on display in Te Puke.

The car itself was shipped to New Zealand after Hulme retired and for a time was on display at Te Puke Vintage Auto Barn, the museum that was housed in what is now Kiwi Corral.

The car was bought by Christchurch's Phil Mauger who restored and raced it.

''He wanted to restore it so people could see it and hear it as a living memorial to Dennis,'' says Greeta. ''He even took it back to Sweden where that car won the Swedish Grand Prix.''

Also among the model cars is one of the MG FT, one of the orange Can-Am McLarens Hulme and Bruce McLaren successfully competed in the late 1960s and early 1970s at a time when drivers competed in multiple classes in the same season and a Rover Vitesse Hulme drove for Tom Walkinshaw.

''There's a teddy bear with a hat and overalls that Emerson Fittipaldi gave him when he retired with its Marlborough and Texaco colours and a fan made a cloth kiwi with Denny on one side and on the other Go Kiwi,'' says Greeta.

Paula says she has been amazed how many people have visited the main exhibition.

''It's been incredible the number of people who have called or come into the museum because of the car - and they all have a story to tell. They either worked on the car or had been to see Denny because he was restoring it and they had one.''

There have even been people laying on the museum floor to see modifications Hulme made to the car.

''He drilled some sort of baffle in the car to make it noisier when he came through Te Puke,'' laughs Greeta.

The exhibition in Te Puke will run until the end of October whole the main exhibition will run until January.