Agency chairman’s speedy challenge

Simon Bridges, the NZ Transport Agency’s chairman, was left grinning after teaming up with a professional drift racer for a special high-octane challenge.

The former National Party leader and transport minister took to the passenger seat – and pulled a number of faces – as Mad Mike Whiddett burned plenty of rubber and hit speeds of up to 150kph at Hampton Downs.

Bridges, a confessed petrolhead and Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer, had been set the challenge of trying to set up an online banking account on his mobile phone quicker than Whiddett could get through a set of tyres.

The quirky time trial was designed by a local fintech and captured on camera. In the video below Bridges can be seen frantically trying to focus on his phone while contending with the adrenaline rush of high-speed drifting.

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