Get this: Liam Lawson, our Formula 1 star-in-the-making who has driven a dazzling array of some of the world's most exotic machinery, has just bought the first car to be registered in his name in this country.
And after "tricking out" the more humble-than-glam 2000 Subaru Forrester with 234,000km on the clock, he'll be giving it away.
The grateful recipient — the youth mental health charity I Am Hope which will auction the car and motor off with the proceeds.
Transforming the box-shaped Subaru has kept the 22-year-old Red Bull contracted racer busy during his summer break back in his hometown Pukekohe.
"The one thing I've learnt with car modifying is there's always more to do," said Lawson. "What started with a few mods at the beginning has just grown as we've continued to come up with new ideas to make it even better. "I want to make it as cool as possible for when we let it go."
Street cred
Among the many performance mods — a new turbo, intercooler and electronic control unit which have all contributed to increasing the engine output to 300 horsepower.
Add in adjustable coilover suspension, white rims, and a gun-metal grey wrap, and the Subie has become a head-turner with genuine "street cred".
To authenticate its origins, Lawson has scrawled his signature across the front dashboard.
Lawson said he was delighted to give the car to I Am Hope, in part as a tribute to a school friend who took his life several years ago.
"This car is for him, 100 per cent."
The founder of I Am Hope, Mike King, was ecstatic about seeing the car for the first time. "Holy hecka, can you believe that?"
King said he was honoured that "a future Formula 1 World Champion" was acknowledging the work of his charity.
"It's a beautiful machine, heaps of grunt and with all the latest go-fast stuff. And there's a New Zealander out there who will soon be able to say: 'I own the first car Liam Lawson ever registered in his name'. Wow."
Lawson's gesture showed that even after years of crisscrossing the globe as part of the motorsport elite, he hadn't forgotten his roots, King said.
"That's incredible. Good on him."
Neither Lawson nor King could put a likely price on the Forrester, other than to suggest "the more the better" while pointing out the tens of thousands of dollars worth of extras on it.
The car is being auctioned online by Turners Cars and TradeMe. The auction starts at 7pm on February 17 and runs for a week.
By then Lawson will be back in Europe carrying out his Formula 1 simulator and testing duties.
He will travel to all 24 races on this year's calendar as a reserve driver for both Oracle Red Bull Racing and the former Alpha Tauri team (which he drove for in five races last year) now rebranded as Visa Cash App RB.
The championship kicks off in Bahrain on March 2.
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