Seymour’s need for speed
Building up a political party is front of mind for ACT leader David Seymour this year but in the past it’s been the art of constructing a sports car, kayak and model planes that have held his attention.
The Epsom MP loves nothing more than hooning around in his little yellow Lotus replica although he admits the local constituents aren’t the biggest fans of that kind of behaviour so he ‘‘loses a couple of votes’’ every time he ‘‘goes for a blast’’.
Being bored and stuck at boarding school at Auckland Grammar as a teenager was what kick-started the idea to build a car from scratch - that and finding a book in a store in Newmarket about how to build your own wheels on the cheap.
The MP’s love of figuring out how things work probably also explains why he went on to complete an engineering degree.
At the age of 15 he started putting the car together at his parents’ place in Whangarei in weekends and school holidays. Saving up the cash for every single piece of metal, it was eight years before he finished it.
This wasn’t his first foray into building either: as a 12-year-old, Seymour says he was ‘‘a bit absurd’’ when it came to building and he constructed a kayak, which doesn’t get much use these days.
These days Seymour doesn’t get out in his car much either, but when he does, he says, ‘‘It’s thrilling to be able to go much faster than people were ever supposed to go’’. Would he make another one? Absolutely - If he had the time and he’d make the exact same car because the design is ‘‘immortal’’.
‘‘It would be way better and I’d be more disciplined and plan it better because I wouldn’t be doing it over years.’’
‘‘I do really enjoy making stuff, it’s kind of neat because there’s a certain amount of discipline in it and the results are also proportional to that and of course I’m an impatient person.
‘‘You can’t fudge it with engineering, it either works or it doesn’t.’’