The Canterbury teenager, appearing in the dock wearing a suit and supported in the courtroom by family members, also admitted a charge of reckless driving causing injury to one of his backseat passengers, also aged 17, who, the court heard, is currently in an induced coma.
He has a broken neck "and his prognosis is not yet known".
Kenneth McCaul's vehicle.
Justice Rachel Dunningham remanded him on continued bail for sentencing on December 16.
Interim name suppression will be argued before he is sentenced.
However, the teen accelerated away, soon reaching speeds of 90km/h in the 50km/h zone.
Going into the city, he drove through a red light and past the casino. He continued speeding through town before a second marked patrol car joined the pursuit.
As he drove down Glandovey Rd, he went through a red light at the Idris Rd intersection and T-boned a Hyundai saloon driven by McCaul.
McCaul was driving to work early to secure a car park and had planned to sleep in his car before starting his shift at Christchurch Hospital.
The front of the teen's Toyota hit McCaul's car in the passenger side between the front and back wheels, shunting it across the road and into a stone wall. It bounced off the wall and came to rest on the edge of the footpath.
