Wanganui's Bamber stars in a classic case of driving blind

Call it derring-do, call it a little bit crazy, but there's no doubting it will be one of the more watched videos and it involves Wanganui speed demon Earl Bamber in a key role.
Bamber was co-pilot for AI GP driver Johnny Reid when he drove a new Volvo S60 sedan around Hampton Downs blindfolded.
It was part of a stunt by Volvo to launch the new car and it's something Bamber said they enjoyed doing.
With typical understatement, Bamber said co-piloting for a blindfolded Reid was "quite interesting".
Apart from raising a little dust on one or two corners, Reid got around the circuit in 1m28.3s reaching speeds up to 193km/h.
"The producers kept telling us both to be serious and stop laughing during the filming but ours was more of a nervous laugh than anything," he said.
"There were two others in the car with us, one filming and the other doing the audio. They kept asking if we had to drive quite so fast."
Through it all Bamber gave straightforward instructions to the blinded Reid, telling him when to keep going straight ahead, when to turn left or right and when to brake.
And apart from raising a little dust on a couple of corners, the car remained on course and kept going very fast.
This promotional exploit capped off an action-packed year for the Wanganui 20-year-old.
With the New Year looming and the summer racing series set to resume, Bamber said while nothing had been confirmed at this stage for his driving in 2011, he had a "couple of irons in the fire".
"It's a bit too early to say anything at this stage but I'm pretty confident," he said.
Last year he drove everything, from the New Zealand Grand Prix to the global Superleague Formula.
He said success in the Superleague Formula rated highly.
He had been co-commentating the championship for the bulk of the season until one of the drivers was not able to complete his visa requirements for entry to China.
In October, Bamber went from commentary box to driver's seat at the Ordos circuit in Inner Mongolia, driving for the FC-Porto team. After starting eighth in the 750hp V12 Superleague car and finishing third in the first race, Bamber fought his way to 12th from 17th in the second, reverse grid race. He then went on to win the Superfinal race, a five-lap dash for a prize worth $175,000.
The following weekend in Beijing he got called into the PSV-Eindhoven team. He won the second race but when bad weather cancelled the rest of the day's racing he was named overall winner, collecting another $175,000 for the team.
Earlier this year Bamber had won the NZ Grand Prix, driving in the Toyota Racing Series for XXX Motorsport. Again a last minute call-up from the XXX Motorsport team boss gave Bamber a drive in a Porsche GT3 Cup Car.
There were three races that weekend and he finished third. He also set lap times faster than some of the more experienced GT3 drivers.
Bamber's final event for the year was at Pukekohe circuit, where he was asked to drive an 800hp Tranz-am.
A lack of testing did not stop him from lowering the outright lap record at Pukekohe to 54.7s, the first ever driver to go under 55 seconds in a saloon car.