Society Insider: Auckland’s new luxury car social media star; Chelsea Winstanley’s glamorous Art Gallery fundraiser

Her guests so far have included UFC star Dan Hooker, Auckland FC player Lachlan Brook, restaurateur and influencer Albert Cho, and entrepreneur and former The Apprentice NZ star Kennedy Anderson.

Racemode host Taylor Serage with Albert Cho, Kennedy Anderson, and UFC star Dan Hooker. Photo / Herald composite

The 30-year-old Aucklander, who went to Baradene College in Remuera, started out working in property for Wallace Real Estate.

She began posting on Instagram a year ago, showing off her outfits and open homes, which would include her high-performance Japanese sports car, a powder blue Honda Civic TYPE R, parked out front with the number plate SERAGE.

“When I was driving, lots of people would recognise the car and want to race because it looks like a little Hot Wheels car,” Serage tells Society Insider.

Taylor Serage with her high-performance Japanese sports car, a Honda Civic TYPE R.

After it happened a few times, she set up a car camera to capture the interactions, and then she says, “it was all on”.

Serage’s videos, which combine her driving while playing R&B classics, saw her get one million views of her posts early on.

Things went into the stratosphere for Serage in a video that saw her accelerating on to the motorway playing Beyonce’s End of Time.

“It went crazy with 30 million views, and I got over 100,000 followers from it,” she says. “Not long after, another video went crazy playing Basshunter. That was millions of views again, then, a third video where I’m driving on the motorway and I see a G wagon, and I overtake the G wagon – that got 30 million views as well.”

She began her daily Instagram show Racemode in December, in which she drives VIP guests around in luxury and high-performance cars. Last week, she drove a Lotus, a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, an Audi R8, and a Porsche.

Although Serage is a fan of James Cordon’s Carpool Karaoke, she says Racemode happened organically.

“I wanted to share my driving experience with passengers and have a chat and a laugh, not sing,” she says.

As well as the aforementioned UFC star Dan Hooker, Auckland FC player Lachlan Brook, restaurateur and influencer Albert Cho, and entrepreneur and former The Apprentice NZ star Kennedy Anderson, she’s hosted other big names.

Guests – who she dubs “passenger princesses” – have also included singer Ella Monnery, actors Bianca Paine and Nepia Takuira-Mita, Tik Toker of the year Louis Davis, police vlogger Lana Crichton, YouTube golfing stars Harry Na and Sam Heung Min, and Rich Lister Grant Baker, the chairman of Turners Automotive Group.

Baker is famous for his collection of Ferraris, so Serage drove him in a Ferrari 488 GTB. She took the opportunity to ask Baker if she could meet Turners’ ad campaign frontwoman, Tina, played by comedian Sieni Leo’o Olo.

When Baker explained that after nearly 18 years helming the company, he hadn’t met Olo, and she is now living in Samoa, Serage says, “Of course, I asked if I could be the new Tina, and Grant agreed that Taylor from Turners had a nice ring to it.”

Taylor Serage in a Ferrari for her Instagram series Racemode.

Serage’s brand has grown organically; at this stage, there are no agents involved in organising the talent she is driving around.

“It’s been so fun to organise, I do everything: book the car, reach out to the person, book the time, show up, drive around and have a laugh, I do all the editing and post,” she says.

Serage curates everything, often choosing her outfits – from designers including Paris Georgia and Zimmerman – to match the car, and the type of car to match her guest. She chose a Rolls-Royce Ghost for Cho and a Bentley for Anderson.

The move from real estate to focus on Racemode full-time came three months ago, and she says her biggest supporter was her fiance, Mikey Smith. The couple have been together since they were teenagers and share a passion for high-performance Japanese cars.

Newly engaged Mikey Smith and Taylor Serage at the F1 in Japan.

Smith, 34, is the founder and managing director of mortgage lending chain Guardian Smith and is a regular on financial literacy advocate Luke Kemeys’ podcast Keep the Change.

“He is the smartest person I know,” Serage says of Smith. “It has been incredible to see him problem-solve and build his company over the years.”

The couple became engaged last April while they attended the Formula One Grand Prix in Japan. Smith surprised Serage with a large diamond with a halo of diamonds from Diamonds on Richmond. Wedding planning is underway, with Serage having fittings with Auckland wedding dress couturier Anita Turner from Vinka Design.

Mikey Smith and Taylor Serage at the F1 in Japan.

The pair are looking for a new home in the Eastern Bays able to house their fleet of eight high-performance Japanese cars.

It’s early days for Serage’s Racemode brand as she learns to monetise her social media posts, with plans to put full episodes on YouTube.

“It’s really self-employed life at its finest. You just go hard and hope it all works out in the end,” she says.

She is working closely with leading car dealers Giltrap Group and luxury and exotic car hire firm MotorShare, where Serage will drive their cars and network at their events.

Taylor Serage.

Queenstown motoring event the Ayrburn Classic has invited Serage to be a supercar driver next month for its Classic Tour d’Elegance.

The unassuming influencer has plans to branch out of Racemode into new mode reels showing her learning to play golf, do Pilates and cook. And once she and Smith move into their new house, Serage will document how she sets up a home from scratch in a new video series, Housemode.

Chelsea Winstanley to take her debut doco global

Filmmaker Chelsea Winstanley.

Rich and powerful names from the art world will come together at the Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tāmaki, tonight for a glamorous fundraiser and screening of Academy Award-nominated producer Chelsea Winstanley’s directorial debut, Toitū: Visual Sovereignty.

The documentary, which initially debuted at the New Zealand International Film Festival in August, is attracting global attention and is due to screen at the 41st Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) early next month.

Cliff Curtis and Chelsea Winstanley at the Art Foundation Gala last year. Photo / Jinki Cambronero and John Rata

An important pre-Oscar industry event, the SBIFF will honour stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, Michael B. Jordan, Benicio del Toro, Adam Sandler and Kate Hudson.

Winstanley will be presenting the film at SBIFF on Waitangi Day, alongside Nigel Borell, Auckland Art Gallery’s former Curator, Māori Art. The film tells the story of Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, the largest Māori art exhibition in Aotearoa New Zealand’s history, which was curated by Borell.

The passion project, which brought Winstanley home from Los Angeles to Aotearoa, sees her tell the story of Borell’s exhibition, which opened on December 5, 2020, after years of planning. Borell resigned from the gallery before the exhibition opened and left just a few weeks later in January 2021.

In an interview with the Herald’s Canvas magazine, Borell claimed he was leaving due to irreconcilable differences with the gallery’s then-director, Kirsten Lacy, and tensions over the gallery’s future direction.

Nigel Borell pictured in December 2020 at the Auckland Art Gallery. Photo / Dean Purcell

Winstanley’s film follows Borell during the lead-up to the exhibition opening, including Covid lockdowns causing unforeseen delays, and his ultimate resignation.

Borell will be attending the fundraiser at the gallery tonight.

“Words can’t express how grateful I am to everyone involved in creating this film, especially all the artists who let me into their sacred creative spaces, to the generosity of donors and gallerists, to my whānau and friends who never gave up on me,” Winstanley tells Society Insider.

“This film took five years to make. Producer Desray Armstrong and I put our heart and soul into every frame.”

Cliff Curtis, Chelsea Winstanley and Desray Armstrong at the premiere of Toitū: Visual Sovereignty at the NZ International Film Festival last year.

The independent, personally funded documentary was completed in 2025 thanks to final stage funding support from executive producer, NZ barrister and multimillionaire international businessman Kahungunu Barron-Afeaki, SC, who will be there tonight and will also travel to Santa Barbara with Winstanley and Borell.

Winstanley says tonight’s Auckland Art Gallery fundraiser aims to help the film gain further recognition internationally.

“We’re fundraising to get out there and get this film distributed,” she tells Society Insider. “I owe it to the artists and to everyone who’s had my back.

“Nigel and I will be presenting the film in the documentary competition at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Waitangi Day, which feels significant.”

The 12 pieces up for auction tonight are by celebrated artists, including Arts Foundation laureates Shane Cotton, Brett Graham, Reuben Paterson, and Taika Waititi – Winstanley’s former husband – who showed his art for the first time in Borell’s exhibition.

Taika Waititi in Toitū: Visual Sovereignty.

Flying in from attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, Waititi will sign his art in person tonight. He says it’s attention at festivals that helps films like this get much-needed distribution across the international stage.

“Toitū: Visual Sovereignty is a powerful film that I’m very proud to have had my work included in,” says Waititi.

“It’s vital that work like this gets international exposure, because when our stories travel, they engage, they resonate, they affect.”

Taika Waititi will sign his Woolly Dollar, One Moollar in person at the Auckland Art Gallery fundraiser tonight before it’s auctioned.

Also auctioning their works tonight are Arts Foundation new-generation recipients Star Gossage and Ngāhina Hohaia, and established artists Emily Karaka, Charlotte Graham, Ngatai Taepa and Tyrone Ohia.

Emily Karaka’s I Can’t Breathe artwork.Star Gossage’s painting Tawharau is among those being auctioned at the fundraiser tonight. Photo / Jennifer French

Multimillionaire fund manager and chair of the Auckland Art Gallery and Te Papa boards Christopher Swasbrook, with Cable Bay Vineyard owner Loukas Petrou and Mark O’Brien, KC, will be among the moneyed guests expected in attendance. Actors Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rena Owen, and arts laureate Cliff Curtis are also expected to be there to show their support for the film.

After the sold-out screening, guests will head upstairs to the gallery’s atrium for a kōrero with Winstanley, MC’d by Stacey Morrison, before the auction led by Webbs auctioneer Caolan McAleer.

The event is free to members of the public who register their attendance. Online bids are open at Webbs.co.nz and donations can be made through Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi arts crowdfunding platform Boosted.

Party People of the Week

Teeks opens Hamilton’s BNZ Theatre

Teeks performing at the opening of the BNZ Theatre in Hamilton. Photo / Levi Santana

Hamilton’s new 1300-seat BNZ Theatre had its official opening on Friday night. Operated by Live Nation New Zealand in partnership with the Waikato Regional Property Trust, the theatre is expected to be a new economic driver for the region.

The guests at the Live Nation event included funders, stakeholders and local government, alongside prominent media and entertainment figures from across the country.

Guests included Hamilton Mayor Tim Macindoe and Deputy Mayor Geoff Taylor, Ministry for Culture and Heritage CEO Leauanae Laulu Mac, BNZ’s Anna Flower, and many of the key personnel who have helped deliver the project, including David Pugh of Jasmax – the architects behind the theatre’s striking design – and key Live Nation executives, including managing director Mark Kneebone and vice-president of venue development Guy Ngata, and the managing director of Ticketmaster, Anjelica Devoe.

They were joined by key industry players, including the CEO of the Auckland Arts Festival, Robbie Macrae, Creative Waikato CEO Dr Jeremy Mayall, and Waimihi Hotere from Creative New Zealand.

Other guests included Newstalk ZB host Andrew Dickens, RNZ’s Kara Rickard, international agent and head of top British music agency Solo Agency Charly Beedell-Tuck, and fashion influencer Brooklyn Ellis.

After a welcome function with champagne and canapes, guests took their seats for musician Teeks’ first-ever performance in Hamilton.

Upcoming shows at the theatre include British popstar Sophie Ellis-Bextor, South Africa’s world-renowned Soweto Gospel Choir, Kiwi musician Bic Runga, British comedian and actor Alan Davies, the Royal New Zealand Ballet and a host of international and grassroots local talent.

Tim Macindoe, Michael Gilling, Mark Kneebone, Anna Flower and Ross Hargood. Photo / Gabriel RennerDavid Pugh and Theresa Healey. Photo / Gabriel Renner Helen Wild and Andrew Dickens. Photo / Gabriel Renner Iver Ferguson-Rickard and Kara Rickard. Photo / Gabriel Renner Charly Beedell-Tuck and Jackie Antis. Photo / Gabriel Renner Braden and Brooklyn Ellis. Photo / Gabriel Renner Tiana Walker, Landy Nonoa and Siapu Tyrell. Photo / Gabriel Renner Kathryn and Chris Williams. Photo / Gabriel Renner Dylan Cherry and Danni Gardiner. Photo / Gabriel Renner Natasha and Mark Renner. Photo / Gabriel Renner Christine and Glenn Miller. Photo / Gabriel Renner Belinda and Craig Mulgrew. Photo / Gabriel Renner Shaun Bugden and Melissa Clark. Photo / Gabriel Renner

Karaka Millions at Ellerslie

Petrea Vela, Tonia and Lily Cawood, and Kahu Tataurangi at the Karaka Millions at Ellerslie. Photo / Bruno Cannatelli

Thousands of punters braved the weather at the Karaka Millions at Ellerslie Racecourse on Saturday evening, with VIPs enjoying the NZ Bloodstock marquees, the Entain marquee and the Birdcage, within the Cuvee Lounge in the Ascot Stand.

Celebrating the 100th birthday of their family’s business NZ Bloodstock, Victoria and Petrea Vela greeted guests on arrival, including Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour with his fiancee, buyer’s agent Alexandra Vincent Martelli, as well as several rich listers – Centuria CEO Mark Francis, property developer Kurt Gibbons, Lady Sarah Fay, and Trelawney Stud’s Brent and Cherry Taylor, with their daughter, podcaster Gracie Hitchcock.

Also seen mingling in the VIP areas were legendary trainer Lance O’Sullivan, his wife Bridgette O’Sullivan, with their daughter Caitlin and her husband, commercial property dealer Tom Doyle, and their daughter Georgia’s partner, All Black Damian McKenzie.

Enjoying the trackside action were NZ Warriors CEO Cameron George, B.A.X Bloodstock’s Kylie Bax with her daughters Lito and Dione, POP Publicity’s Tess Woolcock, fashion stylist Lulu Wilcox, fashion creator Carena West, founder of jewellery brand Pāmu, Alicia Haszard, influencer Simone Anderson, New Zealand Herald racing editor Michael Guerin and the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing head of communications and content, Andrew Gourdie.

Queensland trainer Liam Birchley’s Dream Roca won the $1 million TAB Karaka Millions 2YO race. It was Birchley’s third win. Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh’s Well Written won the $1.5m 3YO TAB Karaka Millions in a six-length runaway victory.

The afterparty in the Birdcage was jam-packed with revellers dancing to ZM’s DJ Clint Roberts.

At the NZ Bloodstock Sales in Karaka the following day, Sir Peter and Lady Pam Vela entertained a wide variety of guests, including Racing Minister Winston Peters, TAB chairman Bill Birnie, and Australian-based UK Coolmore Stud owner Tom Magnier.

Bridgette and Caitlin O’Sullivan. Lito, Kylie and Dione Bax.Simone Anderson, Tess Woolcock and Alicia Haszard.Jessie Gower and David Carfrae. Photo / Bruno Cannatelli Cassandra Grodd. Photo / Bruno Cannatelli George, Harry and Charlotte Chittick with Andy Buick. Photo / Bruno Cannatelli Ella McConnell and Grace Merrilees. Photo / Bruno Cannatelli Harry King holding the Karaka Millions trophy and Nathan Doyle. Photo / Bruno CannatelliKane Jones, Cherry Taylor, Andrew Seabrook and Brent Taylor. Photo / Bruno Cannatelli Chris Waller and Catheryn Bruggeman. Photo / Bruno Cannatelli Alex Leander, Harry King and Emma Thompson. Photo / Bruno Cannatelli Sarah Stuart.

Ricardo Simich has been with the Herald since 2008 where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012 he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.