After arriving on the track by helicopter, the race-track star, and the first ambassador of the Tony Quinn Foundation, signed autographs for fans before driving three hot laps in a V12-powered Aston Martin Vulcan Supercar and 20 in a Lamborghini.
The Vulcan Supercar, the only one of its type in the southern hemisphere, was valued at $4.2 million when Highlands owner Tony Quinn bought it in 2016.
Auckland company Shaw and Partners Financial Services paid $10,000 for one of the Vulcan laps and then gave it away on social media.
Winner Kristen Walker, of Auckland, said she was surprisingly calm as she suited up for her experience.
A Formula One fan, she got hooked watching Drive to Survive.
"If I can’t trust him, I can’t trust anybody.
"I’m excited and petrified, but not even nervous," she said.
Afterwards, Mrs Walker said she could not believe how close they had gone to the sides of the track, but she was exhilarated by the experience.
Before suiting up, Lawson signed autographs for some of the hundreds of fans who began lining up several hours before the event began.
The Hodges family, of Invercargill, had spent the previous night in Cromwell before arriving at the motorsport park at 7am to queue for an autograph. Fraser, 12, was thrilled to have his go-kart helmet signed by his hero.
Third-year medical student Mia Gerrard, of Wānaka, had ridden her motorbike over and was delighted to have her helmet signed by Lawson.
She grew up watching F1 racing with her father and hoped eventually to be a doctor for one of the F1 teams, she said.
The most striking item offered for signing was an almost life-size cardboard replica of Lawson.
Wānaka friends Eden Ford, Pieta Craig, Mercy Sunderland and Amelia Craig said they had acquired the treasured item from a pub in Melbourne and it was carried back to New Zealand in a cricket bag.
