Grapevine: Woods going for a drive in NZ

Woods will take part in the charity race on Monday in the North Island town of Huntly, the event coinciding with the New Zealand round of Australasia's V8 Supercar Championship at Pukekohe, south of Auckland.

"He was practising his putting one day and I said 'I've got a question for you Tiggy. How about the chance of driving a stock car'. He said 'I'm in'," Williams told a news conference in Auckland.

"I said it's going to be a proper stock car race in an event and he said: 'I can't wait. When are we doing it?' It didn't take him much convincing."

Stock car racing in New Zealand typically takes place on a narrow enclosed oval dirt track with plenty of contact between competitors' cars.

"If they knock me off, I can knock them off," Woods told the news conference. "The whole idea is to have fun," adding that insurance had been "taken care of."

New Zealander Williams, his country's speedway Super Saloon champion, said he doubted Woods would have any problems.

"He's driven on the freeway in LA a lot, so he's had plenty of experience."

The format involves two teams of five, led by former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga and Woods, with the cars doing 12 laps of the 7,000-capacity Huntly Speedway.

"The whole idea of this event is a charity event and will hopefully broaden the spectrum of speedway," Williams said.

Money raised from the event will go Williams's Foundation, which provides funding for young sports people who cannot afford coaching and to help with sport-related tertiary education opportunities.