KEY POINTS:
The astounding thing about Jonny Reid is that he's so small. Just 1.72m tall and 68.5kg poured into black jeans, a black and white A1GP shirt - and topped with such a fresh young face it's hard to believe he's 24.
Let alone that he's the guy who won two A1GP motor races for New Zealand in Brno, Czech Republic, last October.
And raced a Boeing 777 jet down the runway at Auckland International Airport last weekend. But wasn't it a draw?
"I did beat it," he says, brown eyes hardening behind the smile.
Reid is a curious mix of vulnerable, determined and self-confident, all overlaid with terrific manners. He answers the questions carefully, doesn't sneer at my ignorance. Despite the focus on his wins rather than his losses, he is endearingly superstitious. "Touch wood," he says smartly when the questions turn to accidents.
Even on non-racedays, his schedule is crowded. It is nearly 3pm and he hasn't had lunch yet. He lives with his father and family in Whitford and spent the morning on a race simulator in East Tamaki, driving the Taupo circuit "with the new corner changes and everything".
After this he has another TV interview. Now all he wants is a corned beef sandwich and a flat white while he explains how confident he is about the Taupo race today.
When he raced there last year, he was the rookie sharing drives with the older Matt Halliday. This time he has the lead role and a string of successes behind him.
The change came in September at the start of this season after Reid achieved what he calls a "very strong patch of consistency" last year. (The team actually came second in the series). There is no false modesty, no back-stabbing. Although he is "stoked" to have the car to himself, he doesn't want to talk about Halliday. "Matt and I get along well."
Reid himself has been racing "very well". The October weekend in the Czech Republic when he won both his races, despite having to dodge a spinning car, was "faultless". And last year, he won two podium finishes at Taupo.
How does he do it? First, he says, he has to be "in the zone".
"Do you shake?"
He looks at me, surprised. "Generally. You're all wound up. I have this vision. Right now I can picture myself sitting in the cockpit and I'd go straight into it. Sometimes I'll have bits of flashes of it and that's when I know it's starting to heat up. But it's not really until Friday when you get in the car and on Saturday it's just massive and I'm a different person."
His face flushes and even though it's only Tuesday, I can see the transformation starting. Don't do it, Jonny. Stay with me.
What gets him past the other guy?
"To do a time attack it's about the whole lap. It's picking the braking marker and really attacking it and doing it a fraction later than the next guy and maybe going up the inside of him and passing him. Getting in there as late and as hard as you can, coming off the throttle - and still making the corner, obviously."
Afterwards, he says, after around 50 laps and 70 minutes of jaw-clenching effort low in the belly of the racing car they call Black Beauty, wrapped in layers of fire-proof long johns, boots, vests, even a balaclava, talking on the radio to his technicians about balance and oversteer, he's so pumped he could go on for several more laps.
"There's still a lot of fight in you if you haven't won the race."
"Do you have to be aggressive?"
"Sometimes. Not aggressive in taking your opponent out. A bit of touching is common, but you can't nudge them off-line or off the track. If you do that you'd be penalised anyway. The stewards will give you a drive-through penalty or, if it's really bad, a black flag which means disqualification.
"You've gotta keep it clean out there and everyone does in A1. It's hard and aggressive racing, but it's clean."
He is proud of the series, which was devised to take the money focus out of grand prix motor racing and give it Olympic-style patriotic appeal. All 22 drivers must be citizens of the country they drive for.
All cars are identical, no modifications allowed, meaning winning is all down to the drivers and technical excellence of the crews. The $1 million prize money is shared between the 10 top-rating teams.
Not that he doesn't, at some level, yearn to move up to Formula 1 and its huge prize money, fame and babes. "I would expect to be on a scalp list," he says. "There are probably 1000 drivers in the world including the current Formula 1 drivers on that list."
But no, he hasn't been shoulder-tapped yet. And, as he says, to even be in that F1 feeder category costs around ¬1 million ($1.9 million) a year.
"More Kiwis deserve the opportunity. We need more investment, a 'drive to Europe' programme like we had with Bruce McLaren."
For now, though, Reid's concentration is focused on A1GP. He is hugely appreciative of the chance its New Zealand director, Colin Giltrap, has given him. And hungry to win this weekend.
"People are always asking 'Who is Jonny Reid: where did he come from?' " he says. Most don't realise he left for Australia at 19 after winning the Formula Ford championship because he had gone as far as he could here.
One New Zealander who did know who and where he was was Giltrap. "He provided me with a VW to get around in and I invited him to a [Formula 2000] race at Donington Park in the UK." Reid won the race. "Colin was over the moon, as excited as me, being on the top step of the podium. They were playing the national anthem."
Within a year, Giltrap had invited Reid to join his new A1GP team.
Reid's parents separated when he and his two brothers were young. Now, when he is in New Zealand between races he stays with his father, Clayton, who has an earth-moving business. (Although he won't talk prize money, he does admit that if his cut was huge he would have a home of his own.)
Racing is in the family. His father and grandpa did some karting and circuit racing themselves and Jonny started on the go-karts when he was 8.
They've been away on his dad's boat these holidays, fishing for kingfish and snapper way out in the ocean. "Next stop Fiji."
He says it's safer driving Black Beauty at nearly 290km-plus an hour, than zipping down the Southern Motorway in the dark blue Renault with ordinary, unpredictable, people. "Race drivers are the best drivers because their reflexes and reactions are sharp and you can race hard and close and know you're gonna come out the other end. They know where to put their wheels: no one's erratic."
Until the unthinkable happens. It was in Australia, 2003. The suspension pulled out and the front of the car collapsed on a high-speed corner.
"I noticed the steering went light, then the car launched up in the air, bounced twice and hit a concrete barrier."
The impact was so severe Reid snapped the steering wheel off with his hands. "I couldn't breathe, I was so winded. I was lucky to survive that one. I wasn't wearing a head and neck safety device because the car wasn't compatible."
Typically, when someone ran over to see if he was all right he politely asked to be left alone for a few moments "so I could gather my thoughts, digest what had happened".
Today he has total confidence in his team, "in the way they prepare the cars. So I just get in there and give it 100 per cent."
His last speeding ticket was for doing 111km/h on his way to Taupo a while back. Although he doesn't believe in using the road as a racetrack "even for me it's hard to judge 3km an hour".
He travels and races alone, with only his "racing family" for company. His long-term girlfriend has been to only three races.
"I get so focused I'm not one to have a solid conversation. All I can think about is racing. I'm so in the zone."
He is living his dream. "Being a professional racing driver is what I wanted to do. And to be representing New Zealand as well is just an added bonus. When I was a kid it was Formula One, Formula One. The A1 wasn't around."
As for today's race, he is spectacularly calm and confident. As he says with a firm, cool handshake, "it's a lot of pressure but people know I'm out there trying to do my best".
