KEY POINTS:
This time last year, Taupo was dominating Jonny Reid's thoughts.
It was all about propelling a 4.83m, 695kg, four-wheeled rocket ship around the dusty Taupo track during the A1GP roadshow.
Now, though, Reid is dreaming of an existence a little further afield - the US of A to be precise.
The 25-year-old, who drove Black Beauty to second in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport last season, has been surplus to requirements with the New Zealand team this season. He has been called up from the substitutes bench for the Taupo round but will be there only as backup to Chris Van Der Drift and because Earl Bamber is unavailable.
He will co-drive with Jody Vincent in the one-hour Porsche GT3 races in Taupo and will help launch Ali Williams' Supercar Show at Sky City in the leadup to the event, but it is a curious fall from grace for Reid and one that only now, seemingly, he has got over.
"Starting on the bench has been a bit of a test for me," Reid says. "But that's how sport goes and I have to take it on the chin.
"There are younger guys in the team now. I'm 25. I'm still young and got a lot of racing left in me, but that's the way they have chosen to go.
"It's not my right to be the lead driver but my results were very strong and I was very competitive all season. Momentum was building but all the frustrations that I had have all gone now. It makes me even hungrier."
That hunger is now for a drive in the second-tier Indy Lights series in the US, a class in which Scott Dixon made a name for himself in 1999 and 2000. He dabbled with the idea of heading to Europe or easing in behind the wheel of a V8 Super Car but it was America that seduced him.
The next IndyLights series begins in April. Win that and he would win a drive to the more lucrative and high-profile IndyCar Series, which Dixon won in 2008.
The only obstacle, however, and it is a very big one, is finding enough money to secure a drive.
The world of motor racing is as much about financial backing as it is flinging a car around a circuit at more than 300km/h and Reid needs to find a minimum of
$500,000 just to compete in the series. The top teams spend closer to $1.7m.
"With the right team and the right car, I'm sure I can win the championships," he says. "I have proven I have the speed... but it's a lot of money for one person to find. It's a tough game.
"I have a possibility with three teams but it's really up to the sponsorship and we all know how tough it is financially at the moment.
"That's my dream, that's my plan. If I can find the funding, it's all on, and I'm only interested in teams that can win it and have a decent car and the right personnel around them."
Reid got a taste of IndyLights last year when he got a drive for five races of the series. It was a baptism of fire, of sorts, given he had never raced on an oval track before.
"Jumping on an oval track was very exciting. It was a bit like being thrown in the deep end.
"People from outside [motorsport] don't understand that it's not just a case of putting your foot down but when you are travelling at 300km/h a couple of inches from the wall and in traffic it can be quite daunting. Racing cars is not a gentleman's sport. You have to be aggressive, particularly on ovals because it gets really cut-throat."
Just as well Reid is used to that, after his recent experiences with the world of A1GP.
