Motorsport: Here's Lucre at you kid

Money is the tightest corner any would-be motor racing driver has to negotiate.

Daniel Gaunt, the 19-year-old racing in the inaugural Toyota Racing Series, is competing not just for the glory and the prize money, but for his very future.

He needs to get noticed. He needs "a lucky break". He needs funds or his talent could corrode, like an abandoned car.

Yesterday, at Invercargill's Teretonga track, Gaunt came fourth as world karting champion Wade Cunningham led the way home.

The Toyota Racing Series has more than $70,000 in prize money with the winner receiving $20,000 and a Toyota Celica.

Gaunt is no stranger to success on the track. In 2003, he won the Australian Formula 4000 circuit. Of the 12 races he won three and had only one 'did not finish'. In the same year, he won the Australian Drivers' Championship and the CAMS Gold Star Championship.

After his blistering Formula 4000 success, Gaunt couldn't afford to compete in the Australian Formula 3 this year. As a result 2004 was a quiet year. The only time he has been in the car since his celebrated Formula 3 Lady Wigram win was testing a Formula BMW at Silverstone in December.

His time during that session was quicker than Philip Glew, who finished second in the Formula BMW this season.

But Gaunt doesn't think he will be rusty.

"It is like riding a bike. I have been keeping fit and I can't wait to drive, so my time off won't be a problem," he says.

But it is the cost of getting the car on the track that is his constant source of tension. The four-month, 18-race competition sets him back more than $100,000.

That pales in comparison with the cost internationally. Formula 3 in Australia costs more than $200,000 for the eight-round season and in North America it costs around $1 million to compete in the 14-round season.

"I won't name names but there are other drivers in New Zealand that have a head-start through rich dads. Well, that is not me and it is frustrating," says Gaunt.

"I'm like a rugby player that can't afford boots. I'm good enough, I just don't have the gear."

Gaunt says he cannot set goals for 2005 because the amount he drives is determined by lucre. Ideally, he will be in Europe or America, backed by an investor.

"I'm going to keep trying until this happens. It is tough and I know it is probably going to get even harder, but there is nothing I want more," he says.

Gaunt says he feels enormous pressure every time he drives.

"The pressure is difficult to deal with. You're thinking why do I put myself through this? But when the race starts it's pure adrenalin from there on and that's the buzz I get which keeps me coming back."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY