A little over a year ago South African racing driver Leeroy Poulter was living the dream. A contract with Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa meant not only a certain degree of financial security, but he was travelling the world as a professional rally driver.
Europe, Africa, South America - his passport was brimming with stamps from foreign lands as he strove to be the best in the cut-throat world of international motorsport.
It was a dream that began at the tender age of four when his father Norman bought him his first motorbike.
"My dad was involved in riding bikes and as a kid I had one which we rode around in parks. We used to pass a motorcross track in the south of Johannesburg and one afternoon we decided to enter a race, which I won, and that was the start."
A badly broken leg as a teenager left his mother unimpressed. "She told me I was finished with two wheels and I must move on to four."
While at Bedfordview High School, Poulter quickly made his way through the local ranks of karting. But it is in Europe where you need to test yourself and before long he was adding to his already impressive trophy collection.
"For me a highlight in my career includes winning the world championship in karting in 2008 and winning the European Championship in 2006-7."A number of drivers who have gone on to international fame look back at karting as an important development stage in their careers. Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen all speak of the role of karting in contributing to their later success.
Poulter's reasoning is "that from a young age it instills a competitive nature in the driver. You are doing this every weekend and it helps to prepare you for various forms of racing."
A natural progression was to move on to cars and then arguably his strongest form of driving - rallying.
FINANCIAL STRUGGLE
During this period his CV continued to tell a convincing story - South African National Rally and Cross-Country Champion and 2011 South African Motor Sportsman of the Year were just two of the awards he won.
Life for any aspiring racing driver can be extremely difficult. And unlike some racing drivers who are fortunate to have financial backing from family, Poulter comes from, as he puts it, "more humble beginnings".
"We didn't have a lot of money and it costs a fortune to race. My dad had his own business - a tyre fitment centre - and would bend over backwards to make it happen."
But the costs became too much. "One night he came home from work and told us, 'We need to stop racing.'"..