The Dunedin student took on the two-day section of the Coast to Coast at the weekend.
At 18, Munro (now 21), was on the path to his goal of racing in IndyCar. In his first two years of racing, he won the prestigious New Zealand Formula Ford Championship in 2013 before dominating the Formula Masters China Series in 2014, and has twice been awarded the Steel Memorial Trophy for under-21 drivers by Motorsport New Zealand.
Three years on from his success in the Formula Masters China Series, Munro, now a bachelor of science student at the University of Otago, turned down the opportunity to drive Lamborghinis around Bathhurst at the weekend because of his preparation for the Coast to Coast.
``Car racing has been a pretty big part of my life, but I've enjoyed getting into a new sport. I've been trying to become a professional driver for a long time. It's a tough sport. It's pretty expensive to try and keep moving up the steps. I've had some success and some down times.
``If I wasn't here this weekend, I was going to be driving some Lamborghinis around Bathhurst, but I'd done a lot of preparation for this [the Coast to Coast] and was pretty committed to it.''
Munro said that he was past the point of trying to find lots of sponsorship to progress in motorsport, but had not given up on it all together.
The desire to contest the Coast to Coast event may have been inherited from his father Mark Munro, just like his love of motorsport.
His father also raced cars in his younger days and competed in the third Coast to Coast event in 1985 as a New Year's party dare, entering the two-man team section with friend Wayne McLeod.
James completed the two-day event in a time of 14hr 41min.