Motorsport: Classics passion drives flyer

Racing driver Greg Thornton drives cars with history. Photo / Supplied

He is a multi-millionaire airline owner who is selling planes but buying cars. His wife broke her neck in her second-ever race but is returning to the track, against the wishes of family and friends. He flies two Kiwi mechanics with him round the world.

Greg Thornton is the definitive fanatic. He is in New Zealand to race his classic F5000 in the Tasman Cup Revival Series, the fourth round of which concludes today at Ruapuna.

Thornton is the owner and managing director of several small European airlines, that lease planes to big corporates to fly Brits south in the summer. Another customer ships planeloads of American students to spring break.

He also has a fleet of 11 classic cars, ranging from 1963 to 1974, which he stores at a hangar in Stansted Airport.

He employs two full-time mechanics - Kiwis Ben Gilmore and Phil Straverand - as well as one engineer to work on his 'hobby', on which he spent £650,000 ($1.3 million) last year. At Ruapuna, he will be racing the legendary Chevron B24-03, in which Pete Guthie stunned the motorsport world in 1973 when he won the F1 race of champions at Brands Hatch. The unfancied Guthie, who had been sacked from the Marlboro F1 team the year before, beat drivers such as Nikki Lauda, Jim Clark, Denny Hulme and James Hunt - who were all driving their Formula One cars.

It was the first and only time a Formula 5000 car beat F1 cars in the race of champions .

"I only race cars that have history," says 48-year-old Thornton. His treasured vehicles are almost like museum pieces that still race, complete with original livery. He owns a Titan once raced by F1 legend Piers Courage and competes in the Surtees TS11 previously driven by racing broadcaster Sam Posey.

"With the Chevron, we have used the original drawings to get the car in its current condition," says Thornton. "That's a lot easier when a part breaks down. There are no spare parts available 37 years after the car was built, so we have to put something together ourselves."

Thornton spent almost three years restoring the Chevron. He has spent about the same period of time building up the confidence of his South African wife Anthea, who broke her neck in just her second race. They met at a gym while Anthea was in England on a working holiday in 2004.

In 2007 she crashed at Silverstone, driving a 1964 car once raced by Stirling Moss' wife Pat, and slammed backwards into a concrete wall. She now has titanium plates in her neck and a bone graft from her right hip. "They took a year to rebuild the car, but just four days to fix me," Anthea laughs, as Greg points out "she now has a stronger head than me".

After a couple of years off, she is ready to race again. Having previously been into scuba diving and jogging, the 30-year-old wants to see if motor racing is for her, to the horror of family.

After three rounds in the F5000 series New Zealand veteran Ken Smith led the 23-strong field, which includes six British drivers. The Ruapuna leg concludes today with a sprint race this morning before a 12 lap final this afternoon.