Tony Quinn - Zero to 60

Highlands heaven: A view of Highlands Motorsport Park looking back towards the Pisa Range.

What the fuck is that? I asked my team manager, Brett Francis, over the radio.

I was coming around the Forest Hairpin at Highlands Motorsport Park when I saw the fire in the pits. A Lamborghini Gallardo belonging to Justin McMillan was engulfed in flames.

Justin had been in the pits for a regulation refuelling stop during the Highlands 101 endurance race and his car had caught fire. The flames were quickly extinguished by the fire crews standing by and Justin luckily escaped without injury, but I realised a major crisis had been averted.

A few laps later, an Aston Martin driven by George Miedecke went off the track, up over a bank and disappeared into the forest. Instead of hitting a tree the car landed in a clearing and, thankfully, George walked away unharmed.

After the race I was a complete wreck. I was just glad it was all over. As the owner of the racetrack and the Australian GT Championship, the body that had sanctioned the Highlands 101, I carried the weight of responsibility. Im one of the few people in the world who holds the titles of circuit owner, event promoter, category owner, sponsor and race car driver; and with all of those different roles comes very different responsibilities.

My youngest son Klark and New Zealand driver Shane Van Gisbergen won the race, but it felt a little bittersweet. Weve done something very special at Highlands and the 101 has proven to be a hugely successful event. Some well-travelled people in the motorsport world, including Formula One greats like Nelson Piquet and Mark Webber, have been hugely complimentary about the place. But ultimately Im responsible if anything goes wrong and that really hit me hard this time. As a driver you accept the risks involved in motorsport, but as a track owner you just pray that nobody gets injured, or worse, on your track. Touch wood, Ive been lucky so far.

Motorsport has been really good to me and taught me a lot about life and business. To be successful in life you have to think positive and in motorsport, youll never win a race unless youre truly convinced that you can.

On top of that, driving a race car is the ultimate escape for me from the pressures of running a big business. I love the speed, the look and the feel of a powerful race car, but most of all I love the fact that you can lose yourself in a race. Your house could have burned down, your horse bolted or your wife might be rooting the postman, but once youre in a car with a helmet on, nothing else matters. Your sole focus is going faster.

It helps that Im clearly competitive. Ive won my fair share of trophies but I could never have made a living as a race car driver. Im not an embarrassment on the racetrack, not yet at least, and I still love racing. Competing regularly keeps me young and healthy.

I soon turn 60 and this book is a summary of my journey so far. The motivation to write this came after I built Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell in 2012. People started asking all these questions: Who built the track? Why did he build it? Where did he come from, and when is the taxman going to come and put him in jail? All these questions were floating around and I thought it would be good to write a book and hopefully answer a few. When I started to tell the story I realised Highlands was only a fraction of what Ive done in my life and it would only make sense if I started from the beginning.