Greg Thornton: "Enjoying behind the wheel of the historic Chevron of Peter Gethin"
Gregory Thornton is the living proof that every con has its pro. “I finally got the chance to do what my wife never permitted me to do when we divorced six years ago: racing,” smiles the Brit, who participates in the BOSS GP-series with a beautiful, 37-year-old Chevron B24. “This is a historic car. Peter Gethin has made car racing history in this car.”
The Formula 1 tends to call itself the best, the fastest and the most beautiful auto racing class in the world. However, 44.500 spectators were having a good laugh about the Formula 1 on 17 March 1973 in Brands Hatch. Peter Gethin, who was dismissed from Marlboro BRM’s F1-team the year before, proved to be too strong for all the ‘arrogant’ Formula 1 drivers in his Chevron B24 during the Race of Champions. “And a Gethins Formula 5000-car costs only a fraction of a real F1 car,” wrote weekly Autovisie back then.
All world class drivers beaten
The tens of thousands of car racing enthusiasts went almost crazy following Gethin’s stunt with the nice, blue Chevron B24. It had never happened before – and would never happen again either – that a non Formula 1 car won the Race of Champions, a race where all the Formula cars locked horns with each other. Illustrious drivers such as Lauda, Peterson, Fittipaldi, Van Lennep, Hulme, Scheckter, Hunt, Watson and Beltoise all bit the dust at that day in March ’73. Gethin drove to a historic win at Brands Hatch with an average speed of 178,37 kilometer per hour.
