Tony Quinn: Former Motorsport driver and entrepreneur on the revised edition of his book 'Zero to 60 and Beyond'

The story of self-made millionaire Tony Quinn is fairly well-known, but there’s more to the tale. 

Quinn made his fortune through pet food and confectionary but is a keen motorsport driver and the visionary behind Highlands Motorsport Park in Central Otago.  

Originally released in 2016, his book ‘Zero to 60’ is getting a facelift, ‘Zero to 60 and Beyond’ sharing new stories in ten new chapters.  

Quinn told Mike Hosking he was inspired to write down his life story by his grandfather. 

“My Grandfather, who was Irish, got involved in the IRA when he was a young fella, and he had a fantastic, interesting life,” he said. 

“And when he died, there was nothing written down. And so there was no official record, if you like, of his life.” 

Quinn’s book started off as a personal project, a record for future generations as opposed to an official biography. 

“I was just gonna write my story so that the generations behind me could read all about why I did the things that I did, and that’s how it started.” 

It wasn’t until he found a freelance author to write his story out properly that the idea of publishing it came into being. 

“One thing led to another,” he said. 

‘Zero to 60’ became a number one best seller in New Zealand, flying off the shelves and going through several reprints, and after seven years, Quinn decided to revise it.  

“There has been so much happened in the last seven years." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tony Quinn grew up in a wooden caravan built by
his dad in Aberdeen before becoming himself made millionaire through
pet food and confectionery we know and better these days
for motorsport. He's the visionary behind Highlands and Hampton Downs
and Tapa. Of course, his book zero to sixty and
Beyond has been re released. It's got ten new chapters
and there's a story in that and Tony Quinn's weather's tiny.
Very good morning to you. Good morning, yup, nice and

(00:23):
early in Australia. I take it here in Australia, are you.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, some in Australia and it's the sun's up. But
unfortunately to no, it's not a very nice day today,
so we'll we'll have to put on an extra T shirt.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Good you write the stuff down. I refer to the
extra teen chapters. You're a believer in writing down what's
happening in your life? Why and for what value?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Oh gee, it's a bit of a story. But it
started when my grandfather passed away and my grandfather, who
was Irish, got involved in the IRA when he was
a young fella and he had a fantastic interesting life
and we heard his stories. Throughout his life. He would

(01:09):
share some of them, but he was quite quiet about
his activities, and when he died, there was nothing written down,
and so there was no official record, if you like,
of his life. And I said to myself that I
would hate to do that because it's one of the
missing links in life if you don't know what your

(01:31):
heritage is. So I decided that I would write down
my exciting life that I was having and in one
day write not a book. It was just going to
write my story so that the generations behind me could
read all about why I did the things that I did.

(01:52):
And that's how it started. So I got these black books,
things that you buy from the shop, and every time
i'm on an I had a plan or whatever. If
I get a minute spare, I'll write the date at
the top of the page, and I'll write down all
the things that have happened since the last time I wrote.
And it could be a month, it could be two months.
It doesn't matter. But when you write the date and

(02:14):
you start writing things that have happened, you can remember
all the stuff that happened, and you just need to
put a bullet point. It doesn't need to be the
whole story, just a bullet point that reminds you, and
then one day the thing is to then just recorded
or put it down. And I met a guy called
Robert Toy in New Zealand and I said would you

(02:36):
He was a freelance journalist and I said, would you
be interested in writing my story? And he said, yeah,
no problem. So he did. But as he was writing
the story, he said, man, this is this is such
an interesting story that you should share it with other people,
not just your family. And I said, I don't really care,
that's not the point. In anyway, one thing led to another.

(02:59):
The publish got hold of it, they decided to publish it,
and it became very surprisingly. It became a number one
best seller in New Zealand and we actually never released
it in Australia for some reason. So anyway, the book
was reprinted a couple of times, and on the fifth time,

(03:19):
Josie said, look, we're going to have to reprint the
book again. It just keeps selling and I said, no,
I don't want to do that. It's too old. It's
seven eight years old. Why don't we do a revised
edition because it has been so much happen in the
last seven years that I think there's a lot that
people you know, the continuation of the story if you like.

(03:42):
But also, Mike, I wanted to share. I genuinely wanted
to share some of my business philosophies and tricks for
want of a bit of term, because I'd started doing
some university talks to young business entrepreneurs and I found
that quite enlightening and they loved it. And so in

(04:05):
the book, the new book, there's a chapter there a
bit how simply you can make money in this life.
It's not difficult, it's not complicated. In fact, it's very simple.
It's it's it's you know, it's it's I say it's easy,
but a lot of people don't think it's easy. But
I actually think it's quite easy to make. However much

(04:27):
money you want to make.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Well, there's a funny story in the book where you
dreamed or wanted to make a million dollars a week
and when you when you got the you couldn't believe.
Are you driven by money or are you driven by success?

Speaker 2 (04:43):
No? Absolutely not. I'm not driven by money. Money is
a byproduct of hard work and good decisions. That's all
it is. In fact, the more money you make, the
more tax you pay, and you know, and the more
the government pounds you for more money. So but no money.
And I think that's evident because when I go on
a racetrack, you're actually competing with a whole heap of

(05:07):
other people that are all trying to do the same thing.
So it's all about the game. It's all about you know.
As a young fella, I managed to win a chess championship.
I knew nothing about chess, but I quickly learned how
to play the game, and I won a championship in chess.
So I've always liked the challenge and the winning. There's

(05:30):
no better place to stand than on the podium.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
Tony, you sort of answered it before, But to a degree,
you come from a time and a place. You start young,
you start with nothing, you make a fortune. Do you
think a young person born ten years ago, fifteen years ago,
in the world in which we now live, can still
do that and live that story.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
I don't want to sound weird, but I actually think
it's easier today than it's ever been. And the reason
to say that is one of the main ingredients to
be successful in life and business is to work hard,
And I can tell you that when I was a
young fella, I'm going to say a lot of people

(06:17):
worked very hard because that was what they did, and
so you were just one of the many people that
work hard. Nowadays, as I look around, as culture society
has designed it, a lot of young people don't really
work that hard, and so if they're prepared to work hard,
it actually is easier for them. Now it's all different

(06:40):
and a lot of young people doing like Picca is.
But working hard is really just that working hard, and
that doesn't mean digging holes for twelve hours a day.
It means focusing on whatever you're doing for twelve hours
a day. Twelve hours is a long time and you
can achieved so much in that time, and so I

(07:04):
do I think absolutely humans have done it all along
their journey. You know, the generations before us, and I'm
sure the generations are after us. Will The problem that
we've got not a problem that we've got, but the
issue that we've got is that the world keeps changing.
You know, we had COVID, nobody saw that coming. We've

(07:26):
got cryptocurrency. You know, nobody saw that coming, even you know,
and what is that? And do we do I understand it. No,
but young people will understand it. I just spent ten
days in Italy and saw what the Romans did two
thousand years ago. It was fantastic that they did so No,

(07:46):
I think young people today can certainly make their way
in life very successfully. And you know, I mean you
and I might we wonder at YouTube stars and Instagram
influences of that just wasn't a career choice when we
were at school.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
It is what's your thinking around family and wealth in
terms of do you help your family now because you
can more than you might have, or do they have
to make their own way in the world.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
Nobody knows the answer to that. Make it's a conundrum
that everybody that's been successful and made money and life
is not about money. It's just one of the things.
But money is a tool and it can be used
in a positive fashion or it can be used in
a negative kind of fashion, and nobody knows the answer.
I've spoken to many, many successful, wealthy people, and we

(08:43):
all wonder what the best thing to do is with
our families. I chose to basically give my family enough
wealth that they can do something with earlier in life
because they had achieved they'd helped old my empare, and
so I gave them a share of it early so

(09:04):
they could go on and achieve things in their life.
And they've all done different things, so you know, nobody
can tell that one. I don't know what the answer is.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
One of the things you have done is giving back
to motor racing in this country, of course, and you've
set up various foundations. You're helping a lot of people.
And one of the people you helped early on as
a young man called Liam Lawson, who this coming weekend
is turning up in Austin, Texas. And you must be
as we all are, as excited as anybody.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah. I mean, Liam's a great driver, and he proved
himself actually at Highlands at the Grand Prix when he
passed Marcus Armstrong on the outside of the last corner,
which is a very brave move to do, especially in
the damp. So he got signed up by Red Bull
the next week. But there's many, many other talented kiwis.
I don't know. I don't know what happens over there,

(09:51):
but there's a lot of talented kiwis that can drive
very well and on the world stage at the moment.
You know, we've got McLaughlin and Shane van Gisberg and
over in America. They had a fantastic job and both
of them, you know, guys have been involved with as well.
And you know, I'm just very pleased to see all

(10:13):
these young fellas doing very well.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
It must be tremendously satisfying having watched you for a
number of years and all that. It must be of
all the things you've done on the stages of your life,
this must be the golden time. I mean, you're giving back,
you're successful, you live your life the way you want
to live it. I mean, you can't ask for anything
more than that, can you.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
No? And as Dan Gaunt would say, it's my purple patch.
I don't know what that means that he keeps calling
it the purple patch. But I'm very very happy with life, Mike.
I mean, I can't ask for anything more. You're quite right.
I'm sixty seven years old. This weekend I'm going to
Sydney to race a Porsch GD four. And when they

(10:54):
say race, I don't race anymore. I just go round
and round, you know. But I have a fantastic life
and have very recently bought a farm in Brisbane, and
literally in Brisbane. I mean it was established in eighteen sixty.
That's so old it is. And I just love it there.

(11:14):
I just love the rurals. I mean, I'm surrounded by suburbs,
but I just love it.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Good on you, well, congratulations again on the book number
one best seller. Let's try it again, zero to sixteen beyond.
Tony Quinn, owner of Hampton Downs and Highlands and Tapa
and Big and Motorsport and all that sort of thing.
But it's a great read, this great story, and plenty
of motivation there for you. For more from the Mic
Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks. It'd be from
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