Neville Crichton

Neville Crichton
Nationality	New Zealand
Born	(1945-06-04) 4 June 1945
Australian Touring Car Championship
Years active	1985-90
Teams	JPS Team BMW (1985) Volvo Dealer Team (1986) Dick Johnson Racing (1987-88) Tony Longhurst Racing (1989-90)
Best finish	4th in 1985

Neville Crichton, CNZM, is a New Zealand businessman who was also a competitor in Australasian motor and yacht racing.

Born in New Zealand in 1945, Crichton left school aged 14 and entered the automotive industry. In 1972 opened a used car dealership.^[1]

In 1978, at the age of 29, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. Crichton underwent 30 operations and eventually had his voice-box and oesophagus removed. Doctors told him it was unlikely he would ever speak again, but he became one of the first people in the world to receive an artificial voice box during experimental surgery in Indianapolis.^[1] This would lead to his nickname of "Croaky".

In the early-1980s Crichton immigrated to Australia founding the Ateco Group that imports Alfa Romeo, Chery, Citroen, Ferrari, Foton, Great Wall Lotus, Maserati and SsangYong cars into Australia and New Zealand.^[1][2]

In the 1980s, Crichton was a regular competitor in Australian touring car racing. As well as racing full-time in the Australian Touring Car Championship driving a JPS Team BMW 635CSi in 1985 and a Tony Longhurst Racing Ford Sierra RS500 in 1989, Crichton competed at the Bathurst 1000 in 1986 for the Volvo Dealer Team, 1987 and 1988 for Dick Johnson Racing and at the 1987 Spa 24 Hour for the Holden Dealer Team.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Crichton also had a distinguished yachting career, having owned ocean-racing yachts Alfa Romeo I, Alfa Romeo II and Alfa Romeo III. Crichton skipped the line honours winning yachts in the 2002 and 2009 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Races.^[8][9] He was also the founder of Alloy Yachts, which he incorporated with the same team that built his 28m sailing yacht Chanel in 1985.

In June 2012, Crichton was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business and yachting.^[1]

Career Results

Complete Australian Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1987	HDT Racing P/L	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A	MNZ	JAR	DIJ	NUR	SPA Ret	BNO	SIL					NC	0
	Shell Ultra-Hi Tech Racing Team	Ford Sierra RS500								BAT Ret	CLD ovr:13 cls:9	WEL Ret	FJI

† Not registered for series & points

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1985	JPS Team BMW	George Fury	BMW 635 CSi	C	68	DNF	DNF
1986	Volvo Dealer Team	Graham McRae John Bowe	Volvo 240T	B	156	11th	4th
1987	Shell Ultra-Hi Tech Racing Team	Charlie O'Brien	Ford Sierra RS500	1	2	DNF	DNF
1988	Shell Ultra-Hi Tech Racing	John Bowe Robb Gravett	Ford Sierra RS500	A	26	DNF	DNF
1989	Benson & Hedges Racing	Tony Longhurst	Ford Sierra RS500	A	27	DNF	DNF

Complete Sandown endurance results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1985	JPS Team BMW	George Fury	BMW 635 CSi	A	129	2nd	2nd
1987	Shell Ultra-Hi Tech Racing Team	Dick Johnson Gregg Hansford Charlie O'Brien	Ford Sierra RS500	B	86	DNF	DNF
1989	Benson & Hedges Racing	Tony Longhurst	Ford Sierra RS500	A	87	DNF	DNF

Complete Spa 24 Hours results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1986	TWR - South Pacific Racing	Ron Dickson Dave McMillan	Rover Vitesse	Div.3	31	DNF	DNF
1987	HDT Racing P/L	Peter Brock David Parsons	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A	Div.3	206	DNF	DNF

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1992	BMW Australia Pty Ltd	Alan Jones Tony Longhurst	BMW M5	C	251	2nd	1st
1994	Neville Crichton	Alan Jones John Bowe	BMW M3	X	120	DNF	DNF

References