The plane, which has been renamed Shirley, will be converted into a 52-seater restaurant and viewing deck for diners to watch the racing.
It is due to open in early 2022.
“She will be the centre of attention as she will sit right in the middle of the circuit, with her wings still attached,” said Hendricks.
Once the first phase of the conversion is complete, the owners plan to install a flight simulator in the cockpit.
Though only 29 years old, ZS-JRI was already approaching old age in airliner terms.
The lifespan of pressurised aircraft such as airliners is determined by pressurisation cycles and not years or hours flown, according to Air & Space magazine.
“Each time an aircraft is pressurised during flight, its fuselage and wings are stressed. Both are made of large, plate-like parts connected with fasteners and rivets, and over time, cracks develop around the fastener holes due to metal fatigue.”
The fuselage is usually the most-stressed component during these cycles, but wings are also affected, with aircraft used on short-haul routes generally experiencing more cycles than planes used on long-haul routes, the magazine added.
Once an aircraft reaches the end of its flying life, it is usually recycled for scrap or, in many cases, left to rot away in the corner of some forgotten airfield.
In the mid-2000s, nearly a dozen ex-Alitalia MD-82 airliners made their last flight to Upington in the Northern Cape, where many of their reusable components were removed for use on other MD-82s still in service. The frames were left to blister in the desert heat.