The organisers of the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb have confirmed that a number of “irreplaceable” vehicles were destroyed in a fire on a vehicle transporter on the N2.
The blaze occurred on Monday morning, with the vehicles being transported back from the Knysna-based motorsport event that took place at the weekend.
There are no reports of injuries, with one of the vehicles reportedly having caught fire while in transit. The fire spread rapidly and caused extensive damage to the other vehicles on the transporter.
From what we can tell, the cars affected by the blaze include a March 79B Formula Atlantic, an MGB GT and four V8 Masters (Mustang replicas).
Ian Shrosbree, managing director of Knysna Speed Festival and organiser and founder of the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb, expressed his distress after hearing of the incident.
“After the resounding success of the last three days where each of the participating vehicles becomes part of the essence of the competition, this disaster impacts on us all. The loss of complete vehicles – some of them one-of-a-kind and literally irreplaceable – and the damage to others cannot be quantified.
“It is much, much more than just the value of what has gone up in flames,” Shrosbree said.
The organisers said that the cause of the fire was “unclear”, but added that an investigation would take place.
Watch footage of the fire in the Facebook video below…
