As of today, the surroundings of the Knysna locale were alive with the sounds of purpose built, gasoline powered machinery marking the start of the 2022 Simola Hillclimb.
The event kicked off with Classic Car Friday showcasing pre-war challengers, among other veteran motorcars, battling for the title. 
While all out time-attack cars fitted with ludicrous aerodynamic upgrades to match the power they are capable of putting down is what stirs many at the epic hillclimb event, seeing classic machinery, devoid of any aids or current day safety protocols tackle the hill at full steam really is a sight to behold. 
The format for the day consists of three practise runs up the 2-kilometre hillclimb, three qualifying runs and then the top three in each class go to class finals. Finally at the end of the day, the top ten shoot it out in King Of the Hill where there are no class distinctions between competitors.
Here are the results from today’s happenings at the 12th edition of South Africa’s premier motorsport event.
Eight Classic Car Friday classes were run throughout the course of the day of the 2022 Simola Hillclimb and the 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C Monza in the Class H1 handicap reigned supreme under the expert driving of Brian Esterhuysen. Barry Ingle clinched Class H2 in his 1955 Porsche 550A Spider while H3 went to Clayton Kimber in the 1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe. The H4 title went to Ron Hollis in his open top 1964 MG Midget while James Temple added another win to his tally for the Shelby SA / Lindenberg Racing team with his Class H5 1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe. Trevor Tuck in the period perfect 1974 Alfa Romeo Giulia 200 Rally scored another win for the Italian brand in the H6 Class while Rui Campos managed a win in the H7 category with his Martini liveried 1974 Porsche 911 RSR.
The fastest time of the day was set by Ian Schofield in his 1977 March 77B which took overall honours in Class H8 with a time of 42.419 seconds which also happened to be his quickest run yet.
Two Suzuki powered motorcycles also performed high speed thrills for the fans in attendance with AJ Venter piloting his two wheeled GSX-R1000R up the course while Chris Kuun followed shortly thereafter on the only, brand new GSX-S100GT in the country.
Visceral V8 theatrics were also part of the day’s proceedings with a V8 powered Ford Mustang completing the uphill course in a sideways fashion.
The late afternoon of the first day of the 2022 Simola Hillclimb saw the parade for the King of the Hill contenders strutting their stuff through the waterfront of Knysna, displaying their prowess to the locals and spectators alike. They will take to the hill on Saturday for a series of practice and qualifying rounds ahead of the finals which will take place on Sunday. Some rain will likely interfere with proceedings which should make things tricky for the drivers and entertaining for the spectators.
