The Jaguar Simola Hillclimb will be taking place this weekend (with the action kicking off on Friday the 5th of May) in Knysna. And it looks like there’s going to be plenty of intense competition again along the challenging 1,9 km course.
Official proceedings begin on the Thursday, when competitors are subjected to scrutineering to ensure that their cars are in adequate racing condition. Then comes Classic Car Friday, featuring 64 of the oldest and – in some cases, most valuable – examples of the weekend making their respective ways up the hill.
Expect to see the likes of the Rodney Green’s historic pre-war Bugatti Type 35b as well as icons such as the Ford GT40, the giant-slaying Austin Mini and home-grown Ford Sierra XR8. To add to the classic ambiance, organisers of the Classic Car event encourage spectators to dress in period.
Heavy-hitters such as Charles Arton’s 1979 March Formula Atlantic single-seater and Franco Scribante’s 1970 Chevron B19 will also be competing.
Following this, the high-output titans will battle it out for the King of the Hill title in the modified saloon class, which consists of 39 competitors. Giants such as Des Gutzeit’s +1 100 kW R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R and Anton Cronje’s Subaru Impreza WRX have seen extensive revisions since last year in an attempt to finally break the 40-second mark.
Rear-wheel-drive competitors such as the WesBank Modified 6,3-litre V8 Opel Rekord and Chevrolet V8-powered BMW Z4 will be sure to attract plenty of attention as well.
Road and supercars (featuring a total of 30 participants), will be joined together this year and will include everything from top-end performance cars to street hero hot hatches battling it out in the Supercar Shootout. Unlike the King of the Hill class, this segment is limited to road-legal cars with no aero modifications.
Favourites here include last year’s winner, Jaki Scheckter, who will be driving the 2017 Nissan GT-R, and touring car champion Randy Pobst, who will be at the helm of the new Jaguar F-Type SVR Coupé. SA land speed record holder Dawie Olivier, meanwhile, will be driving the convertible.
Tickets can be purchased from iTickets.co.za.
Parts of the event will also be live streamed. Broadcast times are as follows:
Friday 5 May: 13h00 to 16h15
Saturday 6 May: 14h30 to 16h45
Sunday 7 May: 13h30 to 17h15