One of South Africa’s premier motorsport events, the Simola Hillclimb, celebrated its 15th year. Eight brands that do business in SA sent vehicles up the hill in a variety of classes, and Kyle Kock thinks that there’s room for more.
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Although the 15th Simola Hillclimb was an overall success in terms of how the event had grown and therefore brought more and more business to the town of Knysna, it was marred by the death of a competitor. During his first run at the hill on Sunday 4 May, Pieter Joubert, driving his Lotus Exige powered by a 6.2-litre V8 from a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, veered off the track on the bumpy uphill straight toward turn 3.
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The impact cost Joubert his life, despite the swift action of marshals, emergency responders, and the organisers. What followed was an eerie hour of silence, in which the commentary and interview team tried to keep the spirits of the spectators up with pit walks and brief moments of entertainment. Joubert’s brothers Dawie and Charl, also competing in heavily modified Lotus models, left the event but hoped that it would continue in Pieter’s honour. From an OEM point of view, there was plenty to look forward to.
Over and above the wares from Classic Car Friday, Alfa Romeo had Piet Potgieter, class-winning Janus Janse van Rensburg, and Andre Steenkamp in a Giulia QV, Stelvio QV 4C, respectively, while Audi was represented with Gordon Nicholson in a R8 V10 Plus. BMW’s entries consisted of Cristiano Verolini in a BMW M4 Competition and Leyton Fourie in a BMW M2, while Bradleigh Boshoff piloted a Mini Cooper JCW.
Fiat had a single entry by way of Francis Cusens in a 500 Abarth. Ford was out in full force with MasterDrive and Shelby-backed vehicles. Eugene Nourse would pilot a Focus ST 225, with Tarque Zietsmann in a Fiesta ST 180 and Eugene Herbert in a Roush Mustang GT. On the Shelby front were Paige Lindenberg, Joshua Ocallaghan, James Temple, Paul Malatji and Vinesh Padayachy.
The lone McLaren entrant was Garth Mackintosh in a 720S, while Mercedes-Benz brought former Group N and Production Cars racer Clint Weston, Natalie Weston and Courtney Nicholl in a Mercedes-AMG GT63 SE coupé, GLC 63 SE and C 63 SE. MG would be represented at the low end with Joshua Lowe in a MG3 hybrid and 2022 GR Cup champion Ashley Oldfield in a Cyberster.
Nissan had a Patrol in the mix with Arnold Du Plessis in the hot seat and Opel had a Corsa GS Irmscher with Siyabonga Mankonkwana behind the wheel, while Porsche had representation in the form of various 911s, a Cayman GTS and Cayman 718.
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Suzuki SA, OEM partner and sponsor of Simola, had three of its products present. The latest generation Suzuki Swift, with rallycross racer and Ignition presenter Ernest Page behind the wheel, Toyota GR Cup champion Sean Nurse in a three-door Jimny, and then radio-host Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger in a Suzuki Swift Sport. The company is steeped in racing history, particularly with its Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC) Swifts and then enjoyed hillclimb success at the Pikes Peak event in Colorado, USA with a heavily modified Escudo driven by Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima. Toyota had a single GR Supra at the event, with Paul Munro in the driver’s seat.
It is worth noting that not all of the aforementioned competitors were driving on behalf of the brand their car represented, but a strong showing courtesy of Alfa Romeo, BMW, Opel, MG, Mini, Mercedes-Benz, Shelby and Suzuki had resources and funding backed by their respective OEMs.
In the end, it was 2021 champion Pieter Zeelie with his heavily modified and Japanese Super GT series-inspired MR2 with a 3.5-litre turbocharged V6 that took the 2025 modified saloon car shootout title, with a best time up the Simola Hill of 37.090 seconds, followed by a hard-charging Reghard Roets in his Nissan GT-R (38.370 seconds). Swedish World RallyCross legend Johan Kristoffersson took third in the Volkswagen Polo RX1E, which despite being sideways in every turn, ran up the hill in just 39.0001 seconds.
In the Road and Supercar Shootout, Mercedes’ own Clint Weston took overall honours with a 43.174-second run, while BMW’s Cristiano Verolini was second (43.872 seconds) and Courtney Nicholl third (44.599 seconds).
Questions have been asked about whether the event has become too fast as competitors push the envelope in terms of preparing monstrously quick racecars on what is essentially a bumpy and coarse public road, but we at CAR do not have the answers to these.
We hope that the Simola Hillclimb organisers continue to improve the event and the associated safety precautions if it’s going to continue, and that even more local OEMs get involved, as it’s the variety of products that makes the run up the hill such a compelling and must-see event.
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