Records tumble at Hillclimb

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KNYSNA NEWS - Records fell to some unbelievably quick and skillful driving at this year's Simola Hillclimb, which was held on the iconic Simola Hill last weekend.

The event has been heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. It was cancelled outright last year and postponed in May this year before finally finding its place on the calendar on the weekend of Friday to Sunday, 3 to 5 September.

Held without spectators, there was still plenty on show for those watching the live-stream that was broadcast by organisers.

As usual, the weekend commenced with Classic Car Friday, which was full of action and a fair bit of drama, as the event saw a new record by Franco Scribante in his rapid 1972 Chevron B26 in the Class Finals, having stopped the clock on 39,553 seconds.

After the Class Finals, when it finally came time for the all-or-nothing Top 10 Shootout, it initially appeared as though he had lost the prized Classic Conqueror title to Ian Schofield in the 1989 Minardi M189 Formula 1 car.

Photo gallery: Simola Hillclimb.... finally!

Schofield had improved significantly throughout the event, and topped the time sheets when the Top 10 Shootout was counted in - recording a time of 39,599 seconds, which should have handed him the title.

However, his run was deleted because he clipped one of the track limit markers through the Esses at the top of the hill, and the Classic Conqueror title went to Scribante for the sixth time - his fifth win in a row.

"My last run wasn't my best performance, and the B26 was definitely slower than when we raced it in King of the Hill previously, so we've gone a bit backwards with the car," Scribante said. "I don't like winning this way, and I feel that Ian deserved the win as he gave his absolute best when it mattered, so I take my hat off to him for a great performance today."

The weekend didn't end there though, and neither did the smashing of records. In the final day of the King of the Hill battle, Sunday 5 September, record holder André Bezuidenhout lived up to expectations as well as his bold pre-event promise of a sub-35-second time.

Franco Scribante sits proudly on his 1972 Chevron B26. Photo: Jason Williams

Powering his agile 2007 Gould GR55 to the best-ever time on the 1,9km Simola Hill, he stopped the clock in just 34,965 seconds. Doing this in the final all-or-nothing Top 10 Shootout for the Single Seater and Sports Prototype category, he not only won his fourth straight King of the Hill title, but also set the course's new record.

He slashed his own record time from 2018 by 0,563 seconds - achieving an astonishing average speed of 195,624 km/h. "It was a close-run thing, as the shadows were already starting to come over the track when I did my run in the late afternoon," Bezuidenhout said.

"If we were 10 minutes later, I wouldn't have been able to go that fast as the temperature began falling. So it was the perfect run in the end. I desperately wanted to do a 34, and the team worked very hard to achieve this great result."

Despite having just taken a well-earned victory, Bezuidenhout is already looking forward to the 2022 Simola Hillclimb. "I think there's still more to come from the car as, until now, I've been driving the car as it came from the UK in 2018. Now we're going to start working on the suspension, and we are looking at adding launch control for next year because at the moment it's 100 percent my right foot, whereas a lot of the other cars have traction and launch control systems."

Robert Wolk was second in the Top 10 Shootout in his 2007 Ferrari-powered A1 GP car, ending on 37,205 seconds following consistent improvements throughout the weekend, and a personal best time of 36,819 seconds in the Class Finals.

Byron Mitchell finished third with a time of 40,381 seconds in his 2002 Reynard Formula VW single-seater, just half a second ahead of Andrew Rackstraw in a similar car.

Franco Scribante heavily focused behind the wheel of his 1972 Chevron B26.
Photo: Franky Petersen