This exciting event, raced along the 1.9km hill leading to the Simola Golf & Country Estate, provided a tight finish, thrilling the thousands of spectators who flocked to watch these fast cars and their drivers in battle for the third King of the Hill title.
Last year’s winner, 74 year-old Geoff Mortimer, was once again the main challenger to the handful of Nissan GT-R's, commonly referred to as Godzillas, but his 0.2 second winning margin in 2010 looked under threat from the moment practice got under way on Saturday, May 20.
As the weekend progressed and the drivers found their rhythm, the battle for the title seemed to be between three drivers: Mortimer, Baard (last year's runner-up) and Jade Gudzeit in his Nissan GTR.
Shortly after lunch on Sunday (May 21), the fastest cars in each class had a final run up the demanding Hill. Baard, by virtue of entry number order, completed his run in the 80-strong field before his rivals, throwing down the gauntlet with a time of 42.444 seconds at an average speed of 161,152 km/h. Father and son duo, Jade and Des Gudzeit soon followed, with Des failing to break the 42 second bracket, while Jade managed a 42.659 run, two-tenths of a second slower than Baard.
Mortimer was the last out of the pits and the suspense was palatable as the crowd grew quiet to hear announcer, Roger McCleery, give his time as 43,108 seconds, good enough for third position.
A very emotional Baard was crowned the third King of the Hill.
Avril Kaschula, CEO of Simola Golf & Country Estate, finished an impressive sixth in his class, driving his Audi R8 in a time of 48.680 seconds, and achieving 16th position overall.
Loud cheers could be heard as local Knysna SAPS member, Franscois Cowly raced his Team Velddienste BMW E30 / Ford V6 up the hill in the final race, finishing 39th of the 80-odd entries.
Thrills and spills
The weekend saw its fair share of accidents as drivers pushed the boundaries to record fast times. Thankfully nobody was seriously injured.
Scois Joubert, driving his Arial Atom Honda 2.4, lost control on a corner but was seen racing the very next day. William van der Riet rolled his Audi R8 at the top of the hill. Many a sad face was seen as this beautiful car, valued at just short of R2 million, was seen leaving on the back of a Knysna Strippers truck.
Shortly after the Audi R8 became an accident statistic, Giel Odendaal lost control of his Cobra Chev V8 on the second corner, fortunately managing to control the spin and coming to a standstill on the protective barrier. After a quick reverse off the barrier tyres, he was back on track, racing up the hill. Sunday saw the end of an immaculate, iconic Audi Quatro as it too rolled close to the end of the course.
Charities to benefit
The organisers of the week-long Knysna Speed Festival believe in giving back and will therefore be donating money towards several local charities.
As in he past, both the Knysna Animal Welfare Society (KAWS) as well as the Knysna NSRI will be on the receiving end. The local NSRI had to work for its share and could be seen doing a sterling job as marshals along the track. The MG Car Club will receive a donation, which it in turn will pass on to a charity of its choice.
This year, the Knysna Rotarians helped serve at all the public bars and will be sharing in those profits.
"So far it seems as if each charity will be receiving R15 000 from the Charity Golf Day that was held at Simola on Thursday (May 19)," explained Ian Schrosbree, Knysna Speed Festival organiser. The total amount from the cash public bars still had to be determined at time of going to press.
"It is so heart-warming to hear all the positive feedback about the event," explained Shrosbree. "It's good for the sport and also so good for the town," he concluded.
"A highly popular climax to what has been an exciting festival of speed in the Garden Route's award-winning town of Knysna," said Mike Monk, from Mike Monk Motor Media.
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Giel Odendaal lost control of his Cobra Chev V8 on the second corner of the Simola Hillclimb course. Fortunately he managed to control the spin and returned to the race unharmed.
