Hillclimb record in danger?

KNYSNA MOTOR RACING NEWS - Motor sport enthusiasts are eager to see if the outright King of the Hill record for the Simola Hillclimb will tumble this year at the 11th edition of South Africa's premier motoring and motor sport lifestyle event, which takes place this weekend.

The Single Seater and Sports Prototypes category, not surprisingly, currently holds the overall record for the event, with André Bezuidenhout having set the quickest time to date in 2018.

Despite it being his first outing in the 2007 Gould GR55 V8 - a lightweight single-seater race car purpose-built for hillclimb events - Bezuidenhout set an astonishing time of just 35,528 seconds for the steep, serpentine 1,9km course, which he completed at a remarkable average speed of 186,052km/h from a standing start.

Bezuidenhout powered his way to his third consecutive King of the Hill title in 2019 with the same car, having taken the 2017 win in the 1989 Dallara F189 Formula 1 car with a time of 37,807 seconds.

Although he had a comfortable winning margin of more than two seconds in 2019 with a time of 36,764 seconds, Bezuidenhout's hope of setting a new Simola record was thwarted by much cooler conditions than the previous year.

Organisers of the Hillclimb, the Knysna Speed Festival, believe that all eyes will be on the time sheets when Bezuidenhout launches the Gould up the Simola Hill during Sunday's Class Finals, followed by the all-or-nothing Top 10 Shootout for King of the Hill glory.

His closest natural challenger for overall honours and the Class C3 title for naturally aspirated single-seaters (five cylinders and above) could once again be Robert Wolk, albeit in an older and much less sophisticated car.

The multiple Formula Ford champion has switched from the Ferrari-powered A1 GP car used in the previous two events to a 1989 Pillbeam Ford MP58, powered by a 3,5-litre naturally aspirated V8 0- the car driven by Investchem team owner Ian Schofield in the 2019 Classic Car Friday event.

Stepping out of this year's Classic Car Friday challenge in his newly acquired 1989 Minardi M189 F1 car, Schofield will take on Class C2 for four-cylinder single-seaters in the 2,0-litre 2018 Mygale Formula Ford he raced last year. He will be joined by his son Andrew in a 1,6-litre 2015 version of this car.

The Schofields will be going head-to-head against three 2,0-litre Reynard Formula VW cars driven by Wayne Jardine, Byron Mitchell and Andrew Rackstraw, while Louis van der Merwe will be competing in a Swift Formula GTi from a decade earlier.

SpeedcarZA Extreme cross karts will be making a Simola Hillclimb debut this year.

Dynamite in small packages

There are two intriguing newcomers to the class this year, in the form of the SpeedcarZA Extreme "cross karts" produced by Industrias Lahoz in Spain, and prepared in Cape Town by rally driver Ashley Haigh-Smith.

Although the cars are diminutive in size, they are thoroughbred machines especially designed for autocross and hillclimbs. Powered by Suzuki 600 cc motorcycle engines, they are exceptionally light and agile and will certainly mix things up in the class.

Megan Verlaque, a former SA championship rally driver who now competes in the East African Safari Classic rally in Kenya, is driving one of the SpeedCarZA machines. Getting behind the wheel of the second car will be former motorcycle and clubmans racer Terry Smith.

Having been paralysed from the chest down in a motorcycle accident in 2019, Smith isn't letting his physical disabilities get in the way of living his passion for all things motoring. He has been granted a racing licence by Motorsport South Africa with permission to compete at the Simola Hillclimb.

Smith was very excited to hear that Cole Powelson is coming to South Africa for the Simola Hillclimb to compete in the Modified Saloon Car category, as the American driver worked closely with Rob Parsons in developing the cross kart he raced at the 2020 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Powelson achieved an impressive top-four result with a sub-10 minute time at Pikes Peak in his car, which was powered by a turbocharged 1,3-litre Suzuki motorcycle engine.

Sports prototypes

Along with the interesting and varied line-up of single-seaters and the two cross karts, there will also be several sports prototype-style race cars taking on the 1,9km Simola Hill this year. Knysna resident and event regular Mike Verrier will be back in action in his 1989 Shelby CanAm powered by a Nissan 3,5-litre V6 engine. He will be joined in Class C6 (for five cylinders and above) by Rui Campos in a similar 1990 version, albeit using a Ford 5,0-litre V8.

Lotus Challenge and SA Endurance Series racer James Forbes will return to the Simola Hillclimb for the first time in a decade. In Class C4 for naturally aspirated four-cylinder sports prototypes, it's a repeat of the 2019 class battle. Devin Robertson, in the 1,4-litre Suzuki motorcycle-engined 1992 Radical SR1 Clubsport, was the quickest of the bunch, finishing fourth overall in the King of the Hill Top 10 Shootout with a time of 42,345 seconds. Once again, he will be battling former VW Polo Cup champion Jeffrey Kruger and Tom Barrett in their duo of Toyota-powered Lotus 7s.

The 2021 Simola Hillclimb takes place this coming weekend, from 3 to 5 September, starting with Classic Car Friday, followed by King of the Hill on Saturday and Sunday. Due to Covid-19 regulations, no spectators are allowed, but the entire event will be live-streamed.

Jeffrey Kruger powers his way up the Simola Hill in his 2000 Lotus 7. Photo: Rob Till