KNYSNA NEWS – There was lots of adrenaline-fuelled action and drama at the 14th running of the Simola Hillclimb over the weekend.

Robert Wolk earned his first King of the Hill title in the Single Seater, Sports Car and Sports Prototypes category, while Dawie Joubert claimed the Modified Saloon Car win for the first time. 

JP van der Walt entrenched his domination of the Road Car and Supercar category by taking his fourth consecutive title.

Single Seater, Sports Car and Sports Prototypes - Wolk and the InvestChem team battled through a series of technical niggles throughout the weekend with the 1989 Pillbeam MP58 – a specialised hillclimb car, albeit 35 years old, which is now powered by a thunderous modern Infinity Indycar V8 engine. 

He posted the Pillbeam's fastest official time of 37.133 seconds during the Class Finals, despite some electrical issues. "It was a fantastic weekend, even though we had our issues with the car," Wolk said, "but we made it count in the end."

It was a clean sweep of the top two places for the InvestChem outfit, as team owner Ian Schofield claimed the runner-up spot in the Top 10 Shootout in his 2018 Mygale SJ Formula Ford. Rui Campos' time in the final shootout of the Class Finals, earned him a third place in the Ford V8-powered Shelby CanAm. Six-time winner Andre Bezuidenhout was forced to withdraw from this year's event after suffering engine damage during pre-event testing.

Class B - Modified Saloon Cars

The most powerful and wildest tin-top cars in the country fall into class B for Modified Saloon Cars. Fans were expecting a vicious battle between the two all-wheel drive Nissan R35 GT-R machines of five-time winner Franco Scribante and last year's runner-up, Reghard Roets.

However, Dawie Joubert was consistently at the top of the pile in his lightweight Lotus Exige, with a twin-turbocharged Ferrari 488 engine.

Joubert wrapped up the six qualifying rounds with the fastest time of 38.291 seconds even though he was a mere 0.06 seconds ahead of his brother Charl (Honda V6-powered Lotus Elise). The 2021 winner Pieter Zeelie (Toyota MR2 Super GT) claimed the last podium position after the dramatic retirement of both Scribante and Roets with drivetrain damage.

Dawie Joubert ultimately wrapped up a faultless weekend by securing the King of the Hill title with a time of 38.405 seconds (at an average speed of 178.102 km/h). He finished just a tenth of a second ahead of Zeelie, with Charl Joubert securing the final step of the podium on 39.524 seconds.

"I'm very happy. The car was exceptionally well prepared by the team and gave me a lot of confidence," Joubert said. "We were in the fight from the first run, and it was a perfect weekend. This is such a great event that just gets better and better each year."

Fast as lightning, that's what Simola Hillclimb is all about!

Road Cars and Supercars

In class A for standard production vehicles, JP van der Walt at the wheel of a Porsche was once again an unbeatable combination as he claimed his fourth consecutive King of the Hill victory in a 2021 911 Turbo S.

"The weekend was actually very stressful, as pushing this fast destroyed the tyres, and I had to skip some of the qualifying sessions and also change my driving style for the last two runs," Van der Walt said. 

"Reghard helped with a lot of tips to get the best time, and Clint Weston gave me a bit of a run for my money, but we had lots of fun." Weston was behind the wheel of the mightily powerful 2023 Mercedes-AMG GT63 E-Performance 4-door hybrid and he had the spectators screaming with his daring four-wheel drifts through the corners.

Spirit of Dave Charlton Award

Each year the special 'Spirit of Dave Charlton' award is given to the person or team that reflects South African race legend Dave Charlton's spirit of impeccable attention to detail, meticulous preparation and commendable performance.

For the 2024 King of the Hill, the award went to Team Scuderia Scribante, headed by brothers Silvio and Aldo Scribante from Gqeberha.

The 2024 Simola Hillclimb certainly produced a spectacular show for the fans in attendance, as well as the large number of online enthusiasts watching the livestream from around the world.

For more information and to see more photos go www.simolahillclimb.com

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