In the Road Car and Supercar King of the Hill challenge will be reigning double champion JP van der Walt in his collection of Porsches. This year Van der Walt will be driving a 992-generation 2021 911 Turbo S after taking the title in a 2016 version last year, and claiming his first win in 2021 with a 2016 911 GT3 RS.
“The 992 Turbo S will probably only really gain time up the hill after Turn 2 with its additional power compared to the old generation I drove last year, but launching off the line is always the biggest challenge for a road car on standard tyres,” Van der Walt says. “The road tyres don’t grip on the rubber laid down on the start line like slicks do. They tend to wheelspin which makes the launch difficult, but I certainly hope to go quicker than last year.
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“The Simola Hillclimb is a very special motorsport weekend with the best atmosphere you’ll find in the country,” he adds. “It’s also a real challenge for the driver as you can’t go and practice, and there’s no room for mistakes. You need to progressively build up your speed, and leave a bit in the tank.”
Along with the overall title, Van der Walt will be vying for class A4 honours for four-wheel drive cars with turbocharged/supercharged five or six-cylinder engines. The only other competitor in the class is Wilhelm Kuun in a 2021 Audi TT RS. In the A3 class, serving two-wheel drive force-fed five/six-cylinder cars, there will be stiffer competition with Farhaad Ebrahim in a 2020 Toyota Supra battling it out with the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia QV of Piet Potgieter and BMW South Africa’s official entry of the all-new BMW M2 to be driven by Rob Gearing contending alongside a privately entered 2019 BMW M240i driven by Martin Wiid.
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Remaining with European creations, the A6 class of naturally aspirated eight-cylinders and above will see Gordon Nicholson’s Audi R8 V10 Plus while Garth Mackintosh in his 2017 McLaren 720s which managed an A7 class win for force-fed eight-cylinder cars and above will also tackle the course. No stranger to motoring events, Shelby South Africa will arrive with a squadron of their Mustangs to tackle the hill. Two being naturally aspirated models will be entered into class A6 while three supercharged Shelby Super Snakes and the rare Shelby Terlingua competing in A7 – the latter driven by Paige Lindenberg. The American contingent doesn’t end there considering MasterDrive’s Eugene Herbert will be in another Ford Mustang with his vehicles operating as safety cars during the event.
The highly anticipated Golf R will make an appearance at the event under the A2 class which comprises four-cylinder four-wheel drive cars. The pair will be driven by the company’s top racing drivers – Jonathan Mogotsi and Daniel Rowe. Another newcomer yet to commence sale on local soil is the GR Corolla which will be driven by Toyota Gazoo Racing’s GTC driver, Nathi Msimanga.
Suzuki will be representing the A1 segment with two Swift Sports battling against an official Honda entry that will be announced closer to the date. This class is reserved for four-cylinder two-wheel drive cars which may be the perfect opportunity for the Japanese automaker to unveil their impressive Civic Type R at the event – time will tell.
Contending the new-energy vehicle A8 class is a selection of BMW models only. With no cylinders at its disposal but rather a battery pack and electric motor, the BMW i4 M50 with Thomas Falkiner behind the wheel will hope to emulate a top 10 finish from 2022. The class which consists of hybrid and electric vehicles will also have BMW entering the behemoth XM plug-in hybrid with Ashley Oldfield at the helm while the smaller iX3 SUV will be piloted by BMW SA test engineer and dynamics driver Bradleigh Boshoff.
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