The Simola Hillclimb is an unforgettable South African experience

South Africa is a land of true car fanatics and nowhere is it as evident as during the annual Simola Hillclimb in Knysna.

Taking place on the first weekend of May, it is a glorious exhibition of home-grown automotive passion that tingles the senses.

With non-stop action from Friday to Sunday, multi-million-rand cars making their annual appearance on these three special days, and parties all across the picturesque town of Knysna, there truly is nothing else in Mzansi quite like the Simola Hillclimb.

Hillside view of Simola

Home-grown motoring at its finest

Over the three race classes at Simola, there were 81 cars in contention for King of the Hill this year, not including the classics that competed on Friday of which there were another 65.

Before the real racing commences there is a parade on the Knysna waterfront on Friday night where many of the contenders give the public their first look and listen at what’s in store for the weekend with burnouts and launches

Racers lining up for the Friday night parade

Starting at 09h00 sharp on Saturday are the first practice sessions where cars take to the track to get the lay of the land and test out their setups and strategies.

During practice and qualifiers, there are two challengers allowed on the hill at a time launching one by one at 30-second intervals for seven hours nonstop, unless something happens on the track and the medic or safety car must be called out, which fortunately doesn’t happen too often.

1985 KCC Cobra powered by a 7.0-litre Ford engine

After a while you get used to the order of the cars, you know that after the roaring Nissan GT-R comes the screaming Ferrari V8-powered Lotus Exige, followed by the deafening Pilbeam MP58 driven by an Indycar engine.

But the euphoria doesn’t wear off, in fact, it builds up with every run as the drivers gain confidence in their machines and start pushing them closer and closer to the edge.

After the Sunday lunchbreak is when the real action begins, as the top contenders of each category are let loose to set their best times on the 1.9km climb.

Ferrari V8-powered Lotus Exige

There are crowd favourites, of course, but the scoreboard remains unpredictable in the sense that there’s no guarantee a team will reach the finish line.

Several breakdowns and a handful of crashes necessitated the safety car being called out and the engineers scrambling to get everything repaired before their driver was called up again, which isn’t always possible.

Case in point, the Sheriff, a bonkers Nissan GT-R built exclusively for Simola featuring a massive wing on the tailgate and another wing on the nose (which was taken from a Porsche 911 race car) hit a small bump in the road at the wrong angle and blew its gearbox in the process; it was therefore unable to compete in the finals that it won several years in the past, giving someone else the chance to take home the trophy.

“The Sheriff” attacking “The Esses”

You would assume things would calm down during the lunch breaks, but that is far from reality. Neither the track nor the spectators get much rest when the King of the Hill contenders take their well-deserved breather.

The mid-day recess has fans seizing their opportunity to experience the climb themselves from the passenger seat of various performance cars, including a VW Golf GTI and R, a modified VW Polo GTI, a mid-2000s Audi RS6 Sedan, a Ford Mustang 5.0 GT, or a Mercedes-AMG A45 S; or to climb aboard the Chevrolet Lumina Drift Taxi and get thrown around in smokey circles.

The Chevrolet Lumina Drift Taxi taking fans for a jaunt

Those remaining on the sidelines are treated with daring displays of superbikes risking it all to show that they can beat even the quickest cars, and event sponsors flinging thousands of rands of merchandise into the crowds.

For this year specifically, Simola pulled out all the stops and organised an awe-inspiring exhibition of a real 1992 Sasol Jordan 192 V8 Formula 1 car tearing up the hill, which completed the climb in a rapid 37 seconds while being audible from the pits for nearly the entire run – and what a glorious sound it was.

Want to take it all in from another vantage point? There are helicopter rides throughout the day giving you a bird’s-eye view of the event if you have a bit of spare cash lying around.

1992 Sasol Jordan 192 F1 Car

While general access allows you to experience the festivities from numerous viewing areas, if you can swing it, buying a pit pass is highly recommended.

There are four viewing areas positioned at strategic points on the hill that get you close enough to the excitement, but you don’t get the full experience until the hustle and bustle of the pits surround you.

It is controlled chaos in the truest sense of the expression, with race cars constantly rolling in and out of their resting places, engines roaring to life, the smells of burning petrol and ethanol filling your nostrils, teams scrambling to complete their last-minute configurations, and TV cameras and driver interviews all over the place.

1990 Can-Am Shelby getting ready for the hill

The big 15^th anniversary of Simola is taking place in 2025 and is shaping up to be one of the most memorable in the event’s history.

The organisers hinted they have something very special in the works that will overshadow everything they have done before.

Rumour has it that hotel rooms are already being booked so better get your name on the list sooner rather than later if you’re planning to be on the Simola embankments.

Special Simola livery for the VW Polo Supacup race cars

A special thank you to the team from VW for being our chaperones to the 14^th annual Simola Hillclimb.

The German automaker’s South African subsidiary is the only one in the world that still has a Motorsport Division after the others were shut down in 2020, and it is fighting tooth and nail to keep it.

With our support, it might be able to hold on to the exciting department for years to come and showcase local talent along the way.