Every year, the hills within the picturesque Garden Route town of Knysna come alive with the sound of sonorous exhaust music, cheering spectators and popping champagne corks, during the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb.
Alfisti and motoring fans attending South Africa’s premier motoring and motorsport lifestyle event can look forward to a fantastic spectacle of racing between 3 and 5 May, which caters to all manor of motoring tastes.
Fans of iconic cars from days gone by can attend the classic car event on Friday, which opens competitive proceedings for the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb. It also enables the public to get up close and personal with some of their favourite historic and vintage cars, including four Fiat vehicles and three Alfa Romeo cars.
Amongst the notable entries are event regular Trevor Tuck and his prestine 1969 Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm, an original 1979 Fiat 131 Racing that is owned by Gary Berndt, a spectacular display of aerodynamics in Hannes Pickard’s 1964 Alfa Romeo Sprint Speciale, and Francis Cusens’ 1971 Fiat Sport Coupe.
When it comes to the fabled King of the Hill shootout over Saturday and Sunday, the Knysna hill will host an epic three-way battle in Class A3 for two-wheel drive turbocharged cars. The Alfa Romeo Giulia QV entries of Pierre Bester and Piet Potgieter will be facing off against a BMW M2 Competition with former BMW works racing driver, Gennaro Bonafede behind the wheel.
“Alfa Romeo has an unparralled pedigree in motor racing, which includes the first two Formula 1 Championships, 11 Mille Miglia wins, 10 Targa Florio victories, four wins at Le Mans, and hundreds of trophies,” says Graham Eagle, CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles South Africa. “The Jaguar Simola Hillclimb allows us to celebrate our past and present performance pedigree. We hope that the results go our way again this weekend to add to that illustrous history that has been achieved under the sign of the Quadrifoglio,” he concludes.
