After three thrilling days of action in front of an enthusiastic crowd, it was veteran racer Geoff Mortimer who emerged as winner of the Knysna Hillclimb which ended on Sunday.

Despite the cold weather on Saturday and the pouring rain on Sunday, Mortimer blasted his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9 Mortimer up the 1.9 km Simola Hill in 50.637 seconds to pip Wilhelm Baard (Nissan R32) by a mere 0.183 seconds.

Due to inclement weather, organisers were forced to scrap final qualifying and the final run was held under the threat of mist forcing the event to be abandoned.

The initial pacemaker was East London’s Darren Gudmanz (Nissan GT-R) who stopped the clocks on 51.895. It wasn’t long before fellow Nissan GT-R driver Des Gutzeit beat his time by a mere 0.045 sec to take over the lead.

Towards the end of the timed runs Baard stopped the clocks on 50.820 sec and it seemed as though it was all over bar the shouting.

Almost unnoticed, Mortimer crept towards the line and rocketed off the line for a superb and well deserved victory at an average speed of just over 135km/h. “I just tried to get away cleanly and get the right lines. The car was perfect …. better than the driver,” he said afterwards.

Baard was visibly dejected, almost shell shocked as he could not have gone faster. “I had some big sideways moments in a couple of places. It was interesting!”

Gutzeit couldn’t stop explaining, with an ear-to-ear grin how he was on the limit. “At the top corner it got so sideways all I could do was keep the power on and hope it would pull straight and it did, but I used every bit of road there was.

Jaki Scheckter hustled his Nissan GT-R up the hill quick enough to grab fifth place ahead of Fabio Tafani whose superhuman effort in the severely disadvantaged rear wheel drive Autohaus Angel V8 Masters car who described the run as, “scary!”

Subaru driver Anton Cronje just missed out on a top six placing, but got the biggest cheer as he’d raced at Midvaal on Saturday and driven to Knysna overnight to make the start. The fact that he’d missed both Friday and Saturday practice meant his effort was worthy of much more.

An event within an event catered for historic cars and this was almost as closely fought as the main event.

Peter Little emerged as victor as he guided his narrow tyred Cooper up the hill in 1:09.366 to pip the Ulster Imp driven by Dave Alexander by a mere 0.184 sec. Third went to Ron Hollis in an MGC Roadster. Petite Di Dugmore claimed fourth in her Austin Healy Sprite Sebring with Rodney Green (MGB) next as Heyns Stead rounded off the top six in the Miller MG special.

“The 2nd Knysna Hillclimb Presented by Renault was a resounding success and attracted a top class entry of a fascinating variety of cars and a large turnout of past and present motorsport stars,” said Ian Shrosbree of the organising committee. Motorsport stalwart Pater Kaye-Eddie said it was ‘all about the atmosphere and it is the Goodwood of South Africa.”

Title sponsors, Renault South Africa, launched their Renault Mégane RS hot hatch at the event, as well as the latest generation Renault Mégane CC.

Source: Press Release

This past weekend saw close to 50 competitors taking part in the inaugural Knysna Hillclimb. Unlike traditional motorsport events, a hillclimb pits man and machine against the stopwatch. The event took place on a challenging 1.85 km climb up to the acclaimed Simola Estate and Golf Course, and set on a picturesque hill overlooking the renowned Knysna Estuary and Heads.

A variety of vehicles battled it out over the two day event, from road cars such as VW Golf’s, a pair of Fiat Uno Turbo’s, C55 and CLS 63 AMG Merc’s to thoroughbred race cars such as the trio of V8 Ford Mustang’s from the Owen Ashley V8 Masters Series, to an Oval Track racer and even 125 and 250cc karts.

Practice and qualifying runs took place on the Saturday, with drivers quickly getting to terms with the steep and twisty road. Suspension, tyre pressures and camber were all tweaked in search of the fastest time, but in an uphill battle against gravity there is no substitute for horsepower. By the end of the day it was clear who the top contenders would be in Sunday’s final, with the fastest qualifying run of the day, 43.272 seconds, being set by Anton Cronje in his wide-body Subaru Impreza WRX, followed by the V8 powered Ford Mustang of Sarel van der Merwe.

Sunday’s action took place in cooler, over-cast conditions with dark clouds gathering over head. Three more qualifying runs took place before the final title chase. 21 Drivers made it through the elimination rounds to do battle for top honours. But the battle for outright victory was fought between motorsport legend Sarel van der Merwe in an immaculately turned out V8 Masters Ford Mustang and a highly modified Subaru WRX superbly driven by Anton Cronje. The two were separated by fractions of a second throughout the qualifying runs, with Cronje marginally ahead throughout Saturday and Sunday qualifying.

In the final, however, ‘Supervan’ displayed his immense talent and experience to produce his best run, pipping Cronje by just over half a second to claim the first Knysna King of the Hill title. He covered the course in 43.0 sec, reaching a top speed of over 230 km/h.

Cronje’s Subaru was disadvantaged with a cracked exhaust manifold, but despite losing the overall fastest time up the hill to Supervan, he still won his class.

Third fastest overall went to Capetonian Fanie Theron in the Owen Ashley built V8 Master Mustang, with Cronje’s class rival Thouca Mechanicos fourth in his Mercedes C55 AMG.

Proving that dynamite does indeed come in small packages, John Amm was a crowd favourite aboard the fifth placed PVP Rotax 250cc Superkart – not bad for a projectile that could almost fit in the boot of the winning car! Former rally champion Enzo Kuun rounded off the top six in his Audi R8 V8, which attracted attention wherever it was parked. Both won their respective classes.

The 2009 Knysna hillclimb proved to be a roaring success. Organisers expected to host around 2 000 motorsport enthusiasts over the weekend, but in fact that number turned out to be over 6 000, and from where we were standing it was easy to see why.

The Simola Estate is a beautiful setting in itself, but coupled with the backdrop of the Knysna Lagoon, the Knysna Heads and surrounding mountains, the event was picturesque to say the least. The 1.85 km course offered excellent and safe viewing of the cars, as all spectators were located on the inside of the corners and sitting above the road. Despite the popularity of the event, traffic to and from the venue was never an issue and various food and drink was available along the length of the course to keep spectators satisfied.

The organisers have told us to expect bigger and better things next year and we will definitely return to support the event, take in the action and who knows, maybe even have a go at racing up the hill ourselves.

Special thanks must go to Amanda and Ryk Cloete from Point Lodge for hosting us for the weekend. Their comfy B&B is situated right on the Knysna lagoon and is less than 5 minutes from Simola and Knysna’s Restaurants and Pubs.

Top ten results:

RPM TV will be showing highlights from the 2009 Knysna Hillclimb on DSTV channel SS6 next Wednesday at 20:45.