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.”
| Results | |
| Geoff Mortimer (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9) | 50.637 sec |
| Wilhelm Baard (Nissan GT-R32) | 50.820 sec |
| Des Gutzeit (Nissan GT-R) | 51.850 sec |
| Darren Gudmanz (Nissan GT-R) | 51.895 sec |
| Jaki Scheckter (Nissan GT-R) | 51.964 sec |
| Fabio Tafani (V8 Masters) | 52.369 sec |
Title sponsors, Renault South Africa, launched their Renault Mégane RS hot hatch at the event, as well as the latest generation Renault Mégane CC.
