22 May HUMAN INTEREST & RACE REPORT BY HAYLEY – Diary of a Hillclimb Rookie – 04 MAY 2025
Diary of a Hillclimb Rookie
“Those who wear white to Simola, deserve to have their shoes all muddy”. Yep, and that’s exactly what happened, what was once sparkling white sneakers was now brown and dim. To be fair, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but rain and mud were not on the list!
It grew cold the first couple of days… a beanie, rain jacket and new hiking boots made up most of my everyday wear and condensation and coffee were the order of most mornings.
The smell of burnt tires and the sound of cars backfiring every now and then sent chills down my spine. This was something different to what I was used to, and I liked it, trading in my usual circuit events for the speed festival.
That weekend, I had the incredible honor of working at the 15th edition of the Simola Hillclimb for the first time and boy was I in for a ride.
Luckily, as everything had been unknown to me, a few familiar and friendly faces from Killarney made their way to the Hillclimb too; Rico Barlow, Steve Humble, Tristan Pienaar and MasterDrive to name a few.
Barlow, who was assisting Harp Motorsport , helped Andre Bezuidenhoudt with his Lola, Andre’s nephew – Jandre – with his Porsche, Charles Arton with his March and Josh Dovey in his Chevron on Friday.
Andre ended the day with a result of second place and a time of +45.034 seconds in the Classic Conqueror, with the rest taking first place in their individual classes.
Along with Barlow, Mr. Humble – as we all like to call him – was supposed to work on Andre Bezuidenhoudt’s Gould Hillclimb car for the King of the Hill Shootout, however, the Nicholson McLaren engine specifically designed for the car never made it to South Africa resulting in Bezuidenhoudt’s withdrawal nine days before the event.
Humble, instead, focused on the Classic Single Seater Cars of Roy Obery, Josh Dovey, Charles Arton, Andre and Jandre Bezuidenhoudt on Friday.
Speaking to Humble, he mentioned that he had also completely restored the Jody Scheckter Elf Tyrell, that was on display next to the pits, in 2007 and had done a few other single seaters for the Franschhoek Motor Museum collection.
Scheckter’s Elf Tyrell was part of the lunchtime activations and set off a few oohs and ahs from the spectators.
He went on saying that getting all the cars to Knysna didn’t go as smoothly as they had hoped, the Harp Truck – Humble’s trusty steed – malfunctioned on the way there and was then sent back to Cape Town on Thursday for a clutch repair.
Humble’s weekend didn’t end as badly as it started, however, as Charles Arton took home the crown of the Classic Conqueror on Friday evening with a best time of +44.436 seconds in his March, finishing ahead of Andre.
Josh Dovey finished the shootout in ninth place with a best lap time of +52.837 seconds in his Chevron, eight seconds behind Arton. Unfortunately, Obery was not fast enough to break out of the Class Final with his Porsche and make it to the Classic Conqueror Shootout.
Tristan Pienaar, Killarney’s local bike boy, took part in Saturday’s lunchtime activations as many saw him wheelie off the start line in a Suzuki GSX-8R which was kept on display in Knysna’s pristine Motorcycle Room along with a few greats from bike racing past.
With the Hillclimb, Volkswagen Polo also had a reason to celebrate, they have been going for 50 years, and to celebrate this momentous achievement, popular stunt driver – Terry Grant – drove a Polo on two wheels!
Volkswagen also had multiple World Rallycross champion, Johan Kristofferson, race an electric VW Kreisel WRX car for the King of the Hill Shootout as part of their celebrations.
But with great accomplishment sometimes comes great loss, Geoff Goddard – Sporting Director at the Hillclimb and well-known British Stock Car racer – had decided that 2025 would be his last Hillclimb event.
On Sunday, silence fell onto the track for the first time that weekend, tears were shed, and bereavement was felt by all. Racing driver, Pieter Joubert, passed away during his stint in practice four due to the mechanical failure of his Lotus Exige.
His brothers, Dawie and Charl and the rest of his family along with the event organisers chose to continue with the event in his honour although his brothers and a few other drivers decided to withdraw. Practice four came to an immediate stop and the event re-continued at 12:45 am, with qualifying underway.
Things got nail-bitingly tense as the King of the Hill Modified Saloon Car Shootout went down. Pieter Zeelie scored the best lap time of the weekend with a flying +37. 090 seconds, while Reghard Roets came home second with a rapid lap time of +38. 370 seconds and Johan Kristofferson third in his electric VW WRX car with a fast time of +39. 001 seconds. All within less than a second of each other.
It’s safe to say that Simola was an experience I’ll never forget, and memories I’ll treasure forever. A big thank you to everyone who made me feel at home and welcomed me to the Hillclimb family with open arms.
In loving memory of Pieter Joubert and Heather Lewies – chief marshal of the Hillclimb, who passed away two weeks following the event. May they rest in peace.
TEXT BY HAYLEY ZAAYMAN
IMAGE BY KATHRYN ODENDAAL