Great performances for EC drivers at Simola Hill Climb

The Herald

21-05-2025

There were some standout performances from Eastern Cape drivers at the 15th Simola Hill Climb in Knysna at the beginning of May.
Gordon Nicholson in his Audi R8 V10 took part in his 11th Simola Hill Climb and continued his dominance in the A6 class that caters for standard production, road-going saloon cars with eight cylinders, and above that are naturally aspirated, by taking the class win with a personal best time of 46.517 seconds.
He also finished fifth overall in the King of the Hill Shootout for road-going cars.
This is the eighth time that Nicholson has achieved a class win, having previously competed in the A8 and A9 classes for hybrid cars in a BMW before he switched to the Audi R8.
Dayaan Padayachey claimed his second class A5 for standard production, road-going saloon cars with five or six cylinders that are normally aspirated, in just his second year of competing in his magnificent Porsche Cayman GTS.
In the B2 class for four-cylinder racing cars that are unlimited two-wheel drive vehicles with forced induction, Daniel Rowe was second behind his VW teammate Jonathan Mogotsi, in their VW Motorsport Polos GTIs, with East London's Owen Bridger in his Honda K24 in third.
Another solid performance from Aldo Scribante saw him finish in third place overall in the B5 class for four-wheel drive cars with five cylinders or more in his Audi S4,
His brother Silvio stormed to fifth place overall in the King of The Hill shoot-out for modified saloon cars in his ever-improving Audi RS3, followed by Wade van Zummeren, from East London, in his fire spitting Nissan GTR R34.
In Friday's very wet classic car celebration, the powerful Nissan Skylines of Brent Watts and Rane Berry just couldn't find traction off the line, but provided many thrills as they sped up the hill, often drifting through the corners, but were unable to get into the class finals that were dominated by less powered front wheel drive vehicles.
Neil Stephen took his rare 1972 Opel Manta to Simola for the first time and had an early scare when a pipe on the oil cooler came loose, and thus missed a few of the practice runs, which unfortunately cost him dearly and he wasn't able to make the class finals.
The event was sadly marred by the tragic death of well-known competitor Pieter Joubert, who was killed after hitting a tree at high speed after his Lotus Exige left the road.
Initial indications are that the car suffered steering failure.