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The Citizen
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Citizen
Simola success for Suzuki as Jimny walks away with podium
Significant weight reduction techniques, all within regulations, yielded a step on the rostrum for Hamamatsu's off-roader. Long-time Simola Hillclimb sponsor Suzuki capped off an event marred by tragedy to post a podium finish out of its three vehicles entered in the 15th running of the event outside Knysna. Team Suzuki Competing in the standard road car or A1 class, the entry list for 2025 involved the familiar sight of the now previous generation Swift Sport, but also the all-new fourth generation Swift and in the SUV class, the three-door Jimny. ALSO READ: Simola crowns Zeelie king amidst tragic final day While the former pair, driven by television personality, racing driver and commentator Ernest Page and former Group N track star and Wiele2Wiele host Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger were never considered for outright victory, both still impressed. The same, however, didn't apply to the Jimny campaigned by AutoTrader journalist and reigning Toyota GR Cup media champion Sean Nurse, whose entry into the A9 class assured a certain podium place as only two other vehicles of a similar type made it into the final. Jimny wins With a time of 1.06:404, the blue MotoGP-livered Jimny of Nurse finished third behind the other class competitors, a standard Alfa Romeo Stelvio Q and a supercharged Nissan Patrol. Sean Nurse eventually took a podium in the A9 class for off-road vehicles. Image: Charl Bosch Stripped of its headrests, rear seats, toolkit and affixed spare wheel to reduce weight, all within the legal limits, the Jimny, equipped with the five-speed manual gearbox, bettered Nurse's self-set time by four seconds to finish on the podium. 'I think the Jimny surprised a lot of people with the times it's managed up the hill. I was here to compete against myself and to have a little bit of fun; and to show people that the Jimny is more dynamic than most people probably expect,' Nurse said afterwards. Just out of reach Out of the pair of Swifts, the 1 min 04 second run saw Page failing to make the final run in the A1 class. For former woman's land speed record Jeanette, the opposite was true as the yellow Swift Sport regularly topped the class time sheets, with an eventual third place being on the cards at one stage. Ernest Page about to start his final run up the hill in the new Swift. Image: Charl Bosch Her eventual time of 56.538 seconds didn't, however, lead to an entry finals, but did net a fourth place overall. 'I think they've put on a really good show. The Jimny reached the class final by default, inheriting third place, but I think to be just over 10 seconds off second place with a 1.5-litre four-cylinder was a great result,' Suzuki Auto South Africa Brand Marketing Manager, Brendon Carpenter, said. Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger about to drop the clutch at the annual pre-event parade held in the centre of Knysna. Image: Charl Bosch 'The rest of the drivers said that they had a lot of fun, and I think for us that is what it's all about, and that's the win in our case. For Suzuki, we are very, very proud of the team, of the participation, but then also of the success of the event.' NOW READ: New king awaits crowning as Knysna readies for Simola Hillclimb
IOL News
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- IOL News
Suzuki champions accessible fun at 2025 Simola Hillclimb
From left: Media members Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger, Ernest Page and Sean Nurse competed in three wildcard entries this year. Image: Supplied As a headline sponsor and prolific competitor, Suzuki Auto South Africa has a well-established presence at the prestigious Simola Hillclimb event, held in Knysna each year. Once again, the Japanese brand, which is truly rocking the sales charts in South Africa right now, was out to prove that there is more to this event than just blisteringly fast lap times and beastly modified sports cars. Great as those things are, of course. Each year until now, Suzuki entered a trio of Swift Sport hatchbacks in a bid to prove that motorsport thrills can still be relatively accessible, but this year there was a surprising twist with two wildcard entries. Joining a single yellow third-generation Suzuki Swift Sport driven by Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger of Wiele2Wiele were a Suzuki Jimny and a new-generation Swift 1.2 GLX, also driven by fellow motoring journalists. Sean Nurse of Autotrader took to the wheel of the diminutive 4x4 while Ernest Page of All Things Motoring found himself behind the wheel of the new Swift. All three journos are experienced racing drivers, which would make things even more interesting on the hill. As a guest of Suzuki at the event, I also got to experience first hand the level of camaraderie and passion displayed by Team Suzuki, while my fellow hacks spent hours strategising about how to extract every last split second of hill time out of their weekend race cars. The little SUV that could. Image: Supplied It paid off for Nurse, who managed a podium in Class B9 for SUVs. Granted, there were only three entries. Yet given that this bog-standard Jimny was going up against a heavily modified Nissan Patrol as well as an Alfa Romeo Stelvio Q4, Nurse posted some impressive lap times. Having started around the 1 minute 9 second mark during his first practice, the Jimny driver managed to get his times down to 1 min 6.404 sec in his final run, after making it through to the finals. "It's been an awesome weekend, and I had a lot of fun. I think the Jimny surprised a lot of people with the times it's managed up the hill,' Nurse stated after the event. 'I was here to compete against myself and to have a little bit of fun; and to show people that the Jimny is more dynamic than most people probably expect.' Nurse, who drove flat out in third gear for most of the course, added that the Jimny was a lot more stable and predictable than he had expected. He removed the spare wheel and some things inside the car to save weight, and also tried to keep his steering angle in check, in order to prevent activation of the traction control system, which can only be disabled at low speeds. The diminutive SUV also proved to be quite a crowd pleaser, and was widely shared by Jimny fans on social media. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Easily the most economical car at Simola. Image: Supplied The other wildcard entrant, Suzuki's Swift 1.2 GLX, managed a best time of 1 min 04.8 sec on the hill, but if cars were competing with fuel consumption as the main criteria, Ernest Page's average figure of 5.7 litres per 100km on Sunday would surely have beaten the rest. "A fantastic experience, I was smiling the entire time. Overall, I'm happy with the car's performance and we also averaged a consumption of only 5.7 litres per 100km over the entire day. The new Swift GLX is clearly a safe, fast, fun car for the right person," Page enthused. Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger also had a fantastic experience in her Swift Sport, while posting an impressive best qualifying time of 56.538 seconds, leaving her just outside the hotly contested Class Finals. "With a car like this, it is all about the power-to-weight ratio. The Swift Sport's light weight means that it handles and grips extremely well,' Kok-Kritzinger said. 'One thing is certain: I'm having a great deal of fun.' Kok-Kritzinger's sprightly Swift Sport. Image: Supplied
The Citizen
29-04-2025
- Automotive
- The Citizen
New king awaits crowing as Knysna readies for Simola Hillclimb
Won last year overall by Robert Wolk, the 2025 edition of the Simola climb promises to be even more spectacular. A familiar and still growing in popularity fixture on the local motorsport calendar, the 18th running of the Simola Hillclimb kick-off this weekend with the aim of crowing a new King of the Hill. Event unfolds An accolade currently held by Robert Wolk, who last year set a time of 37.403 seconds up the 1.9 km stretch of Knysna road in his Pilbeam MP58 single-seat prototype, the 18th edition officially starts on Saturday (3 May) with practise and qualifying before the main event on Sunday (4 May). ALSO READ: Simola crowns its new king Event scrutineering and the traditional late afternoon parade through the streets of Knysna on Friday (2 May) kicks the event officially off, campaigned by cars in 20 different class ranging from A1 to C6. Among the headlines, which this year includes multiple World Rallycross champion John Kristoffersson in his official all-electric Volkswagen Polo RX1e, long-time event sponsor, Suzuki, will fuel three vehicles in two classes. Suzuki ready Competing in the A1, well-known motoring personality, commentator, racing driver and Ignition TV presenter, Ernest Page, will be out in the latest generation Swift powered by the firm's new three-cylinder 1.2-litre engine. In the same class, former woman's land speed record holder, Group N driver and current Wiele2Wiele journalist, Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger, will be out in the previous generation Swift Sport motivated by the 1.4-litre Boosterjet engine. Long time sponsor Suzuki will field three official vehicles; the previous generation Swift Sport for former Group N driver and journalist Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger, the latest generation Swift for motoring personality and TV presenter Ernest Page, and a Jimny for motoring journalist Sean Nurse. Image: Suzuki Finally, the specialist B9 class for standard bakkies and SUVs will be the domain of AutoTrader journalist, Sean Nurse. The reigning champion of the Toyota GR Cup media section, Nurse will field the three-door version of the Jimny GLX fitted with the five-speed manual gearbox. Besides the headline international act of Swede Kristoffersson and reigning champion Wolk others include outright Simola record holder Andre Bezuidenhout (Gould GR55B), Pieter Zeelie (Toyota MR2 Turbo), Franco Scribante (Nissan GT-R Hillclimb), Reghard Roets (Nissan GT-R), Dawie Joubert (Lotus Exige) and Charl Arangies (Porsche 911 GT3 R). Co-sponsored this year by bp for the first time, more information can be found at NOW READ: Bezuidenhout retains Simola Hillclimb King of Hill crown
