Over R100 000 raised for Hospice

Benoni racer Clare Vale recently competed in the Simola Hill Climb event in Knysna.

Not only did she participate to have some fun, but also to help raise money for Knysna Sedgefield Hospice.

There was a whole group that decided to race for the same cause and raised R117 740 between the seven of them.

Joining Vale was Michelle Hambly-Grobler, Clayton Kimber, Francis Cusens, Nadia Viljoen, Paige Lindenberg and Di Dugmore.

The Back-a-Buddy account will still be open for donations until the end of September.

“It was great to be back at this event. It was cancelled last year, but this year we finished third in our class and are already looking forward to next year’s event,” said Vale.

“There were still no spectators allowed, which was weird as the pit lane is normally packed with VIP guests and the forest is usually full of families watching the action from a safe distance.”

Although there were many changes to this year’s event, Vale still had a fantastic weekend driving her Wynn’s Subaru #86BRZ.

“I had fun since I haven’t raced it before the hard lockdown in March 2020,” she said excitedly.

“It’s always exciting to tackle the Hill Climb, although the track is quite short, it’s very fast and intense, with the mountain on one side and the forested valley on the other – not much margin for error. In fact, there were quite a few big crashes, fortunately without any serious injuries.”

According to Vale, her team worked hard to make sure she had a very fast car for the event.

“We had high hopes of winning our class. However, as so often can happen with mechanical things, a malfunctioning brake switch threw just enough of a gremlin in the works to foil our plans by reducing boost at random times,” she explained.

“Unfortunately, we only found the problem just before our last timed run, and with the full boost, I got so much wheel spin that I lost valuable time at the start. But we kept going and third place is more than enough for us, we will be back next year to take that first spot.”

Their next event is on October 2, with a four-hour endurance race in the Backdraft Cobra in East London.
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