Andre Bezuidenhout clinches victory at Simola Hillclimb

The 12th edition of the Simola Hillclimb lived up to all the hype and anticipation, as fierce battles played out and records were smashed on the road to crowning this year’s King of the Hill title winners.

Andre Bezuidenhout secured his fifth consecutive Single Seater and Sports Prototypes victory and his fourth in a row in the purpose-built 2007 Gould GR55 Hillclimb racer after steadily chipping away at his times during the two days of intense action.

Although the competitors had to contend with a mix of wet and dry conditions during the initial practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday, Sunday was dry and clear and Bezuidenhout set the scene for a thrilling Top 10 Shootout after coming within eight-hundredths of a second of his 2021 lap record during the Class Finals.

He didn’t disappoint the enthusiastic crowds in the all-or-nothing final dash on Sunday afternoon, going hell-for-leather to complete the 1.9 km sprint in an astonishing time of 34.161 seconds, an impressive 0.8 seconds faster than his previous record from 2021. In the process, he achieved an average speed of 201.18 km/h – from a standing start!

“I thought that we could go about two-tenths quicker than last year, but the team has done an amazing job with the car and we’ve been testing for the last six weeks. It was the right moment today as the car was perfect, the heat was ideal and everyone went faster in the final heat. I had a great run and I’m glad that we could win for the fifth time, as I’m not getting any younger,” said Bezuidenhout.

Bezuidenhout vowed to be back in 2023, even more competitive. “With that 34.1 second time a 33 must be possible, so I’m definitely coming back,” he said.

Robert Wolk was once again Bezuidenhout’s closest challenger for the overall title and in Class C3. He also competed in a specialised Hillclimb car, one that was built in 1989 in the form of the Pilbeam MP58. The car has been brought into the modern era, having been beefed up with a full-fat Infinity IndyCar engine – although Wolk still had to wrestle with a four-speed manual gearbox to Bezuidenhout’s six-speed sequential paddle-shift transmission.

As the first outing in this configuration, Wolk’s team spent most of the weekend refining the car’s set-up and eventually made crucial gear ratio changes for the critical Sunday afternoon runs. The results were immediately apparent as his times dropped from the 38-second mark to 37.290 seconds in the Class Finals, followed by an exceptional 36.335 seconds in the Top 10 Shootout. This gave him a hard-fought second place in the final standings.

Andrew Schofield was in contention for the final podium position in the 2003 Formula Renault V6, but he ran wide in Turn 3 in the Class Finals and slid sideways into the tyre barrier, ending his challenge on the spot.

Devin Robertson completed his weekend third overall in the Top 10 Shootout in the Suzuki-powered 1992 Radical SR1 ProSport, setting his fastest time of 39.515 seconds. He also won Class C5 in the process.

There was an epic duel between two talented youngsters in Class C2, with Byron Mitchell claiming fourth place overall for King of the Hill in his 2002 Formula VW (39.515 sec) and the class title. Andrew Rackstraw (2018 Mygale Formula Ford) was a mere six-hundredths of a second off Mitchell in the Top 10 to end fifth. Although Rackstraw was 0.042 seconds faster in the Class Finals, his time was deleted for clipping a corner marker.

Rui Campos powered his roaring Ford V8-powered Shelby CanAm to sixth in the Top 10 (40.805 sec) and took the Class C6 win. Megan Verlaque was seventh in the final dash, posting her best time of 46.828 seconds in the tiny Suzuki-powered speed car extreme cross kart.