25 May Knysna show and hillclimb
The beginning of May was a busy time in Knysna, with the annual motor show taking place on the 1st and the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb on 6th to the 8th. The show, organised by the Garden Route Motor Club, was as popular as ever with a superb array of 400 cars and motorcycles laid out on the high school sports fields. Adding to the quality of the invited exhibits were a selection of cars from the Parnell Bruce collection including Brian Bruce’s recently acquired Ferrari 365 GT, a display of HiTech Automotive’s recreation Cobras and Zagato Peranas, and a quartet of Peter Lindenberg’s race cars including his Shelby-franchise demo car. In addition, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University put a number of ‘advanced mobility’ machines on view, and the show hosted part of the Triumph Club’s national gathering schedule. John Dalton had many Nicholas Watts prints on sale, and local artist Johan Rabe’s impressive paintings also attracted much attention.
Of the various awards, Lawrence Kropf won the Concours d’Elegance trophy with his 1967 Mercedes-Benz 250SL W113 Pagoda and the Meilleur Vieux Voiture trophy went to the Kevin Casey’s 1911 Ford Model T Runabout, both awards sponsored by Classic Car Africa magazine and Protea Hotels. The Autoglym/Fancourt Style et Luxe trophy went to the Sunbeam Sports Car Club and the public voted Gerard Roelofs’ 1946 Sunbeam S7 as winner of the Allsound Security trophy for the most appealing motorcycle.
More than 5000 people attended this year’s show, which continues to evolve and is fast becoming a must attend event on the classic calendar. A friendly atmosphere, a superb setting and an eclectic mix of vehicles characterise the event’s popularity, the proceeds of which are donated to local charities. For a video report of the show, logon to https://youtu.be/gUfAeG206X4.
The following weekend the annual Jaguar Simola Hillclimb took place in the Garden Route town and began with Classic Car Friday. Damp conditions early in the day caused some scary moments, especially for Brian Bruce, whose Ford GT40 replica crashed during practice. Fortunately, the 1,7km stretch of road soon dried out allowing the 50 competitors to give their all. In the Top 10 shootout, the Classic Conqueror title went to 2014 winner Franco Scribante in his Chevron B19 with a record climb of 41,432 seconds. Brent Watts was second in his Porsche 911 RSR and Clive Corder third in his Lola T70 Mk.3B replica. Rodney Green won his class in his 1929 Bugatti Tipo 35B and also received the inaugural Spirit of Dave Charlton Award, recognising the SA champion racer’s ‘spirit of impeccable attention to detail, meticulous preparation and commendable performance’.
The Saturday and Sunday were taken up with the King of the Hill event for more modern machinery, and Scribante was again triumphant, this time in his Chevron B26 that he took to the top in a staggering outright record time of 38,646 seconds. Last year’s winner Des Gutzeit was second in his highly modified 1500hp Nissan GT-R, and Anton Cronje third in his modified Subaru WRX. Check DStv’s SuperSport channels programming between June 2-8 for recorded highlights. MM
