The Renault Simola Hillclimb provided something of a variety feast for petrol heads as it roared into the sleepy coastal town of Knysna over the weekend from 18 to 20 May 2012.
The weekend kicked off with the Classic Car Hillclimb on Friday, which became more eventful than anticipated thanks to rainfall.
It was a day filled with memorable nostalgia as a diverse field, from a tiny little 1937 DKW F7 Meistertklasse Cabriolette to large, proud and splendid Bentleys from the 1920s graced the Hillclimb track. Not the fastest cars of the weekend, but certainly some of the most memorable for many spectators and fans.
Overall honours for the day went to Corban Slabbert, who defied the elements in a small 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S with a time of 1:00.740
The loud and noisy brigade reigned supreme on Saturday and Sunday, and the bad weather was clearly frightened off by the noise.
Competition was fierce in all classes and fortunately the casualties were cars not drivers. There was one particularly popular spot on the track where two cars at different times tried to plant themselves in the most spectacular fashion. A media cameraman who almost became part of the action is rumoured to have changed his hair colour from brown to pure white.
On the Saturday the big fight was between the Nissans and Mitsubishis, and it was unfortunate that 2011 champion Wilhelm Baard could not compete on Sunday due to technical problems, since he was spectacular on Saturday.
The title King of the Hill was finally an all Nissan Skyline battle, with eventual victor Jade Gutzeit, closely followed by his father Des and Jaki Scheckter close behind them. The closeness of the racing can be seen in the final times - 41.993, 41.945 and 42.020 seconds.
Spectators were treated to a weekend of exciting racing; the Legend's cars were awesome to watch, and very fast considering their small 1300cc motor, and spectacular driving by all 4 drivers, with Gugu Zulu a fearless crowd pleaser.
The exotics like Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens, Jaguars and Porsches were all very quick and so civilized in attaining highly competitive speeds. Deon Joubert, driving the Jaguar XKRS, gave a spectacular display in how not to conserve tyre wear! The stands were shrouded in black rubber smoke after he had finished spinning the Jaguar around the track in a crowd pleasing display of driving skill.
The Renault's never failed to please, and were very quick up the track. Deon Joubert beat the motoring journalists in the Renault Challenge while Lance du Plessis from Algoa FM won the DJ Challenge with some exciting driving.