The 15th running of the Simola Hillclimb turned out to be a bittersweet weekend for everybody due to the unfortunate passing of seasoned campaigner Pieter Joubert, who was killed when his Lotus left the road at high speed.
Three-pointed star on top
At the request of his extended racing family, the event continued, and this is when Mercedes-AMG’s big guns came out blazing and dominated the hill.
ALSO READ: Simola crowns Zeelie king amidst tragic final day
The team from Mercedes-Benz South Africa’s AMG Driving Academy not only walked away with the coveted King of the Hill title for standard road-going production cars, but also third place in the same category.
With a time of 43.174 seconds, the 1.9 km Simola Hotel & Country Estate yield first place for AMG boss Clint Weston driving the new Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance.
Courtney Nicholl drove the AMG C63 S E Performance to third place with a time of 44.599 seconds. The third member of the AMG onslaught, Natalie Weston, finished seventh overall with a time of 47.436 seconds in an AMG GLC 63 S E Performance.
Supercar top 10 results
The boys from down the road, Cristiano Verolini from the BMW Driving Experience and BMW’s racing champ Leyton Fourie pushed the Mercedes-AMG team hard all weekend, with times of 43.872 and 45.932 seconds in their lighter, but less powerful, M4 Competition and M2 entries securing second and fourth place respectively.
Simola regular, Gordon Nicholson, finished fifth in his Audi R8 V10 with a time of 46.103 seconds to lock out a German Top 5.
Garth Mackintosh came in sixth in his McLaren 720s with a time of 47.018 seconds, while Yash Rampersad was eighth with a 47.789-second run in his Porsche 718 Cayman.
Completing the top 10 were Paul Munro with a time of 48.738 seconds in his Toyota Supra and cars.co.za motoring journalist, Ashley Oldfield, with a time of 49.231 seconds in the all-electric MG Cyberster.
Simola winner
The weapon piloted by Weston is capable of getting from 0-100 km/h in 2.8 seconds, making it the fastest Mercedes-AMG model ever made.
Under the bonnet sits a 4.0-litre V8 bi-turbo V8 combined with an electric motor and battery that produces a combined 600kW/1 420 Nm. Besides its sub-three-second claimed acceleration time, the GT 63 S E Performance will go 320 km/h.
NOW READ: Simola success for Suzuki as Jimny walks away with a podium
