Podium and pride for Suzuki at Simola

The Suzuki Swift Activity has slayed the legendary Simola Hill with unexpectedly quick occasions and a location on the class podium.

The Suzuki Swift Activity has slayed the mythical Simola Hill with unexpectedly rapid periods and a location on the course podium.

The two Swift Sport types – a guide and an computerized – ended the course ultimate race on Sunday afternoon with situations of 54.913 seconds (Reuben van Niekerk, computerized) and 54.580 (Wesley Greybe, handbook).

The time established by Greybe was more than enough to generate him a location on the class podium. And it was a mere six seconds slower than the course winner, Jared Yeo, in a Porsche Cayman 718 S.

“We arrived to Simola to present that you really don’t require to break the bank to have a actually competitive sports activities auto, or good fun, on the hill climb. Wesley and Reuben did just that.

“We knew that if our two racers set a time of less than one particular minute on the 1.9-kilometre observe, we would have proved our stage. Both equally motorists held improving as the weekend progressed and amazed us ­– and the crowd – with closing times down below 55 seconds,” suggests Brendon Carpenter, Brand name Advertising Supervisor of Suzuki Auto South Africa.

Suzuki’s Simola marketing campaign commenced with observe operates and the initial qualifying drives on Saturday. Large rain during the night and an intermittent drizzle created slippery problems on the twisty mountain highway and held quite a few contenders in the pits.

Equally Suzuki motorists participated in just about every one run, regardless of the ailments. Van Niekerk put in a to start with exercise time of 1:06.135, while Greybe logged 1:01.811 up the hill. Just after just about every operate, as the motorists turned extra common with their automobiles, they began shaving off 2nd right after 2nd.

By the close of Saturday’s racing, Greybe was on a best time of 55.709 seconds and Van Niekerk respiratory down his neck with a time of 55.901 seconds.

“It is testomony to the top quality of the car’s suspension and transmission that the manual and vehicle versions of the Swift Activity can operate so close to every single other,” suggests Van Niekerk.

“It is also pretty outstanding to see how both of those autos could line up for a competitive operate, time right after time, with no any fade or failure. Maintain in thoughts that both of those automobiles arrived straight off the showroom floor to the begin line.

“It is brilliant to be at the Simola Hillclimb. The Swift Sport really amazed me and we both equally acquired into the 54s, which is outstanding for a automobile that will make 103 kW and prices fewer than R380 000. It is these kinds of excellent bang for your buck, I do not consider you can get any much better.

”Sunday’s racing commenced with drama as one particular of the greatly modified vehicles blew its engine and spilled a whole lot of oil on to the street. This intended that the initially exercise run and qualifying spherical of the morning had to be cancelled.

The oil spill also meant that a substantial component of the street, specially the rapidly sweeps in direction of the close of the hill, was included in a fine powder to take in any surplus oil. The powder remaining a cloud of dust and altered the area dynamics, which built racing far more challenging.

“I was genuinely astonished by the Swift Sport’s prowess. The car is light-weight and the chassis taught, which is suitable for any sporting activities auto, and it allowed you to continue to keep your foot planted with assurance irrespective of the dust on the highway,” says Greybe.

Greybe ongoing to improve on his times as the keep track of cleaned up and temperatures rose. His time of 54.580 in the class final was his quickest time of the whole weekend and quicker than various a lot-larger automobiles on the hill.

“It sounds strange, but it felt like the grip greater as the working day progressed. I feel it was far more a situation of the car or truck offering you the self-confidence to force it as hard as you can, understanding that it will reward you just about every time,” suggests Greybe.

Suzuki joined the 2022 Simola Hillclimb as a Tier A single sponsor just after supporting numerous Suzuki-powered racers in the 2021 function.

“We decided to sign up for the party as a sponsor because it resonates with our brand’s enjoy of entertaining and excitement. We also preferred to assistance the occasion return to its standing as a supporter favorite immediately after the lockdown and polices saved enthusiasts absent past 12 months,” states Carpenter.

“It didn’t get considerably for us to also make your mind up to enter the Hillclimb as competition, and we are pretty grateful that Reuben and Wesley agreed to race for us. Their gritty racing and regular improvement ended up a excellent foil for the Swift Sport’s character.”

Two other racers also represented Suzuki electrical power at Simola.

Devin Robertson returned to Simola with his Suzuki Hayabusa-driven Radical SR1. He set one of the fastest occasions of the working day all through the qualifying rounds and finished the race working day with a time of 39.515 seconds. This was 1 of the speediest periods of the day over-all.

Megan Verlaque was a group favourite in her diminutive Speedcar Extraordinary, powered by a Suzuki GSX-R600 motor. Verlaque is a rallycross expert, and she seemed extremely cozy on the twisty mountain street.

She finished her campaign with a closing operate of 46.828 seconds all through the final Leading 10 shootout.

The two Suzuki superbikes also returned for a ultimate pair of runs on Sunday.

Suzuki shipped a first edition of its all-new GSX-S1000 SGT to the Simola Hill to clearly show the velocity-loving crowds in advance of it is officially introduced in a few of months.

The GT is fitted with the exact same 999cc engine as the bare GSX-S1000, but it is tuned for far more snug cruising. It is also the initial Suzuki that is fitted with the group’s new superior-resolution TFT dashboard with smartphone integration.

Lastly, Suzuki invited their top rated-tier racer AJ Venter to carry his Isle of Person TT GSX-R1000 R in full race specification to the hill. Venter entertained the crowds by screaming up and down the hill through intermissions, sometimes on one particular wheel only.

Suggests Carpenter: “Suzuki has a happy historical past at various hill climbs, most notably with Monster Tajima and his potent modified Suzukis at Pikes Peak. Now we can increase the sterling general performance of the Suzuki Swift Sport to that legacy.”