Everything you need to know about the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb

Thomas Falkiner spills the beans on what it’s like to race up the hill in one of the country’s most exciting motorsport events

So tell me – what is this event all about?

It’s pretty straightforward really. After your entry has been accepted and paid for (you submit via the internet) you simply pitch up in your racecar, secure your spot in the pit lane and get ready to set a time ascending the 1.9-kilometer course that twists and turns its way up to Simola Country Estate.

Known as the King of the Hill Shootout, this competition runs from Saturday to Sunday giving competitors plenty of opportunity to improve upon their times.

At the end of Sunday the three quickest cars from each class (there were no less than 20 this year) go head-to-head for overall class victory. Those who enjoy automobiles of an older vintage can enter Classic Car Friday, which caters for machinery dating from the pre-war era up until 1980.

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How did you manage to get a seat at this year’s event?

Jaguar has been sponsoring the event since 2014 and every year they have a special media challenge running within the King of The Kill Shootout that gives five motoring journalists the chance to experience the excitement of running up the hill in one of their current road cars.

To choose who got one of the five seats they held a hotly contested (understatement of the year let me tell you) qualifying event at an indoor go-karting track. The journalists who set the five quickest times were given the nod. I was one of them.

Excellent. What did you drive up the hill this year?

This year we were each given a brand new 2016 Jaguar XE 25t R-Sport with 177kW and 340Nm torque. The R-Sport badge adds special front and rear aprons plus an attractive set of 18-inch five-spoke alloy wheels shod with sticky Continental SportContact 3 tyres – 225/45 front and 245/40 rear.

In a media challenge first we were able to customize the look out cars with a ‘racing’ livery of our choice. As I’m an aviation enthusiast I decided to sticker my white XE with the legendary tiger mascot synonymous with the famous WW2 fighter squadron, The Flying Tigers.

Hmm. That is quite a hefty car – must have been a bit slow, right?

No, it was actually pretty quick. The XE is slightly lighter than the XF we drove up the hill two years ago and this certainly shows in the times. I managed a 54.8 in the XF versus a 52.6 in the XE – a difference of over two seconds, which, in a motorsport event such as this, is significant. I also felt that the XE handled a lot better.

It just felt tighter and more lithe than its heftier brother. There was more feel too: something that definitely helped me push it a lot harder through some of the course’s faster corners.

Did you turn the traction control off then?

I did indeed. Although Trac Mode does give you a fair amount of lateral leeway, I found it still cut some drive on the ragged limit. So to avoid any unintentional losses of time I ran with the electro-nanny fully neutered. But even then the XE is so neutral, so benign that you never find yourself getting scarily sideways. Add in the high levels of mechanical grip and you’re looking at a car that’s very easy to exploit at speed.

What is course actually like to drive?

Measuring exactly 1.9-kilometres it’s not the longest hillclimb you’ll ever drive but this doesn’t mean it isn’t challenging. Turn Two, a blind left-hander, requires a particular dose of driver skill because it’s all too easy to brake early and then lose a good deal of your drive up to the complex of fast, sweeping S-bends that follow.

There’s also no margin for driver error. Get it wrong and you’ll either end up shunting into a cliff face or barreling down a mountainside. You need to be mindful of this fact... but not too mindful because the fear of binning it will do nothing but slow you down.

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Were you allowed to modify your car in anyway?

Absolutely not. As a media challenge competitor all I was allowed to do was play with my tyre pressures. In the damp conditions we experienced on Saturday I found that going down to 2.0-bar front and rear worked well for me. Some of my rivals went up to 3.0-bar and over on Sunday but I felt happiest running at 2.5-bar all around.

Speaking about the media challenge – how did you do?

If (like in 2014) the winner had been decided in the final run up the hill on Sunday afternoon then I would have won. Unfortunately Jaguar this year decided that our fastest time out of six runs would count for overall honors. Setting a 52.6 meant I came second to Ashley Oldfield from cars.co.za who somehow managed to crack a 52.1. Still I was very pleased with the result – especially because it was so close.

Nice. So who was the winner of this year’s King of the Hill Shootout?

Overall victory went to veteran racing driver, Franco Scribante, piloting his ridiculously quick, Suzuki V8-powered 1972 Chevron B26. In the final run up the hill on Sunday afternoon he left the previous hillclimb record in tatters by posting a time of 38.646 – an incredible average speed of 176.9km/h.

Second place went to Desmond Gudzeit driving a 1993 Nissan GTR R32. Giving Subaru fans something to cheer about in third position was Anton Cronjé in his modified 2013 WRX.

• Read Thomas Falkiner's full review of the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb in Sunday Times Lifestyle on Sunday May 15 on page 10.