From left: Media members Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger, Ernest Page and Sean Nurse competed in three wildcard entries this year.
Image: Supplied
As a headline sponsor and prolific competitor, Suzuki Auto South Africa has a well-established presence at the prestigious Simola Hillclimb event, held in Knysna each year.
Once again, the Japanese brand, which is truly rocking the sales charts in South Africa right now, was out to prove that there is more to this event than just blisteringly fast lap times and beastly modified sports cars. Great as those things are, of course.
Each year until now, Suzuki entered a trio of Swift Sport hatchbacks in a bid to prove that motorsport thrills can still be relatively accessible, but this year there was a surprising twist with two wildcard entries.
Joining a single yellow third-generation Suzuki Swift Sport driven by Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger of Wiele2Wiele were a Suzuki Jimny and a new-generation Swift 1.2 GLX, also driven by fellow motoring journalists.
Sean Nurse of Autotrader took to the wheel of the diminutive 4x4 while Ernest Page of All Things Motoring found himself behind the wheel of the new Swift. All three journos are experienced racing drivers, which would make things even more interesting on the hill.
As a guest of Suzuki at the event, I also got to experience first hand the level of camaraderie and passion displayed by Team Suzuki, while my fellow hacks spent hours strategising about how to extract every last split second of hill time out of their weekend race cars.
The little SUV that could.
Image: Supplied
It paid off for Nurse, who managed a podium in Class B9 for SUVs. Granted, there were only three entries. Yet given that this bog-standard Jimny was going up against a heavily modified Nissan Patrol as well as an Alfa Romeo Stelvio Q4, Nurse posted some impressive lap times.
Having started around the 1 minute 9 second mark during his first practice, the Jimny driver managed to get his times down to 1 min 6.404 sec in his final run, after making it through to the finals.
"It's been an awesome weekend, and I had a lot of fun. I think the Jimny surprised a lot of people with the times it's managed up the hill,” Nurse stated after the event.
“I was here to compete against myself and to have a little bit of fun; and to show people that the Jimny is more dynamic than most people probably expect.”
Nurse, who drove flat out in third gear for most of the course, added that the Jimny was a lot more stable and predictable than he had expected.
He removed the spare wheel and some things inside the car to save weight, and also tried to keep his steering angle in check, in order to prevent activation of the traction control system, which can only be disabled at low speeds.
The diminutive SUV also proved to be quite a crowd pleaser, and was widely shared by Jimny fans on social media.
Easily the most economical car at Simola.
Image: Supplied
The other wildcard entrant, Suzuki’s Swift 1.2 GLX, managed a best time of 1 min 04.8 sec on the hill, but if cars were competing with fuel consumption as the main criteria, Ernest Page’s average figure of 5.7 litres per 100km on Sunday would surely have beaten the rest.
"A fantastic experience, I was smiling the entire time. Overall, I'm happy with the car's performance and we also averaged a consumption of only 5.7 litres per 100km over the entire day. The new Swift GLX is clearly a safe, fast, fun car for the right person," Page enthused.
Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger also had a fantastic experience in her Swift Sport, while posting an impressive best qualifying time of 56.538 seconds, leaving her just outside the hotly contested Class Finals.
"With a car like this, it is all about the power-to-weight ratio. The Swift Sport's light weight means that it handles and grips extremely well,” Kok-Kritzinger said.
“One thing is certain: I'm having a great deal of fun.”
Kok-Kritzinger's sprightly Swift Sport.
Image: Supplied
Suzuki also sent two GSX-R8 sportbikes up the hill, with Nicole van Aswegen and Tristin Pienaar at the saddle. Although they weren’t officially timed, they wowed the crowds with some much-needed two-wheel action.
Suzuki Auto SA’s Brand Marketing Manager Brendon Carpenter outlined the brand's participation in this year’s event:
“It’s an incredible competition and one that allows the public to get up close and personal with an impressive array of cars and drivers,” Carpenter said.
“Although the headlines are usually dominated by the mega powerful - not to mention mega expensive - machinery purpose-built for the event, Suzuki is here to demonstrate that you don’t need wads of disposable income and hundreds of kilowatts to take part in what is arguably one of the finest fixtures on the motorsport calendar,” he added.
Of course, the 2025 event was marred by the tragedy of Lotus competitor Pieter Joubert passing away after an accident on the hill during Sunday’s opening qualifying rounds.
A sombre mood descended over the paddock, but at the family’s request, the event continued with a shorter format and most drivers remained in the competition, driving their hearts out in honour of Joubert.
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