Already known as South Africa’s most significant annual motorsport event, the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb has just added to its growing list of award recognitions by achieving a nomination in a category of the 2016 International Historic Motoring Awards (IHMA) competition.
The category in the IHMA is for the Motorsport Event of the Year, jointly sponsored by a leading international historic car magazine, Octane, and the EFG private bank where nominations are made by members of the public who find special appeal in competitive historic motorsport events anywhere in the world – across the full spectrum of circuit races to trials, stage rallies and hillclimbs. The judges will look primarily for an overall memorable event, not just a spectacular individual race within a meeting or stage within a rally. The event for the 2016 award must have taken place between October 1st 2015 and September 30th 2016. This year’s Jaguar Simola Hillclimb was run from May 6th to 8th.
When nominations close, a shortlist of candidates in each category will be selected then reviewed by a panel of judges which includes former World Sportscar Champion Jochen Mass; Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen (former CEO of Bentley and Bugatti and now head of the Volkswagen Group’s classic activities); car designer Peter Stevens; Dave Kinney, an historic car collector and journalist for Automobile and the New York Times; Le Mans icon Derek Bell; and car collector Corrado Lopresto, the only person to have won the coveted Coppa d’Oro at Villa d’Este four times.
“It is a great honour for the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb to be nominated for such a prestigious international motorsport award, and especially for our Classic Car Friday segment which is only four years old and steadily building its own profile,” said Ian Shrosbree, managing director of Knysna Speed Festival, the owner of the event.
“This nomination is a credit to everyone involved in making the Simola Hillclimb happen; from Jaguar to our other commercial partners, to the town of Knysna, to every staff member and volunteer that gives huge amounts of time, effort and resource to creating a great event. The Jaguar Simola Hillclimb has been building its profile outside of South Africa over the past few years, and this latest nomination will further enhance our desire to make it one that is recognized abroad as a premier event and worthwhile attending as a competitor or spectator, or both.”
Accolades already received by the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb include the winning of the ‘Best Tourism Activity’ title in the 2015 Sanlam Knysna Awards; being a finalist in the same award’s ‘Proudly Knysna’ category; and being a finalist in the 2016 Discovery South African Sport Industry Awards in the ‘Best Live Experience’ category.
Jaguar Simola Hillclimb background:
The Jaguar Simola Hillclimb 2017 will be the eighth running of the event and is set to continue the growth that it has shown since its inception and build on the record setting success of the 2016 event.
Scheduled for 4-7 May 2017, this event will be the fourth edition known as the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb following Jaguar’s recent three-year extension of its title sponsorship from 2017-2019.
The success of the 2016 Hillclimb – which entertained and enthralled 14 206 people through the gates (including SA sporting heroes Eben Etzebeth, Pieter Steph du Toit, Scarra Ntubeni, Schalk Burger, Siya Kolisi, and Hollywood actor Sharlto Copley (Star of District9, The A-Team, Elysium) – continued to draw unparalleled interest and word of the event has spread far and wide with not only South African interest reaching new heights, but international recognition reflected in the superb coverage in Octane Magazine and other international motoring publications, as well as on third party video channels. The event trended on Twitter over the weekend and activity on Facebook and other social media was at an all-time high.
Media enquiries: Robin Emslie – 044 883-1055 or 083 255-8477