Speed lovers and performance car enthusiasts are invited to experience a festival of passion at the fifth running Simola Hillclimb taking place on 16-18 May 2014 in Knysna.

The event that started back in 2009 comes back after it took a break in 2013 due to the unforeseen withdrawal of their sponsor at a late stage.

Jaguar becomes Simola Hillclimb title sponsor

Announcing its sponsorship for the event, Jaguar Land Rover South Africa and sub-Sahara Africa Managing Director Kevin Flynn, said that the Simola Hillclimb is custom-made for Jaguar, a brand which not only has an incredibly rich heritage but an impressive current line-up and an equally exciting future.

“We are thrilled to be the headline sponsor of an event which pays homage to the past but is firmly rooted in the present.”

“The Jaguar Simola Hillclimb transcends the mere metal however, and is ultimately a weekend for those who love car culture and what it embraces: it is a celebration of all that personal mobility is about, bringing people with a common passion together. I can’t wait for May to come around and enjoy the sensory pleasures that are part and parcel of the weekend,” he added.

The entertainment

The festival is expected to attract 9000 spectators over three days and will include Classic Car Friday for pre-1975 cars and the King of the Hill Shootout for modern, exotic and supercars on the Saturday and Sunday.

Jaguar will be showcasing some of their old school models from the elegant SS100 of the 1930s, through D-Type competition cars, the iconic E-Type and MkII saloon cars. There will also be modern R cars and there are rumours of the company launching the F-Type Coupe there.

The Jaguar F-Type coupe resembling the C-X16 concept comes with a range topping R variant that is equipped with a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine that gets to 0-100 km/h in 4 seconds achieving an electronically limited top speed of 300 km/h. It also comes with a number of technologies that help it deliver not only exhilarating performance but also tremendous efficiency.

As part of the Speed Festival the Hillclimb is preceded by the Knysna Motor Show, run by the Garden Route Motor Club, on Sunday 11 May, and the Speed Festival Charity Golf Day on Thursday 15 May.