This 1700-pound Lotus Exige-shaped race car is among the fastest hillclimb cars in South Africa, having set a record-blazing run up the Knysna Simola Hillclimb course in late 2017. The car was once a road legal Lotus, but every component in the car has been modified in the pursuit of ever-faster sprint times. The chassis was replaced by a lengthened tubeframe to improve aero and weight balance, and the engine was replaced by a Honda K24 with a huge turbocharger, which is backed up by a proper motorsport sequential manual gearbox.
Watching the onboard video of this car is like travelling through warp speed, as the world comes at you through the windshield faster than I would have thought possible. Without any disrespect meant to Dawie Joubert, the car owner and driver, he’s clearly setting quick lap times, we can’t help but wonder what kinds of times this car could set with a professional shoe at the wheel.
At the 2017 running of this event, the car set a record time, but because the time was set in an early practice run, Joubert did not win the event outright. In attempting to set an even faster time, he turned up the boost (from a 600 horsepower setting to the 750 horsepower notch), and blew up the engine in the process. It’ll be rebuilt and attack the hill again this year.