Giving a serious international flavour to the Simola Hillclimb will be the presence of renowned Rallycross driver, Petter Solberg, and the Polo R WRX Supercar, showing off some of the best driving skills and racing car tech currently in the world.
With two Drivers’ titles and two Teams’ FIA World Championship wins, the Polo R WRX Supercar is arguably the most successful race car of the modern Rallycross era.
Volkswagen Motorsport has announced the line-up of drivers and cars that will be competing in the annual Simola Hillclimb racing event. Now in its 13th year, the Simola Hillclimb event will take place from 4 to 7 May 2023.
Petter Solberg’s partnership with Volkswagen started in 2017 when he set up the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team in partnership with Volkswagen Motorsport. Solberg won the Team's Championship in both 2017 and 2018 before his retirement from full-time racing. We are thrilled to have Petter come out of retirement to race for us in South Africa,” said Mike Rowe, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport.
But just how powerful and quick is this super Polo? The Polo R WRX Supercar develops 419 kW of power with a torque peak of 650 Nm. The four-cylinder engine is coupled to a sequential, six-gear racing transmission and it takes just 1.9 seconds to complete the 0 – 100 km/h sprint… quicker that an F1 race car or a MotoGP bike, according to most info.
The Volkswagen Motorsport line-up this year will also include its factory drivers, Jonathan Mogotsi and Daniel Rowe, who will be competing in the new Golf 8 R. The Golf 8 R’s drive output is generated by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder EA 888 engine.
The Golf 8 R accelerates to 100 km/h in just 4.8 seconds with the top speed of 250 km/h. The Golf 8 R impresses with the combination of 400 Nm of torque, cutting-edge running gear and the most progressive all-wheel drive in its class.
Graeme Nathan will be the fourth driver representing Volkswagen Motorsport. Last year, Graeme came a close second in the Class B2 finals in one of the closest margins in the history of the Simola Hillclimb – 0.016 seconds. He will once again be competing in the Polo SupaCup racing car this year.
Volkswagen has expanded the new Tiguan model line-up with the addition of two new engines, a 2.0 TDI with 110kW and a 2.0 TSI with 140kW. Both engines are offered with a 7-speed DSG transmission.
DFSK South Africa announced that effective immediately, DFSK will be extending its warranty offering on its new DSFK KO1S Bakkie and DSFK C35 Panel Van to a 50 000km / 2-year warranty for all new customers ensuring greater peace of mind and customer satisfaction.
The challenge for us is to maintain our Dealer of the Year status in the future as it symbolises the effort we put in to create the best environment for our customers and our staff.
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Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
George Carlin
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