Skyline for Simola
What makes Simola so popular and draws such a deep following among true motorsport and car enthusiasts is its diversity of vehicles. Everything from lightweight specials to aeroadapted single-seaters and all-wheel-drive JDM vehicles.
Multihour endurance racing is all about mechanical intuition and feel. Knowing when tyres are degrading and adjusting braking and turn-in points accordingly, rather than overdriving the car and risking a mechanical issue that means retirement. Craig’ s decades of racing experience and Fabienne’ s excellent tutelage from her father, Peter, meant they remained perfectly in sync with the lap-time needs. And the mechanical health of the Czank Racing Backdraft Cobra. The result was second in class and eighth overall for Craig and Fabienne.
Knowledge matters in Knysna
The confidence from East London will now carry to Knysna. The Czank racing team will be making the journey to the Garden Route for the Simola Hillclimb. This is Africa’ s best hillclimb event and the world’ s fastest.
Simola is an ode to the traditional days of a driver challenged by the topography and shape of a challenging hill road. No other drivers in the way. Just your own commitment and cornering skills against the timekeeping.
At 1.9 km in length and climbing 160 m from start to finish, Simola features two highspeed corners and a kink. Steering angle and car position through those first two corners are crucial, because there’ s no room for error, or making up lost time. This year is the 16th Simola event, and Craig has competed in nearly all of them. His understanding of the demanding car set-up and driving approach needed at Simola is unrivalled.
Craig will be piloting perhaps the most influential Japanese performance car of all time: an R32 Skyline. While Audi conquered America with its all-wheel-drive Quattro technology in the late 1980s, dominating the 1989 IMSA GTO season. Nissan comprehensively disrupted decades of Ford / Holden dominance at Australia’ s legendary Bathurst 1000 race. Winning by huge margins in 1991 and 1992, with the R32.
Nissan’ s Skyline all-wheel drive platform changed the perception of what Japanese performance cars were capable of. It built the Nissan supercar dynasty with the R33, R35 and eventually the current R35 Skyline. These Skylines are legendary, having dominated real-world circuit racing and the digital realm alike, and are amongst the most popular and celebrated Grand Turismo console gaming cars.
At Simola, Craig will be in a youngtimer R32 for the classic car Friday portion of the event. And for the main event, Craig will be in an R35. Both Skylines will feature stunning liveries and a set-up ideal for the Simola event’ s challenging surface and demanding corner
APRIL 2026 35 WORDS IN ACTION