LOCAL TUNER BB MOTORSPORT'S RECORD-SETTING ARMAGEDDON GT-R SHOWCASED ON HILLCLIMB MONSTERS
The 2023 Simola Hillclimb took place earlier this year, and it was the thirteenth running of the event that’s widely regarded as the premier motorsport event in SA. The run up the famed hill sees some of the best cars in the country make their way down to the usually sleepy town of Knysna in the Western Cape to compete for top honours. The most recent events have also seen some keen international competitors tackle the 1.9 km-long hill and for 2023 the most famous face seen squished into a helmet was that of Petter Solberg. He competed in his old VW Polo World RX car, and he was properly fast, and could possibly have taken a class record if the car’s gearing was properly set up for the course. While many eyes were on the international guests, locals were choosing sides between two of the biggest names in SA motorsport, Reghard Roets and Franco Scribante. Both drivers were campaigning highly modified Nissan GT-Rs, one with massive spoilers and aero and one looking closer to the street version of the car, although still far from what you see doing daily duties. Scribante’s car, nicknamed The Sherriff, was there to back up its 2022 class record run of 38.129 seconds, and Roets’s BB Motorsport-prepared car known as Armageddon was there to stop that from happening. You can see that Armageddon is one seriously modified car and also features some proper aero, although not on the scale of the framework seen on the Scribante car. Both have the original GT-R VR38DETT lump as the base, but there’s little resembling what it left the factory with. In typical tuner fashion, the actual power figures are as secretive as an ANC tender process, but make no mistake, these are legit hillclimb monsters. Armageddon is reported to have 1 100 hp on tap...
The weather was a bit dodgy during the event, so a few runs were done on a damp track, but with the right tyre combinations, the cars were putting in some amazing times and speeds. The best run from The Sheriff at the 2023 leg of the event was timed at 39.877, a little slower than when it clinched the win and the Modified Saloon Car record in 2022. With many saying the time would stand for years, it seemed to have spurred Roets on just that little bit more. In the actual race, the Armageddon GT-R posted a time of 40.539 seconds to secure a second place in class. But in qualifying, Roets took the monstrous GT-R to the top of the hill in an unbelievable time of just 38.045 seconds and claimed the unofficial fastest time up for a saloon car. It’s a pity that the qualifying results don’t count for records, and if you ask anyone here a record time should be a record time as long as it was run during the course of the event. While The Sheriff holds the crown in an official capacity, everyone knows there’s a new sheriff in town and it’s called Armageddon. This year we saw the crew from the world’s best hillclimb channel in attendance, and they did an amazing job of documenting the GT-R’s exploits with proper coverage that includes in-car footage that shows just how steep and technical the hill is, as well as the massive speeds needed to place in the top of the timetable. Check out the part in the video where things went a little squirly, It’s rather scary, but the experience Roets has showed through and he casually drove through it like it ain't no thang… The Modified Saloon class in 2024 is going to be lit!
Take a look at the YouTube video from the 2023 instalment of the prestigious Simola Hillclimb held annually in Knysna, South Africa. There were some amazing cars and runs up the hill, but this BB Motorsport GT-R was the one to set an unofficial record for a saloon car. Piloted by veteran South African racer Reghard Roets, this is one car that's very hard to beat. It would have also claimed the official record was it not for that little bit of sideways action in the race run: 1100Hp Nissan GT-R R35 ONBOARD || NEW RECORD Simola HillClimb | Hillclimb Monsters
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BB Motorsport Armageddon Nissan GT-R GT-R SXdrv Hillclimb Simola Hillclimb Reghard Roets South African News