- BB Motorsport walked away with the overall modified production car title at this weekend’s Zwartkops Top of the Hill event.
- Reghard Roets piloted his BB Motorsport Nissan GT-R to class and overall victory.
- The BB Motorsport Nissan Patrol Blackhawk secured a second class victory for the team from Pretoria.
In a nail-biting battle, Reghard Roets managed to clinch the inaugural Zwartkops Top of the Hill battle aboard his BB Motorsport Nissan GT-R. Roets managed to edge out Peter Zeelie for the overall title in his last run, by a mere three hundredths of a second.
The Zwartkops Top of the Hill saw competitors complete 2000m of the Zwartkops raceway in a time attack format with the tight and twisty nature of the circuit presenting a new challenge to seasoned hillclimb campaigners.
The BB Motorsport Nissan GT-R was involved in a ding dong battle in class B5 for four-wheel drive modified production cars all weekend with three practice runs and four qualifying runs, a battle that tested both man and machine.
In the end it was the crew from BB Motorsport and pilot Reghard Roets who were able to overcome the challenges of this unique circuit and a fierce grid of competitors to deliver the goods when it mattered. Roets was able to put down a time that was good enough for a B5 class win in the finals beating out Aldo Scribante and Devin Robertson in third.
Roets then upped the ante and went even faster in the last run, that formed part of the Top of the Hill shootout across all classes of the Modified Production car category to snatch overall victory with a time of 53.257, which was enough to top Peter Zeelie’s run of 53.295 seconds.
“For the first event the Zwartkops Top of the Hill was amazing, all the big names were there, the vibe was great with big crowds and the racing was exciting all weekend. This time attack style of motorsport has real potential, and I look forward to seeing it expand as these events bring out the big cars with the big horsepower and that is what the crowds want to see,” said Roets
BB Motorsport also entered their monstrous Nissan Patrol Blackhawk, piloted by veteran motoring journalist Reuben van Niekerk this weekend after a late call up to replace BB Motor Group Owner and CEO, Arnold Du Plessis who was away on business. Van Niekerk quickly got to grips with the supercharged V8 powered 2,6-ton Patrol and continued to improve all weekend, completing every session of the two-day programme and eventually posting his fastest time of 1 minute 12 seconds in the class final to walk away with class honours.
“Jumping into the big Nissan Patrol Blackhawk at the last minute was a daunting at first, but I was really impressed with the Blackhawk and what it could do around the tight and twisty Zwartkops Top of the Hill circuit,” said Van Niekerk.
For the BB Motorsport team from Pretoria the Zwartkops Top of the Hill was a great opportunity to showcase their vehicles in front of their home crowd, while also proving the versatility of their vehicles in a brand-new event.
“This is a great result for the BB Motorsport, in our backyard, especially after a somewhat disappointing Simola Hillclimb where both our cars were plagued by transmission issues. We have worked tirelessly to improve both the cars, and this weekend is validation that we are moving in the right direction,” said BB Motorsport Manager Demar du Plessis.
BB Motorsport look forward to the future of this event at Zwartkops and hope that it can inspire similar events around the country as this format is a great opportunity for local communities to see some of the best cars in the country competing in their own backyard.
