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Exotic cars go up in flames on truck headed for Cape Town

A truck transporting valuable exotic cars from this weekend’s Jaguar Simola Hillclimb in Knysna burst into flames on Monday.

The blaze quickly engulfed modified racing cars and at least one classic car while the truck was travelling to Cape Town.

Colin Mileman‚ spokesman for the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb confirmed that several valuable vehicles which had taken part in the weekend event – which attracted 15‚000 spectators – had caught alight.

Mileman said it would ‘’appear that one of the vehicles’’ on the trailer caught alight and the fire spread to other cars. However‚ he said that the exact cause of the fire still had to be determined.

 While the vehicles are likely to be worth millions of rand‚ he could not speculate on the value of those which were destroyed.

The Knysna Simola Hillclimb race is in its eighth year and draws both local and foreign spectators. King of the Hill title for 2017 in the category road and supercars went to Reghard Roets driving a 2017 Nissan GT-R.

Ian Shrosbree‚ managing director of Knysna Speed Festival and organiser and founder of the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb‚ expressed his dismay and distress after hearing of the incident.

“After the resounding success of the last three days where each of the participating vehicles becomes part of the essence of the competition – this disaster impacts on us all‚” he said.

“The loss of complete vehicles‚ some of them one-of-a-kind and literally irreplaceable‚ and the damage to others cannot be quantified. It is much‚ much more than just the value of what has gone up in flames.”

(With additional reporting from HeraldLIVE)

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