Exactly a year ago, we ran the story of Guy Davies running his daily-driver Porsche 911 Carrera up the Simola Hill Climb. Nothing particularly newsworthy about that, you would think, even when the story related how Liqui Moly South Africa’s sponsorship involvement had made both the entry and so much more possible for Guy.
But then you take into account the fact that Guy has, for the past 26 years, been confined to a wheelchair, and you begin to see that this was no run-of-the-mill story. Not only did Guy compete successfully, but he also drove the car to and from the event in true amateur fashion. Happily for Guy, it didn’t end there. You can read last year’s story here – Racing Passion with Guy Davies.
If you’ve read the story from last year, you’ll remember that the plan was to drive a specially-prepared Subaru up the hill, but at the last minute, the decision was taken to use Guy’s 200,000 km Porsche, mainly because the Subaru was just not going to be ready in time, despite the best efforts of all concerned.
The plan then was to compete in the hill climb this year in the Subaru. For various reasons, that again was not to be, so the faithful Porsche, now with 230,000 km on the clock, was pressed into service yet again.
However, this year, there was an added incentive for Guy. After last year’s run, Guy’s son made the bold claim that he could have beaten his dad in his mum’s electric Mini! You know what kids are like! Challenge accepted and, suffice to say, Guy’s son didn’t beat him, maybe because Guy managed to knock 0.7 seconds off his best time from last year to record a time of 50.4 seconds. Still not beating the 50-second bogey, which is his goal, but racing is all about small steps.
For 2027, there’s yet another goal for Guy. Year one was to be the first wheelchair-bound competitor to do the climb; year two, to beat his son; job done on both counts. In 2027 – year three – Guy wants to compete in a manual-gearbox car (the Porsche is automatic). Not only that, but he has chosen one of the most uncompromising cars of all time with which to meet the new challenge: a faithful copy of the iconic Lotus 7 called the Birkin S3, manufactured here in South Africa.
You know the Lotus 7; Colin Chapman’s first commercially successful road car. It’s a motorised roller skate or the nearest thing you can get to a motorbike on four wheels; bare minimum motoring with no frills and blistering performance.
Having lost the use of his legs, operating a manual gearbox conventionally isn’t possible. What Guy and his friend Stuart Priede have done to enable Guy to drive the car is impressive; the clutch is now operated by a motorcycle-type clutch lever mounted on the gear lever itself, so he will declutch and change gear with one hand. There’s a thumb throttle on the steering wheel, and braking is handled by a separate ring behind the steering wheel, pulled towards the driver by the fingers. It just goes to show you that nothing can stand in your way if you’re determined.
In order to qualify for his competition licence, Guy had to demonstrate that he could extricate himself from the Porsche and move a predetermined distance away from the car within a certain time.
All well and good, but the Birkin is a completely different animal from the Porsche and getting in and out is another thing entirely. To that end, they’ve had to modify the already-skimpy bodywork to allow for a fold-down flap by the driver so Guy can literally fall sideways out of the car should the emergency arise.
The Birkin is powered by a 1600 cc Toyota Twin Cam engine, which doesn’t sound like much, but when the car it’s fitted to weighs no more than a crisp packet, the performance can be eye-opening. It looks as if that 50-second target is about to be shattered!
One happy consequence of his efforts in the Porsche last year and the publicity around it was that Guy started getting emails and calls from other wheelchair-bound people, asking for advice on how to get into motorsport. In addition, he has enabled visually-impaired people to experience the thrills of howling around a race track at speed in the Birkin.
And, behind all this personal effort, is the continuing support of Liqui Moly. Interestingly, the year 1957 marks not only the introduction of the original Lotus 7 but also the Liqui Moly brand. Given that next year is 2027, that marks the seventieth birthday of both Liqui Moly’s global establishment and the car, and what better way of celebrating that milestone than by a remarkable man aiming for personal glory at one of South Africa’s key motorsport events?
