Grant takes the title as journos battle on the hill in Knysna

The five competed in identical, showroom-standard Jaguar XF saloons, taking runs up the challenging 1.9 kilometre climb, along with some 80 other competitors in a variety of road and race cars.

What started out as ‘just a bit of fun’ became deadly serious as the weekend progressed – but with good humour and camaraderie always just below the surface. After each session there were tales of lurid slides, near misses and long discussions about pull-off technique and turn-in points punctuated with a fair bit of good-natured ribbing.

Almost without exception, the name that topped the time sheets was that of Star Motoring’s Jesse Adams, always just fractions of a second ahead of the chasing pack. The tension level ratcheted up slowly and surely through the course of Sunday morning, with Tom Falkiner (Sunday Times), Mark Jones (Citizen Motoring), Stuart Grant (Classic and Performance Car Africa) and Angus Thompson (Topcar) all getting a look in.

Grant, in a masterful display of big match temperament, suddenly went from slowest to fastest in the seventh and final qualifying session to bump Jones out of the top three and go through to the final, along with Adams and Thompson. Mere thousands of a second separated them.

For Falkiner, who had put in some solid performances, suddenly finding himself out of the running was a bitter pill to swallow.

Jones, never short of an answer, was more philosophical: “I’m the oldest and the heaviest, but I certainly made them work hard to get me out of the top three and did my best to out-psyche them. It’s been a fantastic experience and a great privilege to be part of this.”

Like the top three in each class, Thompson, Adams and Grant went head to head, duking it out in winner-take-all format.

When the clocks were stopped it was Grant, a Dark Horse all weekend, who emerged victorious, pipping his close friend Adams by just under three-hundredths of a second for victory – an extraordinary small gap and a fitting end to a two-day battle. Thompson, who had come steadily on song in the course of the weekend, made a costly tactical error in his run to end half a second adrift.

Said Grant, an experienced racer of classic cars of various types: “It didn’t come easy but I knew I had it in me. I was happy to stay in the background during the early sessions and, as they say in Texas, it isn’t over until the Fat Lady sings!”

Grant was driving car #51, a number which paid homage to Jaguar’s first Le Mans in that year with the C-Type, while his peers also carried race numbers linked to the 1950s and the brands domination of the 24 Hour race that decade.

As well as the magnificent floating trophy, Grant will also receive a miniature version to keep and also won a R2 000 gift voucher from motorsport equipment suppliers Automotive Technology Specialists.