The Challenge: to get the fastest lap time driving the Grand Prix circuit of Germany’s legendary Nürburgring. The Contestants: ordinary men and women from all over the UK who turned up in their thousands to cities and towns where the King of the Hell roadshow was being held. The Prize: to be the one to drive away in a Civic Type R that would be theirs for a year.
The road show took place over 44 days and never has a race been so keenly fought. Some contestants were so determined to win that they travelled from town to town, driving the circuit again and again in a bid to better their time.
Thousands of people drove the virtual circuit on Xbox and those who completed a fast lap time qualified to face the ultimate challenge – to pit themselves against the Grand Prix circuit sitting at the wheel of a Type R. It was an ingeniously designed simulator, and the concentration and suspense were very much real as they navigated the twists and turns of the track, so challenging that it’s been christened the Green Hell by race fans.
A live leaderboard kept track of the fastest overall times, both at the venue and on a King of the Hell online site, fans also followed the progress on social media, and tension continued to ramp up as the weeks went by.
In the final weeks it became a keenly fought battle with only seconds between the front-runners. So there was everything to play for as the road show arrived at its final stop: the giant Westfield shopping mall in Stratford, east London. This was the moment of truth. There could only be one winner. Who would emerge victorious as King of the Hell?
In the nail-biting last days of the competition, Midlander Muorali Selverajah had stayed in the lead and thought that victory was his. But then at the last moment, the weekend before the final, Scotsman Stewart Duff came to Glasgow and clocked up an impressive time of 2.09.485, enough to put him in first place. When Muorali discovered he’d been overtaken he refused to accept defeat and travelled down to the final heat in London to give it one last shot. His determination paid off as he pipped Stewart to the post with a time of 2.08.801 to become King of the Hell and proud owner of a Civic Type R for a year. It certainly was one hell of a contest.
