The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb proved again that the mountain is still mightier than the men. Japan's Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima and Suzuki took the race victory (for the fifth consecutive time) in the unlimited class with a winning time of 10:11.490 in the race to the clouds.
However both Tajima and pre-race earlier favorite Rhys Millen and Hyundai failed to break the ten minute barrier.
"I'm very disappointed," Tajima said. "I thought I was faster,
and it was a very good run. The car and everything worked well."
"Monster" Tajima was not only chasing the win up the mountain, but also his own record time of 10:01.408 hoping that 201 would be the year he broke into the 9's.
As for Millen he also had a disappointing day finishing in third place in the unlimited class in a time of 11:06.208 after Paul Dallenbach.
Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong today," said Millen. "We had a
transmission issue right at the start, I overheated my front brakes and
got loose in one turn. We'll be back fighting for that 10-minute barrier
next year." he added.
Millen had hoped to win the record back for his family. Millen's dad, Rod, had the record before Tajima took it away.
You can watch our exclusive pre-race interview with Millan along with
his rival (longtime Pikes Peak record holder "Monster" Tijima) HERE.
The Peak Hill International Climb is the country's second oldest race after the Indy 500 and consist a both gravel and paved race course that winds 12.42-miles, 4,721 feet and 146 turns to the
summit of Pikes Peak at 14,110 feet above sea level.
Follow on twitter @TFLcar or watch latest car
review videos on YouTube.
