Nine Minutes and fifty-one seconds.
That’s how long it took Japanese Pikes Peak legend Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima to climb the treacherous Pikes Peak highway yesterday. He is now the only person to ever break the 10 minute barrier that has haunted this hill for ever. We will catch up with a post-race video tomorrow with Tajima.
In the 2-Wheel Drive Time Attack series it was the elder Millen, Rod, who took home the gold. Not only winning the class but also setting a new record time of 11:04.912. Millen was able to out-due his very close friend and rival Jeff Swart, and his Porsche 911 GT2 RS by almost 3 seconds. The times were surprisingly close as Millen had dominated all three sections of qualifying. Rod Millen, 60, piloted his son’s Hyundai Genesis Coupe drift car, and was able to beat Porsche’s most powerful race car ever produced. The debate is still out, will the aging Millen return to the hill next year?
Remember Rod Millen set the unlimited class record in 1994 up Pikes Peak in his Celica posting a time of 10:04. Keep in mind this is when the 156 turn, 12.45 mile track was all gravel. It took for all but 2.6 miles to be paved for the 10 minute barrier to be broken.
Although the 10 minute wall has fallen and congratulations to “Monster” the hill will be completely paved for the 2012 climb. So you can expect the 9:51.278 posted this year by Tajima to fall next year.
Check back tomorrow for a post race interview video with Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima. We will also cover the rest of the unlimited class with Rhys Millen and his Hyundai Powered PM580.
