Suzuki's Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima is back at the top of the heap. He may not have broken his record yet again (and the elusive sub 10-minute time), but he sure has taken the crown yet again at the 2010 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in his Suzuki SX4.
As soon as he reached the top, he asked the waiting reporters if he had made it, alas they did have some not so good news. His best time of 10 minutes 1 second couldn't be bested, and he had to settle for a time of 10 minutes 11 seconds, good enough to beat the rest of the field.
Drift king Rhys Millen made yet another attempt at the peak this year after his attempt in the Hyundai Genesis coupe last year. This year he ran a modified Genesis based car called the PM580, producing 580 bhp, with the initials PM standing for Presley Millen, his wife. Rhys called it "Operation Retrieval" this year, an attempt at bringing back the title to his family - his father Rod Millen who held the record for 13 years until Monster Tajima smashed it.
That however was not possible. Far from it, his car aerodynamic and handling issues, so much so that a time of just over 11 minutes and 6 seconds was set. Rhys sure was upset but said that with just under 4 months development time, the car has proved that he can make an attempt at the Peak once again next year when it would have completed more testing and tweaks.
In the 2WD class, fellow compatriot Jeff Zwark claimed the title, breaking Rhys' own record by 38 seconds by setting a time of 11 min 38 seconds in his Porsche 911 GT3 RS. In the electric vehicle class, Ikuo Hanawa smashed his own electric vehicle record by over 45 seconds, climbing silently to the top of the mountain in 14 min 7 seconds.
|
