Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima has been racing into the clouds at Pikes Peak for 23 years, but a record-run kept eluding him. This June, his dream finally followed him right to the top
It took him over two decades, but Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima finally showed that pesky mountain who’s the boss. Devoting over 40 of his 61 years on this planet to motorsport, Monster began his storied climb to the 4,300m summit of Colorado’s fearsome
Pikes Peak with a victory in his debut race at the age of 18. After that, he never looked down, as he chased Asian rally victories and hill climb records.
Always behind the wheel of some or other Suzuki when climbing into the clouds, Monster finally beat Rod Millen’s 13-year record at Pikes Peak in 2007. Just last month, driving a Suzuki SX4 Hill Climb Special, Monster dipped under the magical 10-minute mark for a sixth consecutive overall win. In fact, he didn’t just dip under; he demolished the mountain with a time of 9:51:58, at the 89th annual running of Pikes Peak.
Not only does he drive with utmost precision and skill, he also tunes and develops his machines to the point that this year’s Suzuki produces 910 horsepower. That’s 910bhp from just 3.1 litres of displacement, albeit aided by twin turbos. Winding perilously to the top, Monster experienced overheating and power steering issues, but still managed to wrestle the car across the finish line in record-setting pace. Sure, more and more of Pikes Peak’s gravel turns into tarmac every year, but to take on serious competition and make them eat dirt at the wheel of a sickly car is surely the work of a legend. To put it into perspective, Rhys Millen — legendary Pikes Peak man Rod’s son — steered his Le Mans Prototype lookalike Hyundai to the top in 10:09:24 for second place. In other words, he wasn’t even close.
On the morning of his run, Monster said that he just knew, he felt that this was the year of his sub-10-minute climb. He wanted to do it for himself, but more than that for his countrymen in Japan. Nothing was going to stop his climb to the clouds. And nothing did.
