It was to be the heavyweight title fight of international hillclimbing. In the red corner from Japan The Monster Nobuhiro Tajima and in the blue corner from New Zealand “Son of a Gun” Red Bull Rhys Millen.
On paper it looked like a battle for the ages, the defending champion in his wild looking Suzuki based special up against Millen’s even more extreme off road prototype powered by Hyundai.
In the end though it became a no contest.
Mechanical problems plagued the challenger leaving the ‘Monster’ as King of the Hill once again.
The win to the Japanese driver was his 5th consecutive at the peak with a fastest time of 10:11.490.
Both Tajima and Millen had hoped to break the magic 10 minute mark but neither really got close.
In second place was not Millen but instead three-time champion Paul Dallenbach.
Dallanbach’s car wasn’t a high tech turbo four or six but an old fashioned Chevy powered open wheel special, He set a fastest time of 10:39.534.
Millen, eventually finished third with an 11:06.208 run after his 650-hp Hyundai suffered various mechanical problems. “Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong today,” he said after the race.
The Pikes Peak Hill Climb, starts at an elevation of 9,300 feet and finishes at 14,110 feet.
Drivers drift around 146 corners over 19 kilometres of dirt and asphalt,all while avoiding cliffs with 2,000-foot drop-offs.
The race is the second oldest motorsport event in the USA and attarcts fans and competitors from all over the world.
along with events like Le Mans, the Indy 500 and the Monaco GP it should be on the must see list of any hard core motorsport fan.