Nobuhiro Tajima

Nobuhiro Tajima (Shinjitai: 田嶋 伸博, Tajima Nobuhiro, born Suginami, Tokyo, June 28, 1950; Japanese nickname モンスター田嶋 Monsuta Tajima), nicknamed "Monster", is a hillclimb racer, tuning shop owner, rally team manager and former rally driver who is best known for his participation in Suzuki's rallying program as well as his triumphs at the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb in USA and Silverstone Race to the Sky in NZ (which he won eight times out of eleven events).

[1] In 1995, he achieved an outright victory at Pikes Peak with a twin-engined Escudo, becoming the first Japanese driver to win the event.

He used this vehicle to win the Silverstone Race to the Sky in the Cardrona Valley in New Zealand for three consecutive years from 1998 to 2000, and to finish runner-up at Pikes Peak three times in 1996, 1998 and 1999.

[2] On July 21, 2007, Tajima bested Rod Millen's thirteen-year-old course record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in his Suzuki Sport XL7 with a time of 10:01.408.

On June 26, 2011, Tajima won again, bested his own record and broke the "10 minute barrier" of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with a time of 9:51.278, driving the Suzuki SX4 Hill Climb Special, developed by Monster Sport.

For the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb event, Tajima switched to the electric class, citing concerns about climate change.

Although the clear leader of the class in qualifying, Tajima didn't complete the actual race due to a power transfer problem during his run.

Tajima driving the Escudo V6
Tajima on his way to breaking the 10 minute barrier of Pikes Peak in 2011