Nobuhiru 'Monster' Tajima...  A Living Legend.                    

A remarkable things happened at Pike's Peak International Hill Climb the other day. A 61 year old man won an internationally recognized motorsport event – SUZUKI's 'Monster' Tajima continued to beat all-comers, taking his 1100kg 910hp Monster Sport Suzuki SX4 to a sixth straight victory.

Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima has been competing internationally for many decades, and is recognized as the foremost exponent of hillclimbing in the world. Father Time though, normally catches up with sportsmen of any ilk in their thirties, and particularly in motorsport, few people can maintain the razor sharp reflexes, precision vision and unimpaired judgement to race into their sixth decade, let alone the continued ambition necessary to race into their seventh decade of life.

There cannot be many who have continued onwards to their sixty first birthday with a winning ratio undiminished by time, particularly in an event where a mistake can actually, quite literally mean death.

Think for a moment of the reflexes and skill levels required to keep a car pointed in the right direction on gravel when that car produces 910bhp and 887 Nm of torque. By comparison, top flight F1 cars such as Red Bull and McLaren produce 750 bhp and Monster is old enough to be the father of all current F1 drivers.

Who knows, as the world ages, perhaps we'll see more sports people prolonging their careers, though Monster's record is probably unique.

Driving a modified Suzuki SX4 complete with twin-turbo V6, Monster won the event for the sixth successive year and was never truly challenged by his rivals, winning the unlimited division in 9 minutes and 51.278 seconds – eighteen seconds clear of his nearest challenger, Rhys Millen.

Monster has been a fixture at the world famous event since 1988 and has now won the Pike's Peak event ten times as well as holding the previous all-time record of 10 minutes 1.41 seconds set in 2007.

Monster is also no stranger to New Zealand, winning Queenstown's Race to the Sky numerous times.

Monster Tajima, King of the hill...

A view from the oppositions perspective!