Nobuhiro Tajima

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Nobuhiro Tajima
Personal information
Nationality
China Rally

Nobuhiro Tajima (

Pikes Peak International Hillclimb in USA and Silverstone Race to the Sky
in NZ (which he won eight times out of eleven events).

Racing career

Tajima made his race debut in 1968 in the

Lombard RAC Rally
, where he entered a Datsun.

In 1983 he established Monster Sport International, a motorsport preparation shop. In 1986, he sealed his association with Suzuki when he established Suzuki Sport, its in-house motorsport division and returned to the World Rally Championship where he competed driving a Suzuki Cultus in the Olympus Rally.

In 1987, he competed in the Olympus Rally, taking his first class win and finishing 15th overall. He returned again the following year where he won his class again, finishing 7th overall.

From 1991 to 1992, he competed in the

Suzuki Ignis S1600
in 2001.

As the

Junior World Rally Championship
project took off in 2002, he decided to retire from rally driving while he was competing in the Asia Pacific Rally to become team manager of Suzuki Sport.

Tajima driving the Escudo V6

Tajima has continued to compete in

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.[1]

In 2006, at the

Geneva Motor Show, he announced his plan for Suzuki Sport to form the Suzuki World Rally Team, which would field a Suzuki SX4 in 2007. However, World Rally Championship calendar changes meant Suzuki's team debuted in 2008. Tajima took Pikes Peak that year with a newer version of the Escudo. Despite crashing during practice, he achieved another overall victory in a race that was shortened by rain.[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.[3] He was the overall winner again in 2008 with the Suzuki XL7 with a time of 10:18.250.

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

With a new Suzuki SX4, he again won outright in 2009 and 2010, driving up the hill in 10:15.368 and 10:11.490 respectively. 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.[4] This was his seventh overall win at Pikes Peak.

For the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb event, Tajima switched to the electric class, citing concerns about climate change.[5] That year his car was an electric Monster Sport E-RUNNER Pikes Peak Special. 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. In 2013, he won the Electric class and placed 5th overall with a time of 9:46.530 in the Monster Sport E-RUNNER.[6] In 2014, he again improved his time, creating a new record in the electric class with a time of 9:43.90 in the E-RUNNER.[7]

In 2015, Tajima was driving an electric Tajima Rimac E-Runner Concept_One, which was made in collaboration with Rimac Automobili. Tajima finished second overall with a time of a 9:32:401, behind Rhys Millen's 9:07.222 in a Drive eO PP03. In 2016, he came in fifth fastest overall and third of the EV's in his Tajima Rimac E-Runner Concept_One, behind Rhys Millen and Tetsuya Yamano. With a time of 9:51.978, the car was unable to beat last year's time (9:32.401), which itself was handicapped by a brake and overheating issues.[8]

In all, he has taken nine All Japan Dirt Trial Championship titles, four WRC class wins, two class wins in the Asia-Pacific Rally championship, seven overall

1988 World Rally Championship season
and finished 4th in the 2001 Asia-Pacific Rally championship for drivers.

Awards and honors

  • Pikes Peak Hill Climb Museum Hall of Fame (2016)[9]

References

  1. ^ a b "株式会社 タジマ モーターコーポレーション". www.tajima-motor.com. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  2. ^ "PIKES PEAK INTERNATIONAL HILL CLIMB 2006 Special Site".
  3. ^ Autoblog: Monster Tajima is Pikes Peak's new "King of the Mountain
  4. ^ Tajima Breaks 10-Minute Barrier at Pikes Peak
  5. ^ Monster Sport E-Runner Pikes Peak Special | TRANSLOGIC, retrieved 2019-09-12
  6. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "GoPro: The Electric 'Monster' Tajima - Pikes Peak 2013 Electric Class Winner". YouTube.
  7. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "GoPro: Pikes Peak 2014 - Monster Tajima's Run For The Record". YouTube.
  8. ^ "Racing with royalty—Behind the scenes with Pikes Peak's "King of the Mountain"". 30 June 2016.
  9. ^ "Hall of Fame". Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Retrieved 2023-09-23.

External links

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