Japan’s Nobuhiro Tajima won his fourth consecutive Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on Sunday, but a loose track kept him from achieving his goal of breaking the 10-minute mark.
Tajima finished with a time of 10:15.368—a few seconds faster than his winning time from a year ago. But it was well short of the record of 10:01.408 he set in 2007.
A trio of European rally car champions were expected to challenge Tajima and the elusive 10-minute barrier at this years 87th running of the “Race to the Clouds,†the nation’s second-oldest race behind the Indianapolis 500.
Two-time world rally champion Marcus Gronholm had engine trouble and finished second at 11:28.963. He finished the race with the right rear tire of his Ford Rallycross Fiesta in flames…Â Details
The 2009 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is in the books. Reigning king of the hill Nobuhiro “Monster†Tajima again took top honors in the unlimited class but failed to break his own record with the new Suzuki SX4 hill-climb special. In fact, he fell 14 seconds shy of his record 2007 run with a 10:15.368. He did manage to beat Marcus Gronholm and Timo Alanne in one of Ford’s Rallycross Fiestas, which only managed an 11:28.963 as it crossed the line with its right rear tire in flames.
One of two categories that did see records broken was the 2WD Time Attack for production-based cars. Here, Rhys Millen found that the confidence he gained from his practice runs earlier in the week was not misplaced. In his 17th run at Pikes Peak, Millen covered the 12.4 mile course to the 14,110-foot summit in…Â Details
IndyCar series driver Danica Patrick has confirmed that she is not interested in joining the new USF1 team in Formula One next season, explaining that the pull of family and friends at home in the United States is too much to sacrifice if racing in a World Championship.Â
Once the launch of the Charlotte-based USF1 team was announed in February, speculation naturally began over the team’s driver line-up; the outfit founded by Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor has not make any secret of the fact that it would prefer to have at least one driver from its own country… Details
Travis Pastrana was handed his fourth win of the season at the New England Forest Rally Saturday by his teammate, to extend his lead in the Rally America national championship.
Subaru Rally Team USA’s Pastrana entered Round 6 with a 21-point lead and said his strategy from the start was to avoid taking unnecessary risks and get his car to the finish in one piece.
The roads on this event are generally wide and fast, but strewn with massive rocks that can do big damage to competition cars.
“It’s hard to know you’ve got that little more speed in reserve and not use it…Â Details