Japanese driver Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima has scored Suzuki’s fifth consecutive outright win at the legendary Pikes Peak International Hillclimb in Colorado, North America.

Driving his modified, twin-turbo V6-powered Suzuki SX4, ‘Tajima-San’ covered the 19.9 kilometer route in 10 minutes 11.49 seconds – almost 30 seconds faster than his nearest rival. 

The torturous Pikes Peak course has 156 turns in its 19.9 kilometers and climbs from 2860 metres to the summit at 4,300 metres. In fact, the thin air at that altitude robs engine power by around 30 per cent and drivers often wear special oxygen breathing gear.

With 679kW of power and 887Nm of torque, Tajima-San’s modified Suzuki probably had sufficient power to combat the thin air, but his time this year was actually 10 seconds slower than his all-time record of 10 minutes 1.41 seconds set back in 2007.