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Tajima Wins Pikes Peak Climb, 10 Min. Record Stands

All the huss and fuss of weeks past amounted to nothing for Rhys Millen and his Hyundai Genesis PM580, as the driver and car failed to win the famous Pikes Peak hill climb. So did the other Unlimited Class challenger Paul Dallenbach.

This year's climb went to – as it does now for the past five years - Nobuhiro Tajima, the holder of the 10:01.408 record set in 2007. A record which remains unbeaten, despite Millen's dreams of shattering it.

Despite winning the climb, Tajima said he is very disappointed in how the run went. What's worse is that, for the better part of the race, the Japanese believed he had managed to overcome the elusive 10 minutes barrier. His time: 10:11.490.

"I'm very disappointed,"
Tajima said according to the Associated Press. "I thought I was faster, and it was a very good run. The car and everything worked well."

Runner up Paul Dallenbach managed to finish the race second, with a 10:39.534 run. He managed this despite the fact that he ran with a spare engine, which supplied some 130 hp less than the regular unit.

"It was a fairly clean run overall, and I can't complain too much," said Dallenbach. "You always want to win and break records, but the mountain dictates if records are broken. I'm here safe and in one piece, so that's the important thing. We'll be back at it next year."

As for Millen, a year's preparation went down the drain. His acclaimed Genesis PM580 was full of mechanical hick-ups during the race, sending the record contender all the way down to third position, with a time of 11:06.208.

"Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong today," Millen complained. "We had a transmission issue right at the start, I overheated my front brakes and got loose in one turn. We'll be back fighting for that 10-minute barrier next year."
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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