Giti Tire team guides Monster Tajima’s electric vehicle to the start line for the 2015 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. (Photo: Business Wire)
Famed road racer Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima was in the 93rd running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, placing second overall in his 1.1 MW electric racing car riding on special GitiCompete tires.
It was a peek into the future as electric vehicles nabbed the top two finishing positions. Rhys Millen was the overall winner in his electric vehicle. In taking second place, Tajima recorded his best time on the mountain at 09:32:401. He won the electric division on Giti tires in 2013 with a time of 09:46:53 – both incredible times considering that the 12.42-mile Pikes Peak course features 156 turns and an elevation climb of almost 5,000 feet to the 14,110-foot summit. It is regarded as one of the racing world’s most challenging events for driver and machine.
Giti Tire has provided tires and sponsorship for Tajima’s electric vehicle at Pikes Peak for the third consecutive year. Team APEV (Association for the Promotion of Electric Vehicles) and Tajima’s company, MONSTER SPORT, teamed up with Rimac Automobili to create the Tajima Rimac E-Runner Concept One, with a total power of more than 1.1 MW (1,475 horsepower). The electric vehicle competed on GITICompete GTR1 tires (sized 340/710-18).
Tajima thanked Giti Tire for “developing the tires in a very tight timeframe in order to accommodate the huge power output.”
“Giti technology was on full display today on the mountain and we are very pleased with the results,” said Armand Allaire, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Giti Tire. “We wish to congratulate Monster Tajima on achieving his all-time personal best and look forward to even greater results next year after his team and our engineers have had a full year of fine tuning and testing.”
Tajima Motor Corp.
tajima-motor.com/
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