Peugeot's Pikes Peak machine is a beast. Weighing only 875kg, they could fully utilize the 875-horsepower from the mid-mounted V6 and possibly reach the peak before the 10-minute barrier. But while all heads are towards this stealthy hill climber, Nobuhiro Tajima is not going to sit back and do nothing about it.
Known better as Monster Tajima, he has been sprinting towards the summit of Pikes Peak since 1992 and shows no signs of stopping any time soon. And for this year, the chariot that he will be piloting in great speeds is the new Toyota 86, which no longer looks or performs remotely close as the one rolling out from the factories.
Since Tajima will enter the Unlimited Class like he usually does, this 86 has been worked extensively by Tajima's motorsport outfit to meet the challenging conditions of this famous hill climb. Dubbed as the Super 86, they had ditched the original Boxer engine and replaced it with a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 engine. Mated with a six-speed sequential gearbox, the car runs with 660-horsepower distributed to all four wheels.
To minimize weight but still keeping an eye on safety, the car is built from a carbon/Kevlar composite which brings the weight down to around 1080kg. And like all Unlimited Class racers, a big wing in the rear is a must to keep the car planted at all times.
While the Super 86 might not sound or look as intimidating as Peugeot's T16 208, Monster Tajima knows the course like the back of his hands, and it takes more than skills alone to conquer it. Nevertheless, it is going to be an epic battle between these two machines, especially with drivers like Tajima and Loeb piloting them to glory this June 30th.
