Five times in a row - Monster and his 940ps!! Suzuki gets the job done. You may have played it in Gran Turismo but imagine what this puppy must really be like to drive.

‘Monster’ Nobuhiro Tajima was unable to crack the 8 minute barrier in the Silverstone Race to the Sky in the Cardrona Valley last weekend but he was a clear winner in 8m 03 .9 reinforcing his dominance of the event to take the King of the Mountain title for the eighth time.

Tajima set the all-time record last year clocking 8.01.17, and there was huge crowd support for him to take his Grand Suzuki Vitara Hillclimb Special under the 8 minute mark today, which would have been a fitting finale to the event.

Tajima says he hit a rock on the flat section of the course which slowed him down but he achieved a good time on the hill. He was disappointed he didn’t break 8 minutes and hopes the race will continue.

“I hope so I want to come back and get the new record under 8 minutes.”

Tajima was out on his own winning both qualifying rounds and the shoot-out but former Swedish World Rally Car driver Kenneth Eriksson put on a good display in the ex- Possum Bourne Subaru Impreza WRX to take second place in 8.20.9. Eriksson has been dogged by bad luck in previous years and today did have over-heating problems on the final run and had to “ back off” . He had hoped to complete the run in about 8 minutes 10.

“But I am very happy to finish in second place and I hope the Race to the Sky can continue.”

Andrew Hawkeswood of Auckland raced consistently throughout the weekend in his purpose-built Evo 8 to finish third in 8.29.5 and win the Possum Bourne Memorial Trophy for the fastest Kiwi for the third successive year. He and quad bike exponent Ian Ffitch were vying for the trophy but Hawkeswood headed him off in the main event. Ffitch was fifth in 8.44.9 after Australian Brett Hayward who put on a top performance in his AWD3 Open Special to finish fourth in 8.41.2.

Fellow Aussie Greg Ackland was sixth in his Pulsator GA in 8.54.2.

It was a hard luck story for Dunedin driver Emma Gilmour who was sixth in the second qualifying round today. But in the final she had gearbox problems on the flat circuit and could not make it up the hill.

Ffitch won the quad bike title while Nathan McAlwee of Auckland took out the motorcycle title for the fourth time finishing 16th overall in 9.24.30.

The oldest competitor in the field and one of the Race to the Sky’s most colourful personalities, Rocket Ron Kirkman 71, clocked 25th place in 9.38.72.

This year’s race is the last to be held by event promoter Grant Aitken after a decade of Easter racing on the Waiorau Snow Farm Road. He says the support from competitors and spectators has been fantastic over the years and the 2007 event saw some outstanding competition.

“It would have been great to see the 8 minute record broken but it was still an excellent result.”