The video of Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima's Pikes Peaks run spawned a lot of comment about how his times should be compared to the runs of previous years which had more dirt and less pavement to work with. But commenter DrunkenMessiah had some eyewitness information that added to the already insane level of difficulty Tajima overcame:
The most amazing thing about this run? Tajima DESTROYED the car!
Seriously; when it got to the top of the hill fluid was gushing from the radiators. The motor and turbos where cooked, ruined. Tajima said that the car started overheating two miles into the 12 mile run. 9:51 is pretty much the fastest time that car could possibly have gone. It was physically incapable of giving up any additional performance. The Monster was totally in the zone, driving 11/10s the whole way up. He was so far beyond the limit it was just mesmerizing to witness first-hand. He went around the three corners that make up The Sump (where this pic was taken) as if it was one continuous bend. From start to finish he was on it the whole time. I heard from people at the starting point that it was the hardest launch any of them had ever witnessed; he exploded off the line and did not slow up for a nanosecond. By the time he was a couple hundred yards into the race he was already four seconds ahead of Rhys Millen.
Fucking unbelievable. I felt so privileged to see it; and on my very first experience as an in-the-flesh PPIHC spectator to boot. Just too cool!