Suzuki News

Nobuhiro Tajima, President of Suzuki Sport, has won the 85th anniversary run of the world classic Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 10 minutes and one second, breaking the record previously held by New Zealander Rod Millen driving a Toyota 13 years ago.

The precise record set by “Monster” Tajima and the SUZUKI SPORT XL7 Hill Climb Special is as below:

Nobuhiro Tajima ran the first section to “Picnic Ground” in the elapsed time of 1′42″197, the second section to Glen Cove in 4′29″191, the third section to 16mile point in 7′3″408, then the last section to the finish line in 10′1″408.

His record will be included in the 2007 edition of the Guinness Book of Records.

Though he is delighted with his victory, he has set a new objective and has begun to plan to “break the ten-minute barrier” when he returns for the 2008 event.

Monster was driving an all new car this year, the Suzuki Sport XL7 Hill Climb Special.

The car is based on the 2007 XL7, Suzuki’s new flagship SUV for the North American market.

It has a V6 VVT (Variable Valve Timing) 3.6 litre engine that has been uprated with twin turbo chargers. It produces 1007ps and 102kgm of torque. For maximum grip, aerodynamics have been refined and the downforce achieved is up by more than 35% compared to the previous Pikes Peak car.

Monster also won last year’s Pikes Peak in severe weather conditions. Then, in April, 2007, he was overall winner of the Race to the Sky in New Zealand setting a 5-year in a row record and making it a total of eight wins for him in that event.

Darren Ponsford has joined Suzuki GB PLC as General Manager Marketing in the Automobiles Division.  He will report to Director Sales and Marketing, David Seward. He joins the Company from Wunderman, a leading global Relationship Marketing agency and part of the WPP Group.

Having joined Wunderman’s Automotive practice in London in 2001, he has worked on Retail and B2B strategies for Ford Motor Company brands in the UK and Europe. And as Group Director, Regional Development, he helped strengthen Wunderman’s automotive practices across Europe by supporting Wunderman’s country offices’ engagement with automotive clients.

Since 2006, he moved into a strategic business development role, working on new and innovative automotive strategies to keep Wunderman at the forefront of automotive marketing delivery.

Prior to joining Wunderman, Ponsford was with Mazda Cars (UK) Ltd for 11 years (from 1990 to 2001) in a number of office-based and dealer-facing roles ranging from technical and after sales support, dealer training, vehicle enhancement, product management and marketing. In his final role at Mazda, he was responsible for helping to build a consistent Mazda brand identity and develop marketing strategies to drive Mazda’s brand awareness and volume aspirations.

Darren combines business, marketing and technical skills being qualified with an MBA and graduating with an honours degree in mechanical engineering.

He currently lives with his partner in Tunbridge Wells but they will be moving nearer to Milton Keynes where Suzuki GB is based.