Rod Millen’s head turning Pikes Peak Toyota “Tacoma”.
New Zealand born Rod Millen is a racing legend having won the Pikes Peak time trial 5 times in his career as well as holding a record in his insane Toyota Celica. Today we’re here to talk about his Tacoma though, well, sort of. In 1998 Millen set out to break the Pike’s Peak record yet again with Toyota’s Racing Development (TRD) team backing him building what they called a Tacoma, even though it looked nothing of the sorts. Powered by a 1000 horsepower IMSA 503E race engine with power going to all four wheels, this thing could go 0-100 mph in 4.9 seconds… on dirt. Millen raced the iconic Tacoma from 1998-2000 at the Peak running nearly 10 minute flat times. The car was brought to Goodwood’s Festival of Speed a few times in the 2000’s but then sat dormant for many years. With the 100th anniversary of Pikes Peak being last year it was only right for Mullen, then aged 71, to dust off the Tacoma and put on a show.
