#awesome #2015STi
Former British Rally champ breaks car lap record around Isle of Man TT course, averaging 116mph in a Subaru WRX STI
Three-time British Rally Champion Mark Higgins has broken the lap record for a car around the Isle of Man TT course. Driving a new Subaru WRX STI with only minor modifications he clocked an average speed of 116.47mph, hitting a top speed of 162.9mph on the Sulby Straight and completing the 37.7-mile course in 19 minutes and 26 seconds.
The new benchmark improves on Higgins’ own record set in 2011, in a previous generation Subaru WRX STI, when he averaged 115.36mph. The 2011 attempt broke a long-standing record set in 1990 by Tony Pond, who averaged 102mph in a Rover-827 Vitesse.
Despite topping his own record, Higgins wasn’t completely satisfied: “That was quite a wild lap, there’s definitely more time out there,” he told us. “I probably dropped about 10 seconds going over the mountain, we definitely dropped some power there, I couldn't get it into top gear going up hill.”
Higgins caused a storm of publicity in 2011 when he saved a huge 150mph slide at Bray Hill corner with an American journalist on board. The video of the incident has now been viewed over two million times on YouTube.
Although there were no problems at Bray Hill this time around, the run wasn't without incident: “I overshot a corner near the end and had to use the handbrake to get the car around,” he said.
The record breaking run came after a frustrating couple of days for Higgins who had his record attempted postponed twice due to weather delays and two tragic fatalities – one involving veteran road racer Bob Price on Monday evening and another incident on Tuesday afternoon where Karl Harris lost his life.
Higgins was driving a standard US-spec WRX STI, powered by a 301bhp 2.5-litre four-cylinder boxer engine. The only modifications were a roll cage in the back, new springs and dampers, uprated brake pads, a racing seat (and no passenger seat) and a straight-through exhaust to make the car as loud as possible, at the TT organiser’s request.
VIDEO
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Former British Rally champ breaks car lap record around Isle of Man TT course, averaging 116mph in a Subaru WRX STI
Three-time British Rally Champion Mark Higgins has broken the lap record for a car around the Isle of Man TT course. Driving a new Subaru WRX STI with only minor modifications he clocked an average speed of 116.47mph, hitting a top speed of 162.9mph on the Sulby Straight and completing the 37.7-mile course in 19 minutes and 26 seconds.
The new benchmark improves on Higgins’ own record set in 2011, in a previous generation Subaru WRX STI, when he averaged 115.36mph. The 2011 attempt broke a long-standing record set in 1990 by Tony Pond, who averaged 102mph in a Rover-827 Vitesse.
Despite topping his own record, Higgins wasn’t completely satisfied: “That was quite a wild lap, there’s definitely more time out there,” he told us. “I probably dropped about 10 seconds going over the mountain, we definitely dropped some power there, I couldn't get it into top gear going up hill.”
Higgins caused a storm of publicity in 2011 when he saved a huge 150mph slide at Bray Hill corner with an American journalist on board. The video of the incident has now been viewed over two million times on YouTube.
Although there were no problems at Bray Hill this time around, the run wasn't without incident: “I overshot a corner near the end and had to use the handbrake to get the car around,” he said.
The record breaking run came after a frustrating couple of days for Higgins who had his record attempted postponed twice due to weather delays and two tragic fatalities – one involving veteran road racer Bob Price on Monday evening and another incident on Tuesday afternoon where Karl Harris lost his life.
Higgins was driving a standard US-spec WRX STI, powered by a 301bhp 2.5-litre four-cylinder boxer engine. The only modifications were a roll cage in the back, new springs and dampers, uprated brake pads, a racing seat (and no passenger seat) and a straight-through exhaust to make the car as loud as possible, at the TT organiser’s request.
VIDEO
