VIDEO Mark Higgins WRX STI Annihilates Isle of Man Lap Record

[motorculture]

The Isle of Man TT. It’s the outwardly amazing annual tradition that brings the world's top motorcycle racers to the tiny island between England and Ireland to scream around the 37.73-mile ring road at truly ridiculous speed.

Every year, Subaru hauls out a WRX STI and attempts to set a new lap record for cars, with Isle of Man expert driver Mark Higgins at the wheel. This year, however, it wouldn’t be a mostly-stock Subaru, but a near on 600hp road racer, powered by a WRC engine and built by Prodrive in the UK.

Everyone knew it would be fast. But not quite as fast as it proved to be, as Higgins obliterated his own lap record. Twice.

Last year, in a nearly-stock STI, Higgins did the lap in 19:15 for an average speed of 117mph. On Saturday, Higgins brought out his all-new Isle of Man-built racer and set down a screaming high-17-minute lap.

Then the following day, he beat Saturday's record by a walloping 14 seconds, setting a final lap time of 17:35.139. That calculates out to an average speed of 128.730mph around the 37.73-mile track, with a top speed of 168.6mph. That's just a touch more than 30 seconds slower than the current motorcycle record, with an average speed of 132.701 mph.

Courtesy of British outlet Autocar, you can see exactly what this record-setting lap looked like. There are a few moments where there's no sound, but even then, this will make your pulse race.

And rest assured, an on-board will be out shortly!




For more information on Subaru locally, visit:

Subaru Australia: http://www.subaru.com.au/

Subaru WRX Premium: http://www.subaru.com.au/wrx/premium

Subaru WRX STI Premium: http://www.subaru.com.au/wrx-sti/premium