Subaru Smashes Isle of Man Lap Record With Standard WRX STI

[NSXType-R]

First it's 2 minutes 45 seconds SLOWER than the bikes.

Second, it can't be a replacement for te 'Ring as it is a USED public road.
WHilst closed for thE TT the island pretty much comes to a standstill.

Finally, the "record" has lived on longer than a crappy Rover deserved.
Cars dont get to run the TT circuit and Subaru must have twisted a lot of arms to get permission

Yup, that's the thing- I would imagine nearly any modern car driven well at the limit would have broken that record the Rover had set.

[RacingManiac]

Cut and paste from Autosport's paid section...mod delete this if not appropriate....

Mark Higgins on facing a wall at 150mph

Mark Higgins became a YouTube sensation after enduring 'the biggest moment of my life' on the Isle of Man last week. He also lapped the TT course at a record 113mph, and spoke to David Evans about his achievement

By David Evans
AUTOSPORT rallies editor



Triple British Rally Champion Mark Higgins set a new record for the highest average speed around the Isle of Man TT course last week.

In the process, he endured the biggest moment of his life at 150mph on the streets close to where he grew up.

That moment – along with the record – have turned the Manxman into motorsport's latest YouTube sensation as more than half a million people have now watched his moment.

AUTOSPORT caught up with the former Ford WRC driver to find out what he thought of powering over the mountain and breaking Tony Pond's record that had stood for 21 years.

Q: How did this project come off?

Mark Higgins: It's something I've been trying to do for 10 years or more now, but I'd never been able to put it together. Then Subaru America started pushing and wanted to do it. My brother David is obviously committed to Subaru USA, but he was so busy over there that he just didn't have the time. That's where I came in. I had a gap in my schedule and was really pleased to be able to do it. In fairness, it was a great call to take. The only downside was that, because I was busy in the lead up to the week, I had very little preparation time.

Q: How prepared were you?

MH: It was okay. Obviously, the car and everything was great - that was all fine - but what I wanted was time on the track. I'm not necessarily talking about driving the circuit quickly or anything like that, just being out there, looking at the road and looking at the lines I want to take. Don't forget, we were going to be coming past the grandstand at 120mph and, obviously, that's not something I'd ever done before. There were a lot of questions about how the car would react, which was the optimal line to go into Bray Hill, things like that. When Tony Pond did it in 1990, he'd been around the track something like 20 times, but there wasn't anything like the time for me to try and do that. I ended up going out at four and five in the morning to drive around.


Higgins is a Manx rally idol © LAT
Q: How much of an inspiration was Tony Pond's long-standing record?

MH: A massive one. What with rallies and other stuff, I hadn't actually been on the island for TT week since Pondy's record in 1990, so I remember it well. And it was only when you really start working on this record attempt that you realise just what an achievement it was for Tony to do what he did in the car. I watched the video from Tony's run so many times and I really think his achievement was underrated. You know, for every 1mph we wanted to beat his average speed by, we had to be 20s faster around the whole lap. To do what we did, we had to go 2m30s quicker than he had.

Q: He was in a standard Rover 827 Vitesse, was your car standard?

MH: It was. It was prepared by TEG Sport. We had a standard car with some slightly different dampers, some better fuel, a roll cage and a couple of seats. The brakes were standard, but we did have a straight-through pipe on the exhaust, which made the car sound fantastic. But it was a standard car.

Q: And the tyres?

MH: Pondy was on slicks, but we were on track day tyres which were road legal. They worked brilliantly.

Q: What was that first run like?

MH: Well, it really was the first run I did. I hadn't been around the course in the car flat-out at all until the first of three runs. It wasn't the best of starts for me, either. The [TT motorcycle] race [that had been running before Higgins' attempt] had been red-flagged after an accident in which a rider was killed, but once I got in the car, everything was fine. I was able to focus and just drive. I was on my own for that run and it went well. We got to 113mph, which was amazing. My heart rate must have been up around 200bpm for lot of the lap. I'd been given this great car - a really quick car - essentially, a 37-mile stage to drive as fast as I could. It was unbelievable. As you can imagine, coming from the Isle of Man, I've driven those roads a lot of times, but this was just something else.

Q: And then there was the second run – and that moment. Tell us about that.

MH: On my way through Bray Hill the first time, I'd gone flat through there and there had been a bit of a bump, but nothing too bad, so I set off to do the same again. Second time through, I had a journalist in the car with me – he was an American doing a big story for a magazine out there. To go with him, there were 10 cameras and quite a lot of kit in the car. We think this is what might have caused the problem. We were on the same line and at the same speed, but the extra weight in the car caused it to react differently in the compression.


Higgins didn't hold back one iota
Q: Did you have time to think?

MH: You kind of go into self-preservation mode. The car started to slide one way, then the other. Mid-way through the last slide, I thought: 'If I don't collect it this time, the next option is where do we lock the car up and spin it down the road?' If we'd gone off, it would have been a big one. Everything slows down in moments like that, but it was absolutely the ride of my life. The data shows we were at 150mph when it happened – that was quick enough. I have to say though, I wouldn't like to play poker with the guy co-driving for me: he was told not to move during the lap and I'm really not sure what he was thinking, but he didn't move a muscle – amazing!

Q: What was the rest of that lap like?

MH: We weren't as quick. Obviously, that wasn't the best of starts, but we had a bit of an overheating problem later in the lap which sent the car into a 'safe' mode for a while, costing us a bit of time. We did an average of 111mph, but I was still sure we could beat the 113 mark.

Q; And you got one more chance?

MH: I did. I was on my own again for the final run and we did it, we got to 115mph, which was fantastic. The buzz I got from this whole thing was just incredible. I've been fortunate enough to do a lot of rallies and win a few and a few titles, but I really think this achievement is right up there and probably even above anything else I've done in my life. The spectators at the side of the road, the guys on the bikes, everything, it was just an amazing week.

Q: Could you believe the speeds you could do?

MH: Not really. That was kind of the point. I had no idea what sort of speeds we could carry through the corners. You drive a car at 120mph and you really think you're travelling, but everything is different again when you get up above 160mph.

Q: What was the fastest you went in the car?

MH: We were clocked on the radar at 162mph on Sulby Straight, but I'd say we touched 165 into Greeba Castle.

Subaru USA backed, thus explained the Ohio plate and LHD car...

[Matra et Alpine]

Had posted this elsewhere but worth reminding that on the TT circuit "great(er) saves" are made daily and they dont make a big hullaballo about it

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxKo684bH2E"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxKo684bH2E[/ame]

[csl177]

^^^ Right on. And for them, the consequences of not collecting it are far more harrowing.

[Matra et Alpine]

Mates tell me that next lap round he actually waved to the folks standing there and the camera

[f6fhellcat13]

Presumably with his throttle hand so he wouldn't even be tempted to use it. :P

[Matra et Alpine]

rule of bike racing ... NEVER take the hand off the throttle

[DesmoRob]

My god do those boys build speed!! Thanks for sharing that, Peter. Nice to see they were unscathed. The one Joe Cool came to a real smooth sliding halt and jumped right back on his feet like nothing happened lol.

[Sledgehammer]

It looked like he slid on his armored back plate for a bit which would have absorbed alot of damage.

[Matra et Alpine]

"Jo Cool" == Keith Amor.

Local guy !!!



Really happy to talk about bikes all day long ... surprisingly in this shot so was John ! Given that both team mates bikes had failed at the same spot .... something to do with the beers that magically appeared from the pub for them Gotta love Isle of Man law !!

[Matra et Alpine]

Found Tony's effort in the Rover 21 YEARS ago !!!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6noOET7Eik"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6noOET7Eik[/ame]

[Matra et Alpine]

Subaru USA released a new video.

Good production and fantastic - so much better than all the Ken Block cr@p


Check out "the moment" from 4.00 and great overhead shot of his "moment" at 5.10

DEFINATELY watch it in full 1080 HD

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFlSG9_Ue4A"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFlSG9_Ue4A[/ame]

So it turns out "the moment" was all down to having a lardy american reporter on board

[RacingManiac]

Great video....love the Subaru Boxer soundtrack....

[Matra et Alpine]

yep, kudos to Subaru USA for making the music QUIETER than the boxer

[clutch-monkey]

great vid, still don't want to buy one though
looks like great scenery to race through as well.