June 4, 201411 yr The Isle of Man TT - which is on this week - is all about motorbikes going ridiculously fast on a twisty closed public road, but there are occasional times when a car gets a look-in. One of these moments occurred today, when rally driver Mark Higgins belted around the famous Snaefell Mountain Course behind the wheel of the latest Subaru WRX STI in 19 minutes and 26 seconds, clocking an incredible average speed of 116.47mph. That’s some way off the fastest bike lap (17 minutes 6.682sec at 132mph set only a few days ago by New Zealander Bruce Anstey) but still hugely impressive. Higgins reckons a quicker lap could have been possible, too. We’ll be keeping a close eye on any future attempts. The lap betters Higgins’ own record of 115.36mph, which he set in 2011 aboard the previous generation WRX STI. His 2011 attempt smashed the previous record of 102mph, which was set way back in 1992 by the late rally driver Tony Pond in a Rover SD1. The new record was set using a US-spec WRX STI, with the addition of a roll cage, updated suspension, beefier brake pads, a race seat and a straight-through exhaust to give a little extra drama for the spectators. Footage of the whole lap is yet to be released, but this passing shot filmed by a spectator gives you an idea of how fast you have to be whipping to set records in this place. Full Video thanks to Scooby Pete
June 4, 201411 yr Also after watching Ansteys lap he had back markers and made a mistake that cost him about 5 seconds overrunning a corner so the current lap record could fall again later this week :o
June 7, 201411 yr An official news announcement on the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/motorsport/27730840 still unable to find full lap footage though :(
June 7, 201411 yr There's some footage on TopGear website. http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/isle-of-man-tt-car-lap-record-2014-06-04 It will prob feature in Launch Control a tome time aswell.
June 8, 201411 yr Did you ever watch that vid of Tony Pond, was pretty impressive when you consider its a standard road car and not even 4 wheel drive. And it was a Rover, so the fact it even made it round was a feat in itself [emoji41] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
June 8, 201411 yr D. And it was a Rover, so the fact it even made it round was a feat in itself it was a good job it didnt rain as that would have been game over with all the electrical wiggies being washed away
June 29, 201411 yr Just watched the whole thing and I am in awe, things that stick out, Kerbs it's so narrow. Bumps, he uses the bumps to set the car up for corners and his knowledge is of the course is unbelievable. I don't know my own road that well. It's a standard car, apart from suspension and mapping. Overall speed, it's 80% flat out. Looks harder than the Ring!
June 29, 201411 yr It's certainly more painful than the ring if you get it wrong. 160+ mph through there looks pretty scary. I've done sprints on narrow courses but nothing like that long it at that speed. Stress levels must be maxed out. Makes our dash cam vids look pretty tame [emoji3] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
June 29, 201411 yr That is just stunning. What a drive!!!! The guy is a mentalist though with the curbs etc. wonder what he'll need to get it down under 19mins then! 2017 car could be even more awesome at this rate :-)
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