Earlier this month, Subaru confirmed that Mark Higgins had set a new course record for a production car at the 2014 Isle of Man TT in a mostly stock 2015 Subaru WRX STI. While it’s fun to read about record-setting runs at this challenging 37.7-mile course, it’s even more fun to watch how it happened. Fortunately for us, Subaru has kept good on its promise, and it released the full video of Higgin’s record lap.
With speeds reaching more than 160 mph, Higgins sets the course record with a time of 19 minutes and 15 seconds to go with an average speed of 117.510 mph. The impressive part of this feat, though, is the fact that it was accomplished in a car that is almost the same as the one you can buy on a dealership showroom. Aside from the obvious safety gear such as a roll cage, fire suppression system and racing seat, the only changes made to this Subaru WRX STI were the Dunlop tires, a straight exhaust, no speed limiter and a specially tuned suspension to account for the higher vehicle speeds.
For this run, Subaru also had Higgins hooked up to a machine that monitored vital body information such as heart rate, breathing rate, body temp and g force. It’s interesting to see how Higgins’ body reacts to the demands of racing on such a challenging circuit and watch as the g-force meter shows how punishing a lap of the Isle of Man can be on the body.
Although Subaru has promised a full unedited video of Isle of Man run shown from Higgins’ point of view, this video provides plenty of excitement. As a bonus, this video also shows a clip from Higgins’ previous 2011 record run where he is on the brink of losing control of his car at 150 mph, which is at about the 1:04 mark of the video.
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