Mad Manx IoM TT Record
The full video of the quite literally insane Isle of Man TT run performed by Mark Higgins in a tuned Subaru Impreza WRX STI with 600bhp has been put up on the official Subaru YouTube channel, for all of us to stare in utter disbelief at.
Being a local lad and thus a real stalwart of the course with previous runs under his belt, Higgins was yet again in the ready to push further than what many could perceive possible round the island course. Made up of narrow streets and winding country roads, these are normal driving roads remember, not smooth tarmac that you can just glide over. But then rally drivers are a different breed after all and appear to have little to no fear.
As Higgins tells us with his voiceover of the footage, the conditions may look very good but really they were "probably a bit too warm for optimum performance in the engine". Could have fooled us pal!
Before the actual lap run itself starts, we see Higgins dart the car from side-to-side in order to get some heat into the tyres, and then after about 2 minutes, it's into the actual starting of the lap that resulted in the 17:35.139 record on the 37 mile course at an average speed of over 128 mph.
Crossing the line at 150 mph it's astonishing watching the next few seconds where he is flying down the infamous Bray Hill at more than 170 mph as driveways, kerbs and hard walls pass by in streaks of blur, with many spectators easily seen parking themselves along the grassy banks close to the action.
It's a video that for sure puts you on edge for many reasons.
The HUD provided on-top provides the usual information such as speed, revs, gear, time, course progression and the obligatory g meter, but also perhaps in a way to show how unbelievable all of this is, we get to see Higgins' heart rate, respiration and even skin temperature. And the figures shown make that saying 'made of the right stuff' mean so much more when you can see it in this way.
Be sure to watch for the little red highlight that shows on the main display next to the gear number underneath the current speed and lights up under the accelerate and braking force meters (to the left of the speed) as this is giving notice that DRS is currently enabled -- meaning that downforce is reduced and yet look at some of the areas where he has it activated.
Mad Manx indeed.
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