Mark Higgins and WRX STI set new lap record for Isle of Man TT road course… again
UK rally driver, Mark Higgins, has set a blistering new lap record on the Isle of Man TT road course, averaging almost 207km/h across the 60km-long course.
RALLY DRIVER, Mark Higgins has posted a new lap record of the 60km-long Isle of Man TT road course (17min 35secs) averaging a blistering 128.73mph (almost 207km/h). This beats his previous record set, also in a WRX STI, of 116.47mph (or 187km/h) and 19min 26secs, which in turn beat his previous record set in 2011 of 19min 56.7secs.
Higgins drove a 2016 Subaru WRX STI Time Attack car that was co-developed with Subaru Of America (SOA), Prodrive and Subaru Tecnica International. The TT car copped engine, exhaust and suspension tweaks and a brake upgrade to handle the massive speeds and the demands of the road course when driving at more than 200km/h.
In the build up to the main event this Friday, Higgins continued to break the record he’d set in previous laps. Indeed, yesterday, Higgins beat his Saturday lap record which realised an average lap speed of 126.97mph.
After his first record-breaking run, Higgins told Manx Radio: “I think 125mph was the dream before the start. I’ve only had one practice run so I’m over the moon to do that on only my second lap and there’s a little bit more to come – definitely from me because I’m learning all the time I go around the track – and there is a little bit more to come from the car as well. The conditions were great – the only problem I had was in the last five or six miles when I couldn’t see for flies on the windscreen. That made things a bit difficult in the last sector, but I can’t really complain because the bike riders have them on their visors all the time.”
