Rally star Mark Higgins returned to his native Isle of Man with the new Subaru WRX STI and shaved over 30 seconds off the four-wheel lap record of the world famous TT circuit.
The latest Subaru WRX STI is now on sale in the UK priced at £28,995 - which is £4,000 less than the model it replaced - and in the hands of Manxman Higgins, a slightly modified version of the roadgoing car flew round the daunting 37.8-mile circuit in 19 minutes 26 seconds. That represents an average speed of 116mph, and beats the previous record of 19 minutes 56.7 seconds that the British rally champ set in the previous-generation WRX STI back in 2011.
Higgins' Subaru for the record-smashing lap was a standard production car, the only modifications being to the suspension springs and dampers to combat the risk of damage over the undulating track, as well as extra safety features such as roll cage, race harness, and fire suppression system.
After his record-setting lap Higgins said: "It was quite a lap we did today and I am really happy to have another record in the bank. The chassis of the new car is so much better, it really allowed me to pick up time in each sector in the more technical parts of the course."
Higgins still has some way to go to claim the outright lap record, set last year by two-wheeled ace John McGuinness on a Honda CBR1000RR with a blistering time of 17 minutes 11.6 seconds.
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