We’re seated in the back of of a 2016 Subaru WRX STI, and Mark Higgins is giving us a tour of the full 200-plus turn Isle of Man TT circuit. With the speedometer sitting pretty at approximately 100 mph through most of our run, Higgins shouts out the braking points, apexes, and gear position he’ll need to be in to successfully tackle the course at an average speed of 130 mph in his purpose-built Prodrive Subaru Isle of Man Challenge 3 WRX STI.
The native-born professional rally car driver has already obliterated his previous record around the course, shaving nearly 2 minutes and adding more than 12 mph by clocking with a run of 17 minutes, 35 seconds at an average pace of 128.73 mph. Of course, he did so by switching from a predominantly stock 2015 Subaru WRX STI last time, to a purpose-built, 600-hp WRX STI developed with the aid of Prodrive. Higgins calls the car ?almost an extension of [my] body. You almost think the car through the corner rather than turning it,? and reckons it’s capable of getting him around the course’s pockmarked pavement and narrow public roads at an average speed of 130 mph if conditions are right. That would cut the lap time down to approximately 17 minutes and 24 seconds, putting him within 6 mph and 25 seconds of Michael Dunlop?s recently achieved overall course record.
?If somebody had said to me before we came here, that we?d be anywhere near 130, I would have categorically said, ?you?re having a laugh,?? Higgi...