Autocar reported that Subaru’s driver, Mark Higgins, set a lap record of 17:49.75 on June 4th, beating his previous record-setting run of 19:15.88 in 2014. Now, just a few days later, it’s reported that Mark once again topped the record, beating his Saturday time by 14 seconds for a record lap of 17:35, averaging 128.72 miles per hour.
We’ve been told that Subaru plans to send Mark out once again this Friday where we could see yet another broken record. Until then, here’s a video of today’s lap. Supposedly Subaru has a longer video coming, but you can watch the video below sourced from AutoCar.
Impressive?
Don’t get us me wrong, lapping the Isle of Man TT in 17 minutes and 35 seconds is fast. But the 17 minute barrier is now a thing of the past for super bikes. The Subaru is 40 seconds slower here. We’re not heading down a bike versus car debate, but how are Subaru’s competitors fairing? Oh, right. There are none.
You see, these laps are considered demonstration laps and the last time another car company attempted to set any sort of record at the Isle of Man TT was back in 1990 by a company called Rover. A rally racer by the name of Tony Pond piloted a slightly modified 827i (Sterling) road car.
So there it is. If there are no other challengers, is it fair to call it a record? I own the record for the most cheeseburgers consumed in my backyard on a Wednesday while listening to Ace of Base‘s hit song I Saw The Sign. It’s my competition, we hold it one Wednesday a year and it’s invite only, sorry.
Before I end, I want to state that I do not intend to take anything away from Subaru or Mr Higgins. And shit, have you seen any of the run? Mark averages near 127 MPH and on a course like this there’s not much room for error. I’d just like to see some more competition.
Please leave a comment below to let us know how you feel about these types of publicized records.
About 150mph car fantastic, look forward to next run!! #prodrive #dirtfish #subaru #dunlop #ahartec 👍👍 pic.twitter.com/yOAGxeN6Dz
— Mark Higgins (@Mhigginsrally) June 5, 2016
I’m a big Subaru fan (heck, I own one), but I agree – it’s not a race if there’s no competition. Of course Higgins beat his old record – he’s driving a Prodrive prepared rally car rather than the mostly stock model he drove before!
A friend of mine has been to the Isle of Man TT. She told me that most people there reluctantly tolerate the Subaru demo laps and are far more interested in the bikes. Understandable – how would we feel if Honda/Suzuki/Kawasaki/Yamaha brought out one of their bikes to a NASCAR or Indy Car race to show off? Probably similarly.
We reached out to the Isle of Man TT organizers to get more information regarding Subaru’s exclusive track permission and if they plan to hope it up to challengers in the future. Hoping to hear back from them.