The Subaru WRX STI has once again broken the four-wheeled lap record around the famous Isle of Man TT circuit, with British rally champion Mark Higgins setting a new record of 19 minutes 26 seconds in a production version of the newly launched high-performance saloon.

Higgins’s lap around the challenging 37.8-mile TT Mountain course saw him post an average speed of 116 mph and a top speed of over 160 mph.

Manxman Higgins completed his timed run under closed road conditions as part of the TT schedule and beat his previous record, set in 2011, when he set a time of 19 minutes 56.7 seconds. That was done at the wheel of the previous-generation WRX STI, breaking a record that had stood for 21 years.

As with the previous record-breaking car, the WRX STI used for Higgins’s run was a standard Subaru production car (US specification), equipped with a 296 bhp 2.5-litre horizontally-opposed turbocharged Boxer engine.

Subaru says the only modifications to the car involved the springs and dampers, which were adjusted to minimise any potential damage when the car encountered the course’s many bumps and jumps at high speed. The WRX STI was also equipped with a number of safety enhancements, including a roll-cage, race harness and fire suppression system and was fitted with Dunlop Derezza tyres.

The outright lap record on the TT course was set in 2013 by John McGuinness on a Honda CBR1000RR ‘Fireblade’. McGuinness posted a time of 17 minutes 11.6 seconds, equivalent to an average speed of 131.7 mph.

Source: Subaru

Tags: Dunlop Derezza, Honda CBR1000RR, Isle of Man, John McGuinness, lap record, Mark Higgins, Subaru WRX STI, TT circuit