Subaru WRX STI smashes lap record

A lightly-modified 2014 Subaru WRX STI has set a new lap record at one of the world's longest and most dangerous race courses at the Isle of Man in the UK.

Former British rally champion Mark Higgins drove the high-performance Subaru on the massive 59km 'mountain course' to record a time of 19 minutes 26 seconds, slashing 30 seconds off the previous record he set in 2010, also driving a WRX STI.

Before the 2010 record, Tony Pond was the fastest bloke on four-wheels around the mountain course, having navigated the treacherous high-speed circuit in a Rover 827 Vitesse in 1990.

The Isle of Man TT race is a motorcycle-only affair, with narrow lanes, stone walls and extreme speeds making navigation of the course extremely difficult, and more than 240 deaths during racing since the event began in 1907.

Every now and then the organisers let the odd car out for a hot lap, and in Higgins' case he nailed it.

"Setting the record was both the most exhilarating and the most frightening thing I have ever done," he said.

"There is nothing like the TT course in all of racing, it’s just an amazing circuit," said Higgins.

"Not just because of its length, but the elevation changes, constant surface variations as you shift from town to country roads and the fact that we run roughly 30 mph and then up to 160 plus for much of the race."

Impressively the Subaru WRX STI's engine and gearbox were untouched, the US-spec car's 227kW/393Nm 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo engine stock as a rock.

Australian versions of the WRX STI are packaged with a 221kW/407Nm version of the turbo-petrol boxer engine.

The only modifications made to the race car were for safety reasons, a fire suppression system, racing seats and harness, FIA-spec roll cage and straight-through exhaust system, the latter "for crowd safety".

New chassis parts included Dunlop Dorezza tyres and recalibrated dampers and springs "to handle sustained high-speeds" says Subaru. The car's speed limiter was also removed.

The ex-rally driver said the new car felt better than the 2010 WRX WTI, but noted that his single lap was far from ideal, and he could have gone a lot quicker.

"The chassis on this 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 [and] I think there is definitely time that we left on the course.

"I lost time on the second part of the track, overshooting my braking point at Sign Post corner. I actually hand-braked the turn in the end, so I feel we can definitely do better," said the Briton.

The Subaru WRX STI may be the four-wheeled king of the mountain, but it's got a long way to go to catch outright lap record holder, New Zealand's Bruce Anstey. The 44-year-old Kiwi set a lap time of 17min 6secs this year on a Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade motorcycle, more than two minutes faster than the 2014 WRX STI.

Anstey's average speed of 212.9km/h was also significantly quicker than the Subaru's 187.4km/h average speed around the mountain course.

The Isle of Man TT, one of the oldest and most dangerous motorcycle races in history, commenced in 1907. It covers a massive 59 kilometre road circuit, and it makes Germany's famed Nurburgring look quaint.