Wednesday 6th April 2016

Subaru and Prodrive back together!

Iconic rallying duo collaborate again, this time for an Isle of Man record with a WRX STI

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Think of Subaru records on the Isle of Man and you will most likely think of that lap in 2011 with Mark Higgins saving the mother of all tankslappers at 150mph. What you might not remember is that he broke that record again in 2014, with a then-new WRX STI and a 19:15 lap.

Rather more than a roadgoing STI now!

Now Subaru is back once more with an altogether more serious effort at going fastest around the TT lap. Given how much racing Subaru has been involved with recently at the Nurburgring - there was a class victory at the 24-hour last year - the lessons learnt from that will surely come in handy on the Isle of Man. Similarly bumpy, scary and fast, after all.

Where the old cars were clearly road derived, this looks far more like an all-out racer and set to take a fair chunk out of the existing time. Even better, it's being built with Prodrive - the glory team reunited!

Currently there aren't any details released from Subaru or Prodrive on this WRX STI, so we'll have to glean a few bits from these images. That gigantic wing will surely benefit downforce on the very high speed section, the brakes look gigantic behind the wheels and the roll cage looks like it could have come straight from a rally car. There are two seats in it though, just in case Higgins wants to scare passengers again...

Now about a livery...

Will it have any more power? Again, there's nothing confirmed yet. You would have to hope so given the tweaks that have been made elsewhere, and on the Isle of Man arguably more than anywhere else the benefits of power will be felt. But then if the STI is as stripped out as it appears here, it probably won't need much additional power from the standard 300hp to beat the existing time. Let's see.

The 2016 Isle of Man TT will take place from 28 May to 10 June, so expect a record attempt at some point then. Higgins needs to average 118mph to succeed...

[Source: Autocar]

[Ved]

This is itching to be released as a mild special edition at the very least. Lots of history there so fingers crossed.

[thurleigh5]

Nice to read this.
Late, great Tony Pond did a record run in a Rover Vitesse (not the SD1 version, though.) I'm sure I watched it on TV. Copies exist?

[TartanPaint]

thurleigh5 said:

Nice to read this.
Late, great Tony Pond did a record run in a Rover Vitesse (not the SD1 version, though.) I'm sure I watched it on TV. Copies exist?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NEskpWsMkI

[dunc_sx]

Makes you wonder what a lightweight race car could do this in, surprised no-one has tried. Guess it's not everyday there's a closed road opportunity to try it.

Dunc.

[rhinochopig]

dunc_sx said:

Makes you wonder what a lightweight race car could do this in, surprised no-one has tried. Guess it's not everyday there's a closed road opportunity to try it.

Dunc.

[Arbs]

I don't get this record, why don't more people go for it? It seems uncharted waters, what with everyone chasing for a ring time, surely tt record has massive bragging rights. Yet only Subaru only seem to have gone for it. The tt is a bike event, and if they start allowing more and more cars to go around will it spoil it or enhance it?

[Muzzer79]

Arbs said:

I don't get this record, why don't more people go for it? It seems uncharted waters, what with everyone chasing for a ring time, surely tt record has massive bragging rights. Yet only Subaru only seem to have gone for it. The tt is a bike event, and if they start allowing more and more cars to go around will it spoil it or enhance it?

I believe, and await to be corrected, that it's very, very difficult to get permission from the authorities to do a car run on the TT course.

For some reason, Subaru have managed it twice - I'm not sure how - but it's definitely not a free-for-all.

[J8 SVG]

TartanPaint said:

thurleigh5 said:

Nice to read this.
Late, great Tony Pond did a record run in a Rover Vitesse (not the SD1 version, though.) I'm sure I watched it on TV. Copies exist?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NEskpWsMkI

Cracking video!

[ZX10R NIN]

It'll be interesting to see how much quicker it can be with proper brakes more downforce & more BHP, I'd be interested to see how much it can beat the super twins average speed by. Plus the 2014 car wasn't exactly bog stock, but it wasn't highly tuned either.

Lightweight TT 120.848mph

Electric Bikes 119.279mph (this is more relevant to the car as it's a 1 lap race with a standing start)

[dunc_sx]

rhinochopig said:

etc

[Paul_M3]

Muzzer79 said:

Arbs said:

I don't get this record, why don't more people go for it? It seems uncharted waters, what with everyone chasing for a ring time, surely tt record has massive bragging rights. Yet only Subaru only seem to have gone for it. The tt is a bike event, and if they start allowing more and more cars to go around will it spoil it or enhance it?

I believe, and await to be corrected, that it's very, very difficult to get permission from the authorities to do a car run on the TT course.

For some reason, Subaru have managed it twice - I'm not sure how - but it's definitely not a free-for-all.

I would guess it's partly due to the fact that a Subaru derived car is incredibly unlikely to threaten the lap record.

I bet if somebody like Mclaren wanted to build a car to have a go it might be a different story.

The TT is a bike event. I don't think they'd like the lap record being held by a four wheeled vehicle.

[Evil.soup]

I think it has something to do with sponsorship. I am sure Subaru sponsor the TT or something along those lines so it buys them onto the track. It is a fantastic spectacular though!

[Troubleatmill]

Like many a bod... have driven the circuit a fair few times, and some rather scary speeds on the mountain road.
Averaging 118mph is just bonkers fast.
I hope they crack it.

[MDMA .]

Subaru America used to sponsor the event. They would build the car for Mark ( local of IOM ) and Rally Isle of Man record holder to race.

[Atmospheric]

Is this is a thinly disguised annual "Bike vs Car" on the Isle of Man thread?

[rigga]

Atmospheric said:

Is this is a thinly disguised annual "Bike vs Car" on the Isle of Man thread?

Bloody hope not, but it is that time of year again.

[Paul_M3]

rigga said:

Atmospheric said:

Is this is a thinly disguised annual "Bike vs Car" on the Isle of Man thread?

Bloody hope not, but it is that time of year again.

As soon as that happens they should just lock the thread with a link to the previous one. The arguments would be exactly the same.

Will be interesting to see how 'special' this Subaru will be. The previous one didn't seem that highly tuned.

[ZX10R NIN]

Paul_M3 said:

I would guess it's partly due to the fact that a Subaru derived car is incredibly unlikely to threaten the lap record.

I bet if somebody like Mclaren wanted to build a car to have a go it might be a different story.

The TT is a bike event. I don't think they'd like the lap record being held by a four wheeled vehicle.

Mclarens 650 would struggle to get anywhere near the 600cc Supersport time for various reasons that have been discussed on here before.

Subaru get a free pass because they supply course cars & loan them out to teams that need to about for that vital part, they were a nice bunch mechanics in 2014 & openly admitted the car was lightly modded Map exhaust & Intercooler being the main changes.

I'll be glad too see them again but I don't think they'll struggle to beat their previous but they might struggle to beat the Electric bike record unless they start pushing big bhp.

[DexB15]

brilliant, been following, Mark Higgins and his brother David (rallying in the US) for years now.
the 2011 run has to be one of the best onboards i've ever seen...

[rhinochopig]

dunc_sx said:

rhinochopig said:

etc

Search for the number of threads on which is faster around the tt. There are dozens and they always get personal.