Mark Higgins confirms hugely-proportioned manhood through epic Isle of Man record
The Isle of Man is a terrifying prospect to many. If you're a rider, you're putting your life in extreme danger simply by entering. If you're a spectator, a volunteer, or anyone else sharing real estate with the competition, the proximity between your meat bag and the high-speed lunacy is as insane as almost any other form of motorsport — bar certain world rallies.
It's also a scary situation for those who tackle the course with a race car.
There's obviously some luxuries, like the knowledge that you're wrapped in a complex roll-cage structure. But it's still a daunting task, especially when you consider the width of the car versus the width of the relatively narrow, kerb-lined track.
All of this makes Mark Higgins' record-setting 17min 35.139sec lap time from the weekend particularly impressive. With a stunning average speed of 207.15kph, Higgins and his modified current-gen Subaru Impreza WRX STi were more than 1min 25sec faster than their previous record that they set in 2014; also executed with an Impreza.
Higgins is no revelation. He was no doubt doomed to a future of motorsport in being born in the Isle of Man in 1971; eventually winning the British Rally Championship three times, and becoming a frequent World Rally Championship campaigner with his own cult following.
There is one grain of salt in all this celebratory malarkey though. And that's the fact that Subaru are just about the only manufacturer to have had a crack at the time in the recent past — largely due to their position as a sponsor of the Isle of Man event. Chuck a DTM machine or a full-aero time attack racer out there and I suspect the time would only tumble further.