Yesterday we brought you news of the record lap set by British Rally Champion Mark Higgins around the 37.8-mile Isle of Man TT course in a production-spec Subaru WRX STi.
He smashed the late Tony Pond’s 21 year record at his first attempt, setting a lap time of 19 minutes and 56.7 seconds and averaging 113mph around the course.
That was his first lap, his practice lap if you like. On his second lap, he was joined by Road & Track photographer Chris Cantle and in less than 2-minutes from the off, Higgins had what he describes as “..the biggest moment of my life..”.
Watch and admire Higgins’ skill and sheer calmness behind the wheel as he experiences a moment that for most mortals would have been their final moment.
And here’s the on-board view where you can see just how awful a crash would have been at these speeds..
Hats off to Mark Higgins for such an incredible piece of driving and for remaining such a sportsman when everything (nearly) went horribly wrong.
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Its quite amusing that Chris Cantle was almost oblivious to, or exceedingly relaxed about the fact that he was within micro-seconds of a probably fatal accident. Those tank-slappers are notoriously hard to correct, so hats off to Mark Higgins for bringing it under control.
Those kinds of high-speed tank-slappers can only be caught through instinct, which probably goes to show that rally drivers are the most skilled type of drivers in the world.
I suspect Kimi Raikkonen has discovered that for himself by now.
And Chris Cantle – does that guy have a pulse? What a thoroughly chilled out dude..
cool drive car control at its best.