HIGGINS WARMS UP FOR ISLE OF MAN
Mark Higgins’ preparations for his Isle of Man TT record lap were interrupted by snow last week – but the triple British Rally Champion still bagged plenty of data in his Subaru of America WRX STI.
Higgins was testing the Prodrive-built car on the Isle of Man’s Round Table stage for two mornings last week – the second of which was all-but lost to the wintry conditions.
“The car was fantastic,” said Higgins. “It was exactly what I’d hoped it would be like and really special to drive a car purposebuilt for the job. The team has done a fantastic job. We’ve found a very good base set-up. We knew it wasn’t going to be a million miles away when we got to the test and that’s what we found.
“The conditions will be quite different when it comes to doing the actual run, the temperatures will be higher – it was two degrees on the first day – and hopefully it won’t be snowing! We didn’t do much on the second day. Given that the TT circuit closes in the wet there wasn’t much to be gained by driving: we don’t need a wet set-up.”
Higgins has been given three dates: June 4, 6 and 10 for his attempt to crack a 120mph average for the 37.75-mile lap. Between now and then, he won’t test the Subaru again.
“We’ll do a systems check at an airfield somewhere before we head over,” he said, “but the next time I get the chance to drive in anger will be heading down Bray Hill.”