It takes a special type of bravery to succeed at the Isle of Man TT. Winding its way through towns and villages along the British outpost's coastal road, riders regularly average over 200 km/h (124 mph) on the TT's 60 km (37.73 mi) course. This year's event has seen two new records set, with Subaru smashing its previous best for cars and motorcyclist Michael Dunlop becoming the first man to cover the course in under 17 minutes.
We're going to start on four-wheels, because Mark Higgins absolutely demolished his previous record around the Isle of Man TT course. Piloting a Subaru WRX STI fettled by racing outfit Prodrive, Higgins managed a time of 17 min 35.139 sec at an average speed of 207.17 km/h (128.73 mph).
Those numbers are remarkable considering the previous record for a car, set by Higgins in 2014, was 19 min 26 sec at an average speed of 187 km/h (116.46 mph).
"I think 125 mph was the dream before the start. I've only had one practice run so I'm over the moon to do that on only my second lap and there's a little bit more to come – definitely from me because I'm learning all the time I go around the track - and there is a little bit more to come from the car as well," Higgins told Manx radio.
"The conditions were great - the only problem I had was in the last five or six miles when I couldn't see for flies on the windscreen. That made things a bit difficult in the last sector, but I can't really complain because the bike riders have them on their visors all the time."
Meanwhile, Michael Dunlop flew the flag for two-wheelers with a blistering 16 min 58.254 sec lap, making him the first rider to ever complete the course in under 17 minutes. With an average speed of 214.68 km/h (133.39 mph), Dunlop sliced just over 5 seconds from the record set by John McGuinness on his Honda CBR1000RR last year.
Not content with his lap record, Dunlop and his BMW S1000RR went on to shatter the overall six-lap race record by 1 min 15.643 sec with his total race time of 1 hr, 44 min and 14.259 seconds. You can watch the record lap below. And no, we haven't put it on fast forward.
Source: Isle of Man TT, Subaru, Prodrive