A couple of weeks after the Subaru STI obliterated the Isle of Man TT record for a production car, they decided to set another one. The Mt. Washington “Climb to The Clouds” Hill Climb located in Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire rides along the Mt. Washington Carriage Road which is the country’s oldest man-made attraction. The 7.6 mile hill climb course was first run in 1904 and the last record was set 13 years ago by rally driver Frank Sprongl in 1998. That was until Subaru Rally driver David Higgins piloted his rally-spec Impreza WRX STI to a time of 6 minutes and 11.54 seconds. That time smashed the old record by more than 30 seconds.
despite the weather which provided large amounts of rain and fog, Higgins was still able to prove Subaru’s rally heritage. “It was a very big challenge because the road was still wet in spots and would turn very slick suddenly. With the clouds the visibility was so low I could hardly see past the hood of my car,” explained Higgins. “Our Subaru is setup perfectly for a road like this but I have never raced here before and it was a lot of work to try to learn the course. It’s fantastic to have the record at such a prestigious event.”
On the official run, Subaru was the last to run and Higgins beat the 98 record on his first attempt by 20 seconds. He then went on to beat the record even more so and put Subaru in the history books for the Mt. Washington “Climb to The Clouds” Hill Climb.
