We’re all mildly fanatical about the modern day motor vehicle over here at the 2oceansVibe compound. Some of us drive Mini Countrymans. Others are lucky enough to sport Fiat Unos. Actually, it’s convenient that I mentioned the Fiat Uno, because this next clip features a car that travels only slightly slower than your average City Bowl Uno, a Subaru Imprezza. We found this gem of a clip over at the CAR Magazine website. Check it out.

The Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) is best known for its annual motorcycle race. The racers who take part will tell you it’s one of the scariest, most hair-raising street circuits in the world. This means there are sidewalks, painted road markings, several undulations and a couple of places where the bikes become airborne. Needless to say, bikers need to know how to handle their motorcycles, as the more than 230 deaths since 1907 prove.

At the recent TT, Subaru decided to set the first official production-car lap on the circuit and in the process set a time of 19:56,7 min.

Using a USA-specification WRX STI, only a couple of modifications were made. These included the fitment of racing seats, a fire-suppression system, a roll cage, Mintex brake pads (although the standard callipers and rotors were used) and a louder exhaust. The speed limiter was also removed to allow the car to achieve higher speeds on the circuit and, to compensate for the numerous high-speed jumps, the STI was fitted with Tien springs and dampers.

Behind the steering wheel was British Rally driver Mark Higgins (who, conveniently, was born on the Isle of Man).

Watch the above video to see what happened when Higgins had a little “moment” and nearly crashed the Scooby at 240 km/h with a journalist in the passenger seat.

There’s a veritable feast of multimedia content on the CAR Mag website, so be sure to give it a gander for more cool stuff, and for sneak previews of the forthcoming print editions.