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Written by Craig Jamieson
Well, this idea is clearly from the "Don"t ask why?" ask why not?"" school of thought. Have a watch and then read on to find out how Mark Higgins managed to live through it. Mark Higgins the instigator of ballistic laps at the Isle of Man, among other things has now displayed his bravery (and perhaps a tenuous grip on sanity) with a barely held-together run down the Olympia bob run in St Moritz.This is squarely in the don"t try this at your local ski park" territory, folks unless you want to instantly and permanently dismantle your car and your vital organs. And possibly your non-vital, but still quite handy, organs. To stand up to the punishment, the STI which had already proved its mettle by setting the course record on the Isle of Man TT loop in 2015 underwent some serious modifications at the hands of Prodrive.Even though the STI already had an FIA-spec roll cage and seat, Prodrive fitted special harnesses to ensure that Mark wouldn"t be hurt if the car rolled. And, judging by a few points in the video, that was a very real possibility. All the glass was replaced with race-ready plastic, which would stay in one piece in an impact hopefully.As you might expect, lots of bracing and reinforcing went on behind the scenes. It wasn"t only for any untoward impacts, however just running the course would introduce enough force through the standard WRX"s body to bend and distort the monocoque. And that"s no slight on the WRX, by the way it"d bend almost any unprepared car.
Date written: 20 Mar 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 7143
Well, this idea is clearly from the "Don"t ask why?" ask why not?"" school of thought. Have a watch and then read on to find out how Mark Higgins managed to live through it. Mark Higgins the instigator of ballistic laps at the Isle of Man, among other things has now displayed his bravery (and perhaps a tenuous grip on sanity) with a barely held-together run down the Olympia bob run in St Moritz.This is squarely in the don"t try this at your local ski park" territory, folks unless you want to instantly and permanently dismantle your car and your vital organs. And possibly your non-vital, but still quite handy, organs. To stand up to the punishment, the STI which had already proved its mettle by setting the course record on the Isle of Man TT loop in 2015 underwent some serious modifications at the hands of Prodrive.Even though the STI already had an FIA-spec roll cage and seat, Prodrive fitted special harnesses to ensure that Mark wouldn"t be hurt if the car rolled. And, judging by a few points in the video, that was a very real possibility. All the glass was replaced with race-ready plastic, which would stay in one piece in an impact hopefully.As you might expect, lots of bracing and reinforcing went on behind the scenes. It wasn"t only for any untoward impacts, however just running the course would introduce enough force through the standard WRX"s body to bend and distort the monocoque. And that"s no slight on the WRX, by the way it"d bend almost any unprepared car.
Date written: 20 Mar 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 7143
