Higgins Smashes Mt Washington record

The course record at the Mt. Washington Hillclimb, one of Americas oldest auto races, was smashed today in convincing fashion by professional rally driver David Higgins at the wheel of a Vermont SportsCar prepared 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Higgins, from the Isle of Man, broke the course record, which stood for thirteen years, by over thirty seconds at the revived ‘Climb to the Clouds’, which was last held in 2001. The new time to beat to the summit of the 7.6 mile sinuous asphalt and gravel Mt. Washington Auto Rd. is 6 minutes and 11.54 seconds, nearly thirty seconds faster than the outgoing record. The Climb to the Clouds featured nearly seventy competitors driving an eclectic mix of modern rally cars, purpose built hillclimb cars and a small group of vintage racecars steeped in motorsports history.

Weather conditions had been less than ideal throughout the two practice days on Friday and Saturday, with intermittent rain showers that blanketed the Auto Road in clouds. The weather kept the competitors from having a chance to practice on the upper half of the course thus adding to the challenge. On Sunday however the weather cleared and two full course timed runs were held, although dense fog engulfed the summit for parts of the day.

Higgins was the last driver to launch off the start line which helped to build the anticipation of a possible record breaking run amongst the fans in attendance. Higgins set a blistering pace on his first run, breaking the record by over twenty seconds, but had even more speed on tap on his second run where he lowered his new record by a further eight seconds. The previous record of 6 minutes and 41.99 seconds was set by Mt. Washington Hillclimb ace Frank Sprongl in 1998.