The Mount Washington Auto Road is the kind of route where ordinary drivers feel accomplished just by making it to the top and earning a “This Car Climbed Mt. Washington” bumper sticker, then spend the run back down hoping the brakes survive. Scott Speed, however, approached its 7.6 mile, 4000-plus-foot ascent as though nothing could possibly unsettle him. Backed by both his commitment and the purpose-built Subaru WRX Project Midnight, he reached the summit last weekend in five minutes and 11.982 seconds. That was 16.688 seconds quicker than Travis Pastrana’s previous benchmark.

Speed recorded that time on Sunday at the 2026 Paul Giblin Memorial Climb to the Clouds, a hill climb that was first held in 1904—six years before the inaugural Indianapolis 500. His run worked out to an average speed of roughly 88 mph. If you are familiar with the road he tackled, that pace sounds completely unbelievable; the route is not only extremely narrow, but also climbs at an average gradient of 12 percent, with even steeper stretches near the top.

That said, there is an important caveat. Pastrana’s 5:28.67 record, set in 2021 in the 862-hp Subaru Airslayer STI, came when Mount Washington still had a gravel section. The Auto Road only completed its decades-long paving project in 2022. A fully paved course is an entirely different challenge, especially for a car developed around slick tyres, downforce, and maximum tarmac grip.

Even so, a 16.7-second advantage is far too large to dismiss as marginal; Speed completely dominated the climb. What makes it even more impressive is that it was his only full-course attempt because of the weather. The result also extends a remarkable run for Subaru: since the event returned in 2011, the company has claimed the outright record in all five of its appearances. David Higgins achieved it in 2011 and 2014, while Pastrana moved the mark again in 2017 and 2021 before Speed took charge this weekend.

The Airslayer was a Gymkhana machine that also happened to be astonishingly fast, but Project Midnight is a more concentrated follow-up, created to demolish lap records and conquer hill climbs rather than leap across San Francisco. At Mount Washington, it delivered precisely what Subaru designed it to do. Now, if only the manufacturer would build something remotely similar for the public.

And yes, Speed’s onboard run is well worth watching. It somehow makes five minutes and 11 seconds feel much longer.