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The path is well trodden: unknown British car manufacturer builds a lightweight track special with "Veyron-rivalling acceleration" and "race-car thrills". Said lightweight turns out to be built in a garden shed from recovered girders and tin cans by a man with no welding skills. Or fingers.
Not the BAC Mono. This single-seater, dreamt up by brothers Neill and Ian Briggs, is a sculpture of engineering, a miniature masterpiece of exposed carbon fibre and metal and poo-proof Alcantara, all cocooned about a 2.3-litre Cosworth race engine. This is the smartest bit of British sports-car design since the Ariel Atom 15 years ago.
Smart design would count for nothing if the Mono was rubbish to drive. It isn't. It's sublime. Mere mortals will appreciate not only the blinding pace, but also the potential to discover the Mono's limits without being spat into a field. Stig, so far as we could tell, appreciated the Mono's massless, Tron-lightcycle direction changes, brutal gunfire gearchanges through the sequential 'box, smart chassis and, of course, the lack of a passenger seat. This is the ultimate antisocial racer for the ultimate antisocial racer.
Read this and much much more in our huge new Awards issue of TopGear magazine, on sale now
Open Car Bar
What do you think?
Want to comment on this?
l@teral365 commented on this article
at 03:20 pm on 29 December 2011
What about the zenvo st1?
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manual_tranny commented on this article
at 04:06 pm on 29 December 2011
I LOVE IT. Finally, I can become the anti-social racer I've always wanted to be. :D
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LHD6 commented on this article
at 04:56 am on 30 December 2011
This is certainly a fantastic looking car. Hopefully they will review the BAC Mono in season 18 of the show.
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j0j0man commented on this article
at 10:29 pm on 30 December 2011
like i said leave this kind of car building to the Britts. not like that Scandinavian monstrousity shown afew days back
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LHD6 commented on this article
at 02:48 am on 31 December 2011
@j0j0man Do you mean the Donkervoort GTO? I wouldn't really call it a monstrosity. It just has an unappealing name reminiscent of cars such as the Gumpert Apollo.
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