BAC Mono reveals it's a real race car for the road in video
Take a look at this video in which Drew Stearne takes a one-man speed machine, the BAC Mono on a test drive through the Welsh hills.
- Association of Online Publisher Award winner for Best use of Video
Car fan, how many times have you heard the phrase 'race car for the road'? Far too many, I imagine. It's a claim frequently bandied about by advertisers, but rarely substantiated in reality. It could however be legitimately applied to the BAC Mono, which you can see whizzing through the Welsh countryside in the video above.
The Mono is small, looks like a Storm Trooper's weekend wheels and, most exciting of all, it comes with a bona fide racing engine -- a 2.3-litre, four-cylinder Cosworth job that squeezes out 280bhp. You also get a six-speed sequential Hewland gearbox and design input from former GT3 champ Neil Briggs (the 'B' in BAC).
It's got the innards of a race car, a racer at the helm of the company and it looks a little like the cars from sci fi racer Wipeout. So far, so racy.
The first thing that strikes you though about the BAC Mono is the design. Its low, sleek profile was inspired not by a wind tunnel or computers, but by the video for Bjork's 'All is Full of Love'. Who'd ever have guessed that Bjork's influence would extend to car design?
You'd expect a car like the Mono to be about as refined as Joey Essex, but in fact it's rather user
friendly. The cockpit is easy to climb into -- much more so than a Caterham Supersport, for example -- and once you're there, the controls are easily manageable and don’t require an engineering degree or glittering career in motor racing to get to grips with.
One lovely touch is the suede lining just ahead of the cockpit. To clamber in and out it's necessary to remove the steering wheel, and rather than have you scratch the bodywork, BAC has popped in some suede to keep it shiny and smooth.
The experience of driving the Mono is exactly as thrilling as you'd hope it would be. The fact you're ensconced in a tiny cockpit with no real creature comforts (suede only goes so far, you know?) and no distracting passengers or music only adds to the experience. Remember how many car ads have boasted that the featured motor is 'the ultimate synergy of man and machine' or 'just you and the road'? Yeah -- the BAC Mono is exactly that.
Want speed? Want to feel like a racer? Don’t care about in-car entertainment, bugs in your hair or having a friend along for the ride? Then get out your chequebook and start scribblin' -- the Mono will set you back a cool £74,950.
Hit play on the video above to see me take it for a spin and let me know exactly how much you crave one of these speed machines in the comments below or over on our Facebook page.