The success of Ariel Atom encouraged another British firm to come up with their own lightweight, super fast sportscar. Meet the BAC MONO by Briggs Automotive Company from Cheshire.

Apparently they are very serious in their quest to beat the Atom. While the Ariel can seat two person inside its barebone cabin, the BAC Mono is a single seater as is name – monoposto – suggests. They say it’s designed to bring formula race car levels of handling, performance and thrill to the public road.

So the Mono is a fabulous trackday toy. It can also be used as a racing school car or a one-make series racer. For that it’s equipped with a 280 bhp, normally-aspirated 2.3-litre Cosworth unit mounted longitudinally and mated to an electronically-controlled, paddle-shift, six-speed sequential Hewland transmission with limited-slip differential.

In spite of the fairly low power output, the Mono has a power-to-weight ration of 520 bhp per ton which is better than Bugatti Veyron. It can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds, 100 mph in 6.7 seconds, and reach a top speed of 170 mph.

The car has rose-jointed, aero profiled pushrod suspension that features adjustable Sachs Racing dampers derived from the heat of competition. The braking is by AP Racing, the bespokeHRT alloy wheels by OZ Racing, the purpose-developed, street-legal track tyres by Kumho, and the vehicle electronics and instrumentation by GEMS. It comes with a fices seat for optimum weight distribution (48/52 front to rear) and six-point racing harness, but the pedal box and steering column are fully adjustable. There is an option for an F1-style fully-profiled seat.

The only luxury and convenience  items offered with this car is a secure locker in which to store a helmet and the detachable steering wheel when parked! And yet it costs £79,950.

Said Ian Briggs (BAC stands for Briggs Automotive Company): “MONO is the culmination of a 12-year dream for us – the car we wanted to own but nobody else made.” Neill Briggs added: “All cars are built to order on a first-come, first-served basis and our flexible production facility has the capacity to manufacture between 50 and 100 vehicles per year – or more if demand requires. All I can currently say is, the early response has been extremely encouraging.”