Ahh, our English sports-car chums have it so good. Yes, you can buy the monoposto 2016 BAC Mono from anywhere in the world. But it is a rare place that will slap license plates on both ends and let you play F1 hero on public roads.
The 2016 model year brings big changes for the stunning Mono, showcased in a fiery new red paintwork at Goodwood 2015. Along with some super-sticky Kumho tires, the new 305-horsepower drivetrain delivered big-time at the rolling motor show.
2.5-liter Mountune Ford power with drive-by-wire throttle replaces the previous 2.3-liter unit. The bump of 25 horsepower is matched by a much more precise trigger action for that right pedal.
We’ve gathered up all the Mono images we can source, as the exterior of the new 2016 matches the 2014-2015 cars.
What is striking is how chameleon-esque the design is in a various colors. It almost looks like a totally different car! Up close, the detailing is stellar. A single nose-cone look flows upward over the hood and into some slim hips at both ends. What looks like solid dark plastic in the sills from afar is actually a number of wildly angled intakes and aero planes. The spider-like pushrod racing suspension arms and totally carved-out rear bodywork is unlike any other car on Earth.
It’s a gorgeous machine, with even better performance in this first major update.
2016 BAC Mono
Successful Festival of Speed reflects wider global momentum for the British premium brand
- Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) returns to Goodwood where the 2016 Model Year Mono stormed the hill, with onboard telemetry recording a series of runs comfortably sub-50 seconds, with the fastest run completed in a time of just 47.9.
- Considerably quicker than the fastest supercar in the “shoot out” and even beating the outright road car hill record set by the Nissan GT-R Time Attack road-racer
- BAC Mono customer experience zone, in partnership with Autodesk, yields a double digit amount of new orders for the BAC Mono at the Festival of Speed
- Success at Goodwood reflects wider momentum with the BAC brand and business with a new factory and export drive to new markets in the Americas and Asia
- YouTube video of the BAC Goodwood weekend can be downloaded here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5Nlzl7WFLg
Liverpool, 7th July 2015
BAC introduced the 2016 Model Year Mono to the world at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, with an unofficial road car record-breaking run on the famous hillclimb. With a series of runs comfortably sub 50-seconds, and a fastest time of 47.9, the Mono is able to compete with many dedicated racing cars.
The blistering runs capped off a successful Festival of Speed for BAC, where they met countless enthusiasts on the manufacturer lawn and entertained current and potential customers at the BAC bespoke customer experience zone, featuring several cars, a cutaway chassis, technical exhibits and an owners’ lounge.
With BAC test driver Oliver Webb at the wheel, the Goodwood hillclimb time was set in BAC’s 2016 Model Year Mono, featuring an all-new 2.5-litre Mountune four-cylinder engine producing 305bhp – that’s up 25bhp on the previous 2.3-litre Cosworth engine. The revised car weighs in at just 580kg giving an incredible 526bhp per tonne. The new 2016 Model Year Mono also includes a drive-by-wire throttle as well as a bespoke driver fitment culminating in a custom steering wheel and seat tailor-made for the owner.
What makes the hill time all the more impressive is the fact it was set while Oliver was not attempting a record as he was driving a car fitted with a pre-production prototype engine.
The BAC Mono already has an impressive list of records to its name. It is officially the second fastest road legal car around the Top Gear test track, with a time of 1:14.3.In recent testing at the Hungaroring, Oliver Webb revealed just how fast the Mono is, as it lapped the circuit in 1:55, 9.5 seconds faster than a Porsche 911 GT3, 7 seconds faster than a Ferrari Speciale and an incredible 4.5 seconds faster than a McLaren P1.
The success at Goodwood reflects a wider momentum within the BAC brand, with a new dedicated factory for design and build based in Liverpool giving a capacity for producing one car per month in current specification. With the factory located next door to Liverpool Airport, and the support of the city behind it, BAC can also uniquely claim to be the only car manufacturer that has the rights to use a working regional airport on which to test and shakedown customer cars.
BAC work to a coherent strategy and this has enabled them to focus on cutting-edge product development and commercialisation via key export markets in the US, South America, Japan and Asia. As the company grows rapidly, it is developing partnerships with complementary luxury companies, and BAC becoming increasingly known as a unique British brand in the top tier of the global luxury market.
Oliver Webb commented, “It’s always a privilege to drive at Goodwood and particularly to be entrusted to give the 2016 Model Year Mono its world debut in the ‘First Glance Class’. As Goodwood regulars will know, this class is not timed but our onboard telemetry showed that all of our runs were comfortably sub 50-seconds. Our time would have been faster than the quickest time set in this year’s supercar shoot out and would have even beaten the fastest road car time ever recorded on the hillclimb, by the mighty Nissan GT-R Nismo Time Attack. Clearly our times were unofficial, but I would love to come back next year and challenge for the record officially, on new tyres and with our latest-spec Mountune engine. “
Speaking after the successful weekend at Goodwood, Andrew Whitney, Director of Strategy and Corporate Development said, “It was a fantastically successful weekend for us, and not just with our speed on the legendary hill. The customer experience zone was permanently busy and we were overwhelmed with serious interest, resulting in orders being taken well into double figures.
“It’s a very exciting time for the company, with new investment, a new factory and with our entry into new global markets. While we continue to update the Mono, the purity and clarity of the original design created by company founders Ian and Neill Briggs remains. As awareness of the BAC brand builds around the world, we are finding that the Mono’s unique concept and our best of British brand values are attracting interest from famous names from the international luxury market and we are excited to raise the profile of the Mono even further.”
Tom Burkart is the founder and managing editor of Car-Revs-Daily.com, an innovative and rapidly-expanding automotive news magazine.
He holds a Journalism JBA degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Tom currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina with his two amazing dogs, Drake and Tank.
Mr. Burkart is available for all questions and concerns by email Tom(at)car-revs-daily.com.