THE BAC MONO IS AN EXQUISITE T creation, designed by the Briggs brothers, lan and Neill from Liverpool, purely for the purpose of maximum driver engagement. This makes it a car many of us at Evo are rather fond of, not least because of what it can do but also because of what it stands for.
To our knowledge, it's still the only single-seat road car that's ever been made in regular production numbers, i.e. not by some nutcase who's managed to road legalise a Formula 3000 car as a one-off. As a result, and despite it being over a decade old now, the Mono is still arguably the most focused road car money can buy.
It's also very, very quick. In simple terms it's the fastest car we've ever timed around Anglesey Circuit - by over two seconds - our own Dickie Meaden setting a somewhat surreal time of 1:07.7 in the 2.5-liter version in 2016 (see issue 229 or visit youtube.com/evo). The next fastest road car we've timed around the coastal circuit is the near 1000 horsepower, four-wheel drive, hybrid-propelled Ferrari SF90 Assetto Fiorano, which clocked a 1:10.0 lap just recently.
Not even a McLaren P1 GTR on slicks has got within a second of the Mono's time, so in road car terms it really is the king of the hill when it comes to pure track speed. You'd need nothing less than a Formula 3 car to beat it around a circuit like Anglesey. And now BAC has made a new version- the Mono R - which, according to its chief designer lan Briggs, is 'over 90 per cent new' in its thinking and construction and is lighter, more powerful, and even quicker than its predecessor.
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BEST BUYS BMW M CARS
THE PERFORMANCE CAR LANDSCAPE WOULD HAVE looked very different over the last five decades without BMW. Its M division, founded in 1972, has produced some of the best driver’s cars ever to hit the road, and in the process has provided a stream of benchmark models for its rivals to chase. In recent years, stricter emissions regulations, downsizing and electrification have seen some of those rival cars falter, yet by and large BMW’s M machines have remained strong. In fact, some rank among the greatest the department has made think of the eCoty-winning M2 CS and M5 CS while others are the only options worth recommending in their respective segments. Price tags have risen with performance, however, putting those latest offerings out of reach for many, but the marque’s popularity means there are numerous earlier M models available on the second-hand market for far more attainable figures. Here are four of our favourites.
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