By: Tycho de Feijter for 6th Gear Automotive Solutions.
Beijing, August 2019
The BAC Mono is a supercar like only the Brits can build. It is small, ultra light, and mind blowing fast. The BAC Mono is manufactured by a small company called Briggs Automotive, based in Liverpool. Production started in 2012, and the BAC Mono became instantly famous by being faster than almost anything on the U.K’s famously twisting B-roads. The media loved it, and buyers snap up every car the company can make. And now there is an even faster one.
The BAC Mono R is a lighter and more advanced hard-core variant of the Mono. It will be rare too, as only 30 examples will ever be made, and all have been sold.
Power comes from a 2.5 liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine, based on a Ford unit and developed by famous tuner Mountune. Output is 340 horsepower, 35 more than on the standard car. This means that the engines makes a massive 136 hp per liter, which, according to the company, is a record for a naturally aspirated road car. The engine is cooled by a racy ram-air inlet on the left-side of the R’s rollover structure. Gearbox is a 6 speed sequential semi-automatic, sending every horse the rear wheels. The R is very light too. Thanks to a new graphene-enhanced carbon fiber body The Mono R weighs only 555 kilo, leading to an amazing power-to-weight ratio of 612 hp per ton. Top speed is 275 kilometers per hour, and 0-100 takes just 2.5 seconds.
It so seems nothing can stop a BAC Mono R on the road. But sadly, sometimes it has to…
The Mono R is fitted with newly developed carbon ceramic cross-drilled disc brakes, made by another British company called Surface Transforms (ST). These brakes are 2.5 kilo lighter than comparable steel brakes. Briggs Automotive claims these brakes alone improve lap times by 2 seconds. The brakes are designed to absorb as much heat as possible, preventing brake-fade, which is especially important on a race track. Size of the ventilated brake discs is 295 millimeter front and rear. The four-piston brake calipers are sourced from AP Racing.
After finishing the 30-unir production run, Briggs Automotive is set to develop an all-new generation of the BAC Mono, with still more power, less weight, and of course with even better brakes.
