For anyone looking for the closest thing to a legal formula race car that money can buy, the answer is the BAC Mono.
The single-seater roadster has been on sale since 2012 and is currently in its second generation. Jay Leno recently got to see the car and had the company’s co-founder, Ian Briggs, to explain the details.
BAC was founded by brothers Ian and Neill Briggs in Liverpool, United Kingdom, and the last version Their car is powered by a 2.5-liter inline-4 engine that generates a peak of 315 hp as standard and 343 hp in the Mono R version. The mid-engine is mated to a 6-speed sequential transmission and turns only the wheels rear.
Thanks to a weight of less than 1,300 pounds, the relatively low horsepower still results in a better power-to-weight ratio than any hypercar on the road today. As a result, the Mono can also cover many tracks faster than any hypercar.
Despite the extreme nature of the car, the Briggs brothers and their team managed to approve the project for road use. It wasn’t an easy task, as Ian Briggs explains to Leno in the video above. One of the biggest challenges, he explains, was getting the car to meet safety requirements against being run over while at the same time keeping its design intact.
Pricing for the Mono in the US starts at around $300,000 for the standard model and $335,000 if you opt for the lighter and more powerful Mono R.
For owners who regularly track their Monos and may be eager to try racing, BAC plans to establish a one-make series around Mono. The series will initially be held in West Asia, including at many of the region’s Formula 1 tracks, and an expansion to other regions has not been ruled out should the series take off.