RE: Road Legal Track Toy Aims At Ariel
Wednesday 16th March 2011
The single-seat Briggs Mono is a new lightweight ultra high performance sports car that its developers - brothers Ian and Neil Briggs – say will set a new benchmark in the sector.
As you would expect from the images, the Mono is designed to be constructed from carbon composite, and it also has an FIA compliant safety structure. You can find out more about it here.
Road Legal Track Toy Aims At Ariel
Mono offers 170mph alternative for 'minimalist' types
We’re not exactly sure where that sector starts and ends, but cars like the Ariel Atom and KTM X-bow would seem to be in the middle of it. At around £80k, the Briggs Mono looks set to sit somewhere near the top in price terms if nothing else.
According to the company website which features these CG renderings, the car will run a 2.3 litre inline four making 280bp. With a kerb weight of 540kgs that gives us a power to weight ratio of 520bhp per tonne and a top speed of 174mph, so the Mono should be sufficiently terrifying for the 50 or so people every year who like that sort of thing, and from whom Briggs hopes to extract custom.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Discussion
louismchuge said:
Saw this on autocar yesterday. Love the idea of a single seat road rocket but the price is too steep. This is the sort of thing I wouln't mind putting together as a kit for twenty grand
My thoughts exactly. If it could crack 200mph or 300km/h then maybe it can justify a massive price hike over the competition but 174 isn't even one of those headline numbers.Similarly I'd have thought a lighter smaller engine would have been a better option for a single seater. A high revving 1.6 or 1.8 would be more than enough and still get silly performance and they could use an off the shelf item like the 1.6 toyota are supplying for the elise. in something half the weight of an elise it would be awesome.
As an Atom owner, I've been watching this project with another PH'er & Atom driver, with interest. The whole project looks fantastic, the car looks great, the engineering appears to be spot on, but I do have to question the pricing.
As we all know, KTM aimed at the £60K impractical, track day toy market and had a lot of trouble finding the projected number of buyers. I can't help but think that adding £20K ontop of that price, removing a seat (even motorcyclists like / need to give people a pax ride every now & again) and not really moving the game on, is a little ambitious.
As I said above, I really, really like the idea of it, but it doesn't offer anything over an Atom (or any number of other cars), to justify double the price tag in basic trim (add options and how close to £100K is it going to go?). A 4-pot motor isn't special enough to justify the premium and you can get a pukka sequential 'box on Caterham at half the price, if that's your bag.
The Mono looks fantastic and appears to be well engineered, with exotic materials / parts, so that's clearly going to have an influence on price. I'd also like to say that there has to be a profit in the car, otherwise BAC wouldn't be making it, so I appreciate the need to make money! However, I can't help thinking that if the execution was a little different, the price point lower, they would stand a better chance of success, giving KTM, Ariel, Caterham, etc something to think about.
As has been shown, the price point for low volume toys like this is really a lot lower. Caterham, Westfield, Ariel, etc all have this pretty well judged and KTM found this out to their pain.
The V8 specials (Levante, Atom V8), have commanded high prices, but were made in very low numbers and probably went to collectors. 50 4-pot cars a yr at £80K appears to be very ambitious.
I will always wish such a fantastic looking project every success and hope to be proven wrong, but the numbers don't seem to stack up to me.
As we all know, KTM aimed at the £60K impractical, track day toy market and had a lot of trouble finding the projected number of buyers. I can't help but think that adding £20K ontop of that price, removing a seat (even motorcyclists like / need to give people a pax ride every now & again) and not really moving the game on, is a little ambitious.
As I said above, I really, really like the idea of it, but it doesn't offer anything over an Atom (or any number of other cars), to justify double the price tag in basic trim (add options and how close to £100K is it going to go?). A 4-pot motor isn't special enough to justify the premium and you can get a pukka sequential 'box on Caterham at half the price, if that's your bag.
The Mono looks fantastic and appears to be well engineered, with exotic materials / parts, so that's clearly going to have an influence on price. I'd also like to say that there has to be a profit in the car, otherwise BAC wouldn't be making it, so I appreciate the need to make money! However, I can't help thinking that if the execution was a little different, the price point lower, they would stand a better chance of success, giving KTM, Ariel, Caterham, etc something to think about.
As has been shown, the price point for low volume toys like this is really a lot lower. Caterham, Westfield, Ariel, etc all have this pretty well judged and KTM found this out to their pain.
The V8 specials (Levante, Atom V8), have commanded high prices, but were made in very low numbers and probably went to collectors. 50 4-pot cars a yr at £80K appears to be very ambitious.
I will always wish such a fantastic looking project every success and hope to be proven wrong, but the numbers don't seem to stack up to me.
No windscreen. Dont want then.
Why do they insist on creating a 'road legal' track car with no windscreen? Never seen an Elise 111 on the road, and when you see something like the Renault that didnt have a screen, its being driven slow because the driver doesnt want a bumble bee up the nose......
And anyone driving a car on the road with a helmet on looks like a tit.
Why do they insist on creating a 'road legal' track car with no windscreen? Never seen an Elise 111 on the road, and when you see something like the Renault that didnt have a screen, its being driven slow because the driver doesnt want a bumble bee up the nose......
And anyone driving a car on the road with a helmet on looks like a tit.
Corsair7 said:
No windscreen. Dont want then.
Why do they insist on creating a 'road legal' track car with no windscreen? Never seen an Elise 111 on the road, and when you see something like the Renault that didnt have a screen, its being driven slow because the driver doesnt want a bumble bee up the nose......
And anyone driving a car on the road with a helmet on looks like a tit.
Personally, I like to buy cars and then take the windscreen off.Why do they insist on creating a 'road legal' track car with no windscreen? Never seen an Elise 111 on the road, and when you see something like the Renault that didnt have a screen, its being driven slow because the driver doesnt want a bumble bee up the nose......
And anyone driving a car on the road with a helmet on looks like a tit.
Also, I vaguely remember the McLaren F1 was at one point thought of as a single seater (although it may have been the Rocket). Ron, or somebody, said it was a daft idea because owners would want to show off their sportscars to their mates.
Corsair7 said:
No windscreen. Dont want then.
Why do they insist on creating a 'road legal' track car with no windscreen? Never seen an Elise 111 on the road, and when you see something like the Renault that didnt have a screen, its being driven slow because the driver doesnt want a bumble bee up the nose......
And anyone driving a car on the road with a helmet on looks like a tit.
Certainly many folks will hold that view, however, the Atom with it's "gun-sight" aeroscreens are fantastic. I drive mine with good quality shatterproof sunglasses 95% of the time, it's part of the feeling. Wearing a helmet destroys that.Why do they insist on creating a 'road legal' track car with no windscreen? Never seen an Elise 111 on the road, and when you see something like the Renault that didnt have a screen, its being driven slow because the driver doesnt want a bumble bee up the nose......
And anyone driving a car on the road with a helmet on looks like a tit.
I've seen lots of Elise 111s on the road, so I presume you mean the 2-11
Not sure how many of those Lotus actually sold?suffolk009 said:
Personally, I like to buy cars and then take the windscreen off.
Also, I vaguely remember the McLaren F1 was at one point thought of as a single seater (although it may have been the Rocket). Ron, or somebody, said it was a daft idea because owners would want to show off their sportscars to their mates.
I thought the Rocket has a 2nd seat in tandem arrangement, behind the driver that you accessed by removing part of the bodywork?Also, I vaguely remember the McLaren F1 was at one point thought of as a single seater (although it may have been the Rocket). Ron, or somebody, said it was a daft idea because owners would want to show off their sportscars to their mates.
356Speedster said:
MetalFoot said:
Ok I think there is a clear message from everyone...
2 seats and a windscreen, then lower the price please
Windscreen.... N'ah, fook that, adds weight, not needed! Agree with the rest tho' 2 seats and a windscreen, then lower the price please
noddynitro said:
Caterfield, Atom, X-Bow etc all good on track and have 2 seats, why would you want to be Billy-no-mates!
Coz the moment you make space for a passenger you compromise the total weight of the car, you upset the balance of the car and compromise suspension geometry in order to have a wider chassis.Mono is about a compromise free experience, its clearly a niche within the trackday car niche, but just like there are people who buy one seat bikes, there will be people who may already have two seater sports cars but want what is basically an F3 car that can be driven to and from the track.
Edited by bruh_la on Wednesday 16th March 13:45
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff