BAC Mono Festival of Speed run: Time For Coffee?
Anthony Reid takes Goodwood honours as BAC beats Aston Martin, Ford and Porsche up the hill
If you wanted to go fast at Goodwood this year, electric propulsion was the way to do it. Both the VW ID R and Nio EP9 trounced the field in the Festival of Speed shootout, ahead of F3 cars, IMSA prototypes, Indycars and more. The future is most certainly here; who knows, perhaps an autonomous car isn't far from topping the time sheets?
That said, in the roadgoing supercar shootout, internal combustion still dominated. One in particular, in fact, as the 2.5-litre BAC Mono topped the time sheets with a 49.13-second time. Not only was that enough to be crowned fastest supercar at the Festival of Speed, it's also the quickest ever supercar up the hill - beating Jann Mardenborough's 49.27 run in 2014, driving a GT-R NISMO.
The Mono faced some potent competition for bragging rights, the shootout also featuring a 911 GT2 RS (50.38 seconds), Ford GT (51.63) and Aston Martin Vulcan (51.66).
Former BTCC driver Anthony Reid was driving the Mono, describing the car as "so accessible and agile that it lapped up the challenge all week." Co-founder Ian Briggs added: "It feels amazing to be the fastest supercar ever to take on the event and hammers home just how amazing a machine Mono is."
BAC's video of the run is fairly rudimentary, but just plonking a camera on the front splitter does at least do a good job of conveying the speed. Like many track focused lightweights, it's the corner speed that's most staggering, of course aided in this instance by more than 300hp. What must it be like on a bigger circuit? Hopefully that's a question we can answer very soon. For now, enjoy the vid!
A single seater is not a sports car, its a single seater. A sports car should have at least 2 seats.
A supercar is a package; a combination of elements.
Stuff like the Mono is very single-minded. It focuses on performance to the detriment of almost everything else.
That's how I'd define the separation.
A supercar is a package; a combination of elements.
Stuff like the Mono is very single-minded. It focuses on performance to the detriment of almost everything else.
That's how I'd define the separation.
...and before you bite my head off the NA1/2 NSX is one of my all time favourite cars at any price and resides in my top three dream-garage.
Like I said. It’s just all pure snobbery. A GT2RS is absolutely as special as an MP4, no question. The days of countach’s and woman scratching their backside holding a tennnis ball are long gone. As is the term supercar. Is a Noble a supercar, it’s all subjective.
How did you read my post above about the Mono then fling the NSX thing at me?
How did you read this -
A supercar is a package; a combination of elements.
Stuff like the Mono is very single-minded. It focuses on performance to the detriment of almost everything else.
That's how I'd define the separation.
Then after all that, you say that it's subjective?!
LOL
Read my first post again, carefully, this time.
I specifically said there's more to a supercar than just performance metrics.
f
king hell 
However you categorise it, the Mono would be the first car in my lottery win garage.
I agree that it’s single minded on being a driver’s toy at the expense of everything else. But I don’t think it’s only about being the fastest. From what I’ve read it’s actually fun to drive, and accessible to those who are not driving gods. That’s unlikely to be the case if you spent the money on an ex F3 racecar, which has been suggested in other threads.
https://youtu.be/QchT3bQjgp0
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