Looking for a track-day terror, but put off by the welded-in-someone’s-garage looks of the Ariel Atom? Afraid of buying a go-kart-on-steroids, gray-market-import KTM X-Bow?
We’ve got some good news for you, then, just in time for holiday gift giving. Sector 111, the California-based distributor of the Ariel Atom, has just signed on to be the U.S. distributor of the BAC Mono, perhaps the sexiest thing to come out of England since Keira Knightley.
Like the Atom and the X-Bow, the BAC Mono is designed with track days in mind. It’s a single seater, like the Atom, but unlike the Atom and the X-Bow, doesn’t come in a road-legal version. You’ll need to trailer your Mono to and from the track, but the car’s performance should more than make up for any inconvenience.
Powered by a 2.3-liter Cosworth engine good for 280 horsepower, the 1,188 pound Mono can rocket from 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds, on its way to a top speed of 170 miles per hour. It comes with a sequential-shift Hewland gearbox, a fully adjustable Sachs suspension and AP Racing brakes, ensuring that the Mono turns and stops as well as it accelerates.
Perfection comes at a price, and in the case of the BAC Mono, perfections costs $130,000 before you start adding options. That’s not inexpensive, but if you’re serious about track days, the Mono will likely go faster and be cheaper to run than any production automobile in the same price range.
The price hasn’t hurt sales, either. Only 12 BAC Mono’s will be imported into the U.S. in 2012, and six are already spoken for. If you want your own, contact Sector 111 to work out the details.
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