2016 BAC Mono gets 305bhp – and beats the Goodwood hillclimb record

The 2016 BAC Mono gets 305bhp from a new 2.5 litre Mountune four-cylinder engine and has unofficially beaten the Goodwood hillclimb record.

It’s more than four years since the road-legal track day BAC Mono arrived, and now it’s been updated for 2016 with even more power.

Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) has forsaken the 2.3 litre 280bhp Cosworth engine the Mono did have, and replaced it with a new Mountune 2.5 litre four-cylinder, in the process adding 25bhp for a new output of 305bhp.

The new Mono weighs just 580kg – giving it a mightily impressive 526bhp per tonne – and also get a drive-by-wire throttle and a new bespoke driver fitment so the car fits its owner like a glove.

The new Mono got its first public outing at the Goodwood Festival of speed just last week, and in the hands of BAC’s test driver, Oliver Webb, it produced runs consistently under 50 seconds on the Goodwood hillcimb, with a best recorded time of 47.9 seconds.

It all augers well for the Briggs brothers, with a new BAC factory in Liverpool turning out a new Mono every month and export markets like the US, South America, Japan and Asia extending the reach of BAC’s monster Mono.

Andrew Whitney, BAC’s Strategy Director, said:

It was a fantastically successful weekend for us, and not just with our speed on the legendary hill. The customer experience zone was permanently busy and we were overwhelmed with serious interest, resulting in orders being taken well into double figures.

BAC may be small, but they’re yet another successful element of the UK’s burgeoning car manufacturing industry.