Niche manufacturer BAC’s Mono R performance car has demolished the production car lap record at Austria’s Red Bull Ring, beating the existing mark by just under six seconds.
The record run came during a Pirelli P Zero Experience event, for which BAC was in attendance. BAC handed over the Mono R to British GT3 driver Adam Christodoulou for a lap which ended up setting a 1:32.96 time, 5.99 seconds ahead of a time set by Hubert Haupt in a Ferrari LaFerrari back in 2015.
BAC, based near Liverpool in north-west England, UK, has been building the Mono since 2011, and it’s a pretty unusual machine. It’s a single-seat car, built to be the most capable road car possible in every area aside from pure top speed.
To that end, BAC uses some particularly unusual materials. The structure is carbon-fiber over a tubular space-frame chassis, however the latest Mono R — the car driven at the Red Bull Ring — employs graphene within the carbon fiber panels to reduce weight while enhancing rigidity.
That all results in a ridiculously low curb weight of 1,224lb (555kg), and BAC is researching ways to shave even more weight off. This will include a pioneering niobium-steel microalloy set to form the space-frame from 2022.
Although top speed isn’t necessarily the focus of the car, it still has plenty of horsepower. A Mountune-developed 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine sits behind the driver, producing some 343hp — 38hp more in the Mono R than the regular Mono.
At 138hp/liter it’s the highest specific output of any naturally aspirated engine and it gives the Mono R a power-to-weight ratio of 628hp/ton.
The lap record, set on road-legal Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tires, is the latest in a long line for the BAC Mono. It holds production car records at the Hungaroring, Zolder, and Sepang, as well as Anglesey Circuit and the Top Gear Test Track. As BAC is heading to Hockenheim later in the week, it may capture yet another record, though the McLaren Senna’s 1:40.79 lap will be pretty tough to beat.
You can watch a full on-board run of the lap from Christodoulou’s helmet camera below — and you’ll be able to attempt to match the time in the 2015-model BAC Mono in Gran Turismo 7 when it launches in March 2022.
See more articles on BAC Mono and Red Bull Ring.
