This months TopGear Magazine features Mono on its front cover as Senior Writer Sam Philip and tame race driver 'The Stig', take Mono for a blast on road and track.

Describing his first close encounter with the road legal single-seater, Philip states that, "Mono looks like a visitor from the future...otherworldly, extra-terrestrial: a design-school concept made reality."

Philip is clear in what distinguishes it from other niche car manufacturers "...it’s the Mono’s sheer quality that sets it apart. This is a pocket-sized masterpiece of engineering."

Pressing the touch-sensitive starter button he fired up the Cosworth engine and headed for the open road, "Far from turning my lower vertebrae into sneezing powder, it rides sublimely... The damping – a BAC speciality – is top-drawer, too."

"I snap the left-hand paddle twice, down into second and pin the throttle. No squirm, no hesitation: the Mono fires down the straight like a lit firework."

Sam Philip headed to Oulton Park to further explore Mono's capabilities on track.

"It’s easy to explore the Mono’s limits, to push harder and harder without fear that it’ll deposit you in the Armco. Despite its compliance on the road, there’s not an ounce of squish or lean here on the track. If you’re used to road cars – even supercars – the Mono requires a recalibration of your brain to deal with its physics-warping abilities: brake deeper, turn in later, get on the power earlier."

Eventually it was time for Stig to slide into the hot seat, and he did not take any time to acclimatise,

"For lap after lap, Stig pounds the Mono. No stopping him now. As we’re considering hunting for a tranquilliser gun, the Mono crosses the finish line for perhaps the 20th time....Stig feedback is never easy to garner, but the man in white seems impressed."

Summing up his day with Mono Philip concludes that,

".... this single-minded single-seater is a singular success.... given its cortex-melting performance and engineering, the Mono looks a veritable bargain"

The latest issue of TopGear Magazine, including the article on Mono, is on sale now.

Find out more
TopGear website - First Drive: the BAC Mono