Bought a BAC Mono instead of a sequential Atom 4

[speedmachine]

Another fantastic British-made machine, well done. Judging by the factory listed cars, even second hand, I would imagine that was a lot more then even a fully optioned up Atom 4 with the Quaife gearbox. It looks like it has the wheels and brakes from the latest model - did you ask for them to be upgraded or were they already on the car? Who will look after it for you in the Netherlands, or will it go back to Liverpool each year for fettling? As a matter of interest what are the servicing cost compared to the Atom?

It is the last model with all the lates updates incl wider chassis, better interior, faster engine and all the latest updates. After 2017 no more changes where made untill the R and next year the Mono 2. Mine has a 2018 first registration

This particular car has all the nice goodies

-carbon wheels
-carbon brakes
-launch control
-traction control 5 stages and off
-auto up shift (actually very handy for the case you forget to shift, or if you just want to go all inn)
-brake bias
-carbon lower body
-made to measure seat
-made to measure steering wheel
-shorter track spec gear ratio, now it doesnt do 172mph but 150-155 and goes faster through the gears, great option also for the road! I dont do 172 often and do accelerate very often, all the time actually
etc etc

and one very unique for this one car option, namely the decals on the bonnet and sides are not decals but visible carbon!

As for service, there is one more owner in the Netherlands and we have their flying docter come over once a year and he will do his service completely and for me he will only do check ups and the difficult stuff, basic things like fluid changes I can do myself and I have software which they can read out for updates and service. So they give me online support when doing stuff myself.

Prices I cannot compare as I am just now an owner and have driven 200 miles, but I expect it to be double as expensive or more compared to owning an Ariel.
Still a very low entry level supercar, as brakes and tires wear out just as little as an Atom, and all though tires, fluids etc are more expensive than an Atom, it is still way cheaper than an mcLaren or Ferrari or hell, than my nissan GTR

[Fastlane]

Thank you for your comprehensive answer. I believe the other Mono in the Netherlands is blue - there ae several videos of it on YouTube.

Really like the idea of it being serviced by a factory technician who has flown over - I thought that was only for the likes of Bugatti and McLaren!

I'd love to see a video of this vs a Sadev-equipped 3.5R - perhaps you and AlanP can arrange a rendezvous!

Enjoy.

[robfitz]

Was just thinking that sounded like McLaren F1 service - awesome!

[Captain Proton]

This is the ONLY car I would trade my Atom for if I had the means and the right one came along. Congrats.

[Jerry]

WOW and WOW, never knew the engineering that goes into these beautiful cars, just watched Henry Catchpole reviewing the latest MONO. I can only dream of such a fantastic machine, enjoy.

[Preseh]

That thing is epic, make sure you get some track day footage - I bet it'd be driving around most things.

[robfitz]

Catchpole did a good video where they took a mono and a Bentley GT up to Scotland. He was cold and wet but happy.

[speedmachine]

All though straight line speed isn’t an unique selling point with neither of the both cars. Here is a first real life comparison between my 2013 3.5 SC and my Mono.
On a sidenote, this is the best measured time in 2.5 years of ownership on the Atom and this is the only pull where I managed it in 5th gear (normally at198 it was redline and needed to go to 6th) which saves a second and as for the Mono, I literally made 1 pull in the wet.
But because the Mono didn’t seem to have wheelspin and I had it in autoshift, I dont expect big improvements, I only dont know if it was in the ideal starting gear, which could potentially shave off a second or such.

Mono 7.87
Atom 9.38







You can see very nicely on the blue line that the Atom has dips with shifting and the Mono it is hardly detectable where the shifts are.
Also one can see that the acceleration flattens from 160km/u on the Atom and less with the Mono

[Encro]

Am really 50 50 between an atom 4 and a bacs mono now lol

[speedmachine]

Am really 50 50 between an atom 4 and a bacs mono now lol

Normally the budget decides for you, but at the moment there are some temporary lower priced Mono’s.
This is because this year there will be delivery of the 30 limited editions Mono R. Those you could only buy if you all ready owned a Mono, so there where a bit more young used Mono’s for sale last year and I expect this to be the case next year as well.

It is now still possible to buy one for around 110-130k with all the nice options. Make sure you look for 2017+ as there was the better and wider chassis introduced alongside with the goodies like the better interior, traction, launch, auto upshift and the like.

Most Atom buyers search in a slightly lower price range and thus have no doubt. Even a new 4 with all the goodies has to do its best to go well above the 100k mark.

Good thing, either way, there will be no regrets, both are the best car in their own way and I think Atom customers would mostly like the BAC and I have to meet the first Mono owner who dislikes the Atom

[Fastlane]

This one looks good value at £100k and is offered by their UK dealer. It is a late 2016 car but looks to have the later wheels and carbon ceramics: https://www.hrowen.co.uk/used-car-detai ... EUQAvD_BwE

£100k for this or a wait 3 years to get hold of a new pretty fully spec'd Atom 4 350 with Quaife, Ohlins, Carbon wheels and full aero. I'd say the Atom will be cheaper to run, retain more of its value, has 2 seats and generally be a much more usable car on the road. However, this Mono is available now, is much rarer, is even cooler looking and will be faster round a track and most probably over 100mph.

Alternatively you could try to find a Sadev equipped 3.5R, but they are like rocking horse poo. The 4 year old 367bhp one that the factory just sold and has popped up on here with the new owner, was advertised at £90k.

First world problems and all that. Now all I need to do is sell my Atom, find another £65k and wait for the wife to file for divorce...

[Hedge]

Interesting read. How do you find the ground clearance? Looks like even a pack of fags would be tricky :-)

Back in the day I mulled over a Mono. Spoke to each of the Briggs bros. Found one ok, the other less so.

Cheers,
Hedge

[speedmachine]

This one looks good value at £100k and is offered by their UK dealer. It is a late 2016 car but looks to have the later wheels and carbon ceramics: https://www.hrowen.co.uk/used-car-detai ... EUQAvD_BwE

£100k for this or a wait 3 years to get hold of a new pretty fully spec'd Atom 4 350 with Quaife, Ohlins, Carbon wheels and full aero. I'd say the Atom will be cheaper to run, retain more of its value, has 2 seats and generally be a much more usable car on the road. However, this Mono is available now, is much rarer, is even cooler looking and will be faster round a track and most probably over 100mph.

Alternatively you could try to find a Sadev equipped 3.5R, but they are like rocking horse poo. The 4 year old 367bhp one that the factory just sold and has popped up on here with the new owner, was advertised at £90k.

First world problems and all that. Now all I need to do is sell my Atom, find another £65k and wait for the wife to file for divorce...

this is a very nice example and I can follow you around about the entire post, except for the holding its value. They are priced very well right now due to the overkill in offerings this year, a year from now when the turbo engined version is introduced, the 120 existing atmo's will rise back up in price, I am very sure they will not fall down any further. In a normal year there are just around 1 or 2 sold, this year there where over 12 or more. This stops once the R's are delivered and market will go back to normal.

The price is extremely good for this fully specced example and is way less than what I paid, it misses the chassis upgrade, traction control, launch and auto upshift, but thats no real problem.


also I made a little start up video, I love how you hear the compressor pumping first, the rough idle at cold and than the gearshift TACK TACK, racecar stuff indeed

Interesting read. How do you find the ground clearance? Looks like even a pack of fags would be tricky :-)
Back in the day I mulled over a Mono. Spoke to each of the Briggs bros. Found one ok, the other less so.

Cheers,
Hedge

Ground clearance is way worse than an Atom, but only on the outer front tip, all the rest is no difference. Once you know you need to cut the speedbumps a little, no biggie.
complete flour has a flywood panel, thats considered a wearing part and is cheap to replace.

[Hedge]

This is going to sound disingenuous, I'm sure, but is a Mono basically a re-clothed Formula Renault? I'm honestly not being rude, just that is what they've been described to me as.

I love them, they're achingly beautiful. Something, let's face it, one can't say about the Atom. I totally get the single seat thang, too. But boy are they are expensive.

That said, at 100k...#manmaths

Cheers,
Hedge

[speedmachine]

This is going to sound disingenuous, I'm sure, but is a Mono basically a re-clothed Formula Renault? I'm honestly not being rude, just that is what they've been described to me as.

I love them, they're achingly beautiful. Something, let's face it, one can't say about the Atom. I totally get the single seat thang, too. But boy are they are expensive.

That said, at 100k...#manmaths

Cheers,
Hedge

More f3 I think, this hewland box is used there. But chassiswise it compares quite good and it as with a formula car this thing has everything in line:
Crashbox front, chassis with person, engine in length (very expensive to do, atom has in width) and gearbox behind it
As as little as frontal mass as possible. Then they added some bodywork, which actually makes it faster than open wheel.