Bac Mono road tested!

[AtomMadStew]

Advertised also

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3230668.htm

[wattie]

Good spot Stew.....it's some machine.

Cheers Wattie

[maverick1]

Design is incredible, however it sits extremely low to the ground.
You would have to be hyper alert to any road debris, and speed bumps or steep driveways could cause damage if not approached correctly.
I guess incorporating major aerodynamic downforce necessates a low body design.
Even hitting road kill at high speed would be damaging.
Best suited to a nice smooth race track, with no road kill.

[meladdo]

Amazing Engineering, love the look of the thing, the concept is unique, However imho its all a bit to serious for me, I couldnt have FUN in that, always on the lookout for a raised man hole or worse a pothole, the slight slope on my driveway would leave it grounded......just to serious in cost and use......and a single seater too, although I like that aspect, I would find it even harder to justify.

Atom is hard to beat on most fronts

[CalScot]

[quote="maverick1"]
Design is incredible, however it sits extremely low to the ground.
You would have to be hyper alert to any road debris, and speed bumps or steep driveways could cause damage if not approached correctly.
I guess incorporating major aerodynamic downforce necessates a low body design.
Even hitting road kill at high speed would be damaging.
Best suited to a nice smooth race track, with no road kill.
[/quote]

Its got 100mm ground clearance on the front with a little higher on the rear for "rake" .
100mm is higher than the 95mm specified on your Atom

It's not got any coolant pipes as the lowest point either. So while it might scrape itself on a speed bump and scratch its fancy looking under tray, your not going to punch a hole in your coolant system like our Atoms.

[maverick1]

"The harder you work, the luckier you get."
I need to start working harder, so I can get me some good luck".

[l33haw]

[quote="CalScot"]
[quote="maverick1"]
Design is incredible, however it sits extremely low to the ground.
You would have to be hyper alert to any road debris, and speed bumps or steep driveways could cause damage if not approached correctly.
I guess incorporating major aerodynamic downforce necessates a low body design.
Even hitting road kill at high speed would be damaging.
Best suited to a nice smooth race track, with no road kill.
[/quote]

Its got 100mm ground clearance on the front with a little higher on the rear for "rake" .
100mm is higher than the 95mm specified on your Atom

It's not got any coolant pipes as the lowest point either. So while it might scrape itself on a speed bump and scratch its fancy looking under tray, your not going to punch a hole in your coolant system like our Atoms.
[/quote]

The ground clearance may be higher/similar, but the critical factor is the Atoms nose is barely any further forward than the axle line, where the Bac is significantly further forward. My Exige was 40mm higher than my Atom but scraped the nose way more due to the longer over hang.

[Hedge]

[quote="Ross"]I'm visiting them again on Monday morning to take another look....[/quote]
Erm, report in please asap Ross. You know the rules 
BAC emailed me eventually over the weekend. Kinda wished they hadn't, I was beginning to ween myself off it 
Cheers, Hedge

[PaulP]

Any body used, or even heard of those Kumho tyres it uses?  Would they be any good on an Atom.  Both low weight and push rod suspension.

If I had the money I'd have one.  I must drive the Atom solo 99% of the time.

[ross]

[quote="Hedge"]
[quote="Ross"]I'm visiting them again on Monday morning to take another look....[/quote]
Erm, report in please asap Ross. You know the rules 
BAC emailed me eventually over the weekend. Kinda wished they hadn't, I was beginning to ween myself off it 
Cheers, Hedge
[/quote]

Not a huge amount more to report, except that I managed to have a good poke round their car (there is only one) with the bodywork off and spent about 90 mins chatting to their Production Manager and some of their engineers who were working on the car.  Stonechips will be a nightmare, but not much you'll be able to do on that front except for a thick protective tape kit they plan to offer.  The quality of all the kit still looks superb and they're working on the minor niggles that have arisen during early testing (nothing major by all accounts).  The steering wheel is bonkers (in a good way) so any F1 fetishists will be very happy.  Lovely action to the gear paddles as well.

Seems pretty clear that they've got demand coming in and that their biggest challenge will simply be to cope with building them fast enough.  If you want one at all next year I think you'll be having to look to get your money in pretty damn quick.  With serious demand from emerging markets like China, I think residuals should be good for quite some time.

I'm still keen - it's right up my street and should be pretty unique for quite some time.  They seem pretty sure it'll be very easy to use on the road, but I guess for now I'd have to take their word for it.

Cheers, Ross.

[Trigger]

It was clear from what I saw this car is well made, looks gorgeous and clearly drives well. I dont think there will be much discussion on that front. It will be very interesting to see what they decide to build per year (did they mention that Ross ?) and therefore what waiting list they create. Initial interest is often huge but ultimate sales can be different. I still see a car that is so singular minded is just too niche for today's market. I would love to own one but although I drive the Atom 90 pct on my own, those 10 pct are perhaps the best times I have.

Anyway I do hope they succeed but it will be tough. I am sure the residuals will be good though as it will be rare for a while.

T

[ross]

Well, I've given up on this one.  I emailed them with a few basic questions along with saying I wanted to place an order, a week later after I chased up to get a reply, I got a basic set of pretty succinct and curt responses from Neill making it pretty clear that he didn't have a lot of time for my questions.  Since then, no further reply to my final question about their test drive (which you have to pay for) so clearly they think I was just wasting their time.

That coupled with daft deposit requirements, mean I really don't feel like giving them the best part of £90k which is their loss.  Good luck to them.  Nice product, but I think they've got a long way to go to make it the way Ariel have done.

Chalk and cheese really.

Cheers, Ross.

[Trigger]

Both very interesting and very disappointing. Shows just how well Ariel have done - we take the piss about Somerset time etc but honestly they are very good with customers. Shame as I would really like this car to succeed.

What is the daft deposit requirement ? And how much is the test drive ?

T

[ross]

Based on the original information I received back in March (which hasn't changed as far as I'm aware) - to place an order, you'll be looking at putting down the best part of £30k with no guarantee that it would be repaid in the event that they couldn't deliver.

A test drive is £1000 plus VAT, track only running behind a pace car.  I couldn't extract a response from Neill as to when their first test day would be despite asking 3 times.  I presume that fee would be refundable on placing an order, but again Neill chose not to answer this.

Cheers, Ross.

[Trigger]

That's daft alright.

£30k punt for a car that may never get built......and a test drive behind a pace car !!!! 

Good luck to them, but it looks to me like they dont know what they are doing. Hopefully they read such forums and react accordingly.

T