The BAC MONO takes another award, this one from the BBC TopGear magazine.

• Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) finds itself on the winner’s podium once again, with its one-of-a-kind Mono scooping TopGear’s Best for Selfish Sundays Award in the magazine’s Best Cars in the World issue
• The Best for Selfish Sundays Award celebrates a car that is purely for the driver’s enjoyment for days on the open road
• BAC’s Mono is the world’s first and only single-seater road-legal supercar that aims to provide the most authentic driving experience
• BAC recently hit headlines after winning two Northern Automotive Alliance (NAA) Awards for International Trade and Logistics Excellence

Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) has won yet another coveted award, as TopGear crowned the Mono supercar Best for Selfish Sundays in the magazine’s Best Cars in the World issue.

TopGear defines the Best for Selfish Sunday Award winner as a car that is all about the driver – one that any person can hop behind the wheel of and thoroughly enjoy out on the open road without another care in the world.

BAC’s one-of-a-kind Mono fits TopGear’s bill perfectly. The world’s only road-legal single-seater supercar is built to be the ultimate driver’s car – from the central seating position to the use of innovative lightweight materials, the Mono is forever tweaked to be a top performer.

Experiencing the accessible nature of the Mono’s power and poise recalibrates the senses, while BAC strives to ensure it suits drivers of all skills and from all walks of life on both the road and track.

TopGear recognised these characteristics to award the Mono the Best for Selfish Sundays Award, saying “there’s an unexpected balance to this car that makes it incredibly forgiving to drive – even in the wet”.

BAC is no stranger to winning prestigious awards and recently came away from the 2016 Northern Automotive Alliance Awards with the International Trade and Logistics Excellence trophies.

Adding TopGear’s coveted award to its CV shows how well rounded BAC is as an industry, displaying brilliance both on and off the road.

In fact, the Mono has won some major TopGear awards over the years, including The Stig’s Car of the Year in 2011 – two years before it set the second fastest-ever Power Lap time around the BBC show’s circuit.

It went one better while under the control of evo magazine recently, setting the fastest lap of any car tested by the magazine at the Anglesey Coastal Circuit. The Mono saw off the likes of the track-only, slick-shod McLaren P1 GTR, the Porsche 918 and the Ferrari 488 GTB to top the leaderboard.

Neill Briggs, BAC Co-Founder and Director of Product Development, said: “We are truly honoured and delighted to receive the Best for Selfish Sundays Award from TopGear magazine. The Mono has achieved success all over the globe, and this award is further evidence of it being the ultimate driver’s car.

“The Mono is all about driving enjoyment no matter one’s level of ability. From casual Sunday drives to setting rapid lap times on track, it’s a one-of-a-kind supercar that anyone can fall in love with. We build the Mono to suit every driver and TopGear’s award is testament to the hard work and attention to detail that our talented team put in to every single model.”

Arrinera Racing inspired by Anglo-Polish sporting and historical ties produced a 7 litre V8 Hussarya GT.

• Arrinera Racing inspired by Anglo-Polish sporting and historical ties
• New GT powered by 7-litre V8 in modular spaceframe chassis
• Plans forming for Polish-designed supercar to race in 2017
• Road-legal Track Day version of Hussarya GT to follow

Polish supercar manufacturer Arrinera Racing headed to Brooklands in the past week to present two of its new Hussarya GTs that have been inspired by its nation’s unique historical and sporting ties to Britain, as the company pushes ahead with plans for its competition debut in 2017.

The GT, which became the first Polish car to spin its wheels at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed in the summer, offers high performance through an attractive, uncomplicated, easy to drive and maintain concept that will appeal to amateur drivers looking for a strong and safe new alternative to used premium-brand racing cars.

The Hussarya is powered by an LS7 V8 engine driven through a six-speed Hewland sequential racing gearbox. Its modular steel spaceframe chassis mirrors the structures of Hurricanes and Spitfires in which Polish pilots made such a significant contribution to the allied air campaigns of World War II. But inspiration has also been drawn from Polish-related feats on the world’s race tracks, too – particularly from the pioneering days of motorsport at Brooklands.

Eliot Zborowski and his son Count Louis were both wealthy racing drivers with Polish family lineage who played key roles in British motorsport’s earliest days.

Eliot Zborowski, born in New Jersey, was an accomplished horseman before the growing tide of interest in automobiles swept him up in 1898. It is said that in 1903 it was Zborowski who suggested green should become Britain’s national racing colour – in honour of Ireland. The Gordon Bennett Cup, the precursor to Grand Prix motor races, was run in Kildare because of strict speed restrictions on British roads, and Zborowski is alleged to have made the gesture in tribute to the host country, which led to the foundation of what would become the world-famous British Racing Green. He was killed in the same year at La Turbie hillclimb in France driving a Mercedes 60 factory racer.

His son Count Louis Zborowski also caught the racing bug – and the sport claimed him, too. He died in the 1924 Italian Grand Prix at Monza when his Mercedes hit a tree. But his legacy had already been assured by the creation of two cars known as ‘Chitty Bang Bang’, which he raced at Brooklands. Zborowski and his aero-engined monsters inspired James Bond author Ian Fleming to write ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, his children’s book that was also turned into a popular movie starring Dick Van Dyke.

Piotr R. Frankowski, Arrinera’s Competition & Marketing Manager, said: “To see a pair of our Hussaryas here at Brooklands is a special moment, especially as they are resplendent in green. The feats of the Zborowskis and in particular Count Louis’ association with this true home of British motor racing is a fitting inspiration for a proud Polish company. In the Hussarya, we wanted to present a car that is beautiful, very strong and durable, easy to drive and maintain – and very safe.”

The Arrinera Hussarya GT made its world debut at the 2016 Autosport International Show in Birmingham. The car’s body is designed by Pavol Burkatskyy with aerodynamics by Professor Janusz Piechna of Warsaw Technical University, and the mechanicals engineered by Krzysztof Stelmaszczuk. It is built in Cambridgeshire and is expected to race in Britain and Europe next year ahead of the launch of a road-legal track day version.

For a video on the inspiration behind the Arrinera Hussarya GT, click here.

Technical specification

Engine: 7-litre LS7 V8, 420-650hp (depending on tuning)

Transmission: 6-speed Hewland LLS sequential with paddle shift

Brakes: Alcon brakes, with 380mm discs and 6-pot mono bloc calipers

Suspension: Bespoke pushrod system with Öhlins 4-way adjustable dampers

Aerodynamics: Honed in CFD analysis and real-world wind tunnel testing at MIRA

FIA Homologation:Built to FIA GT3 specification