USA - The BAC MONO is on display at the Pebble Beach, Stave Wine Cellar, the UK brand returns to many plaudits.

• BAC will be returning at Pebble Beach in 2016, with the Mono being proudly displayed at the Stave Wine Cellar
• The car is on show at the contemporary location at The Inn at the heart of the Spanish Bay
• The stand is presented in association with prestigious winery Williams Selyem
• BAC has also appeared at the fantastically successful 2016 V Foundation Wine Celebration in California, helping raise millions of dollars for charity

BAC is proud to be taking part in the 2016 Pebble Beach weekend, with the Mono going on display at the heart of the Spanish Bay.

The single-seater supercar will be on show at the Stave Wine Cellar at The Inn in the Spanish Bay. It will be presented in partnership with prestigious Californian winery Williams Selyem. The Mono will showcase the level of personalisation available to buyers and will be on show on Saturday 20 August.

The Mono is going from strength to strength in America, having also played a prominent role at the recent V Foundation Wine Celebration, where it was invited to be an official sponsor.

The V Foundation event toured around several of the most exclusive vineyards in the Californian Napa Valley region, and the BAC Mono was a regular feature throughout.

The UK company also played a key role in the glamorous and prestigious fundraising events over the weekend, with a BAC experience one of the highlights in the auction taking place at the headline gala dinner at the exclusive Nickel and Nickel vineyard on Saturday night. The weekend proved a phenomenal success for all concerned, raising $5.2m for charity.

As well as its other charitable contributions to the V Foundation in various forms, BAC also pledged to donate a large charitable contribution for clients that purchased a Mono at the Wine Celebration weekend.

BAC Chief Operating Officer, Mark Rayner, said: “The V Foundation is a fantastic charity that does wonderful work and raised millions of dollars in the fight against cancer since 1993. BAC is honoured to be involved with arguably the V Foundation’s highest profile event in the year, and is delighted to have helped push the fundraising levels even higher.

“It is wonderful to be returning to the stunning and prestigious surroundings of Pebble Beach. The weekend is always a glorious collection of the greatest cars in the world from all eras, and we are proud to be representing BAC and British manufacturing in California.”

BAC takes large development leap by using graphene on the single seater supercar, the Mono.

• BAC takes large development leap by using graphene on the single seater supercar, the Mono
• The use of the innovative material is a world first, as BAC further illustrates its ability to make technological advancements
• The panel development was done in collaboration with Haydale Composite Solutions
• The lightweight material features on the Mono’s rear wheel arches
• graphene is lighter and stronger than carbon fibre, bringing weight and performance benefits

BAC is the first manufacturer in the world to develop a car featuring panels made from graphene, the innovative and lightweight material that brings weight and strength benefits.

BAC has partnered with Haydale Composite Solutions to create rear wheel arches made out of graphene, and has been putting the material through its paces on the Mono, the world’s only road legal single-seater supercar. 

Graphene is made of sheets of carbon just one atom thick, and is significantly lighter than standard carbon fibre. It is also stronger than carbon fibre, meaning that it can bring weight reductions of around 20% while being 200 times stronger than steel. These benefits could have implications for cost, performance and fuel economy when applied wider in the manufacturing process.

BAC chose to test the use of graphene on the rear wheel arches due to the size and complexity of the part, to thoroughly test the manufacturing process and how the material fitted in with the car.

BAC Development Director and co-founder Neill Briggs said: “BAC is uniquely placed in the automotive industry to be able to take innovative steps, and latest work with graphene is further proof of this. This development work is further proof of our ability to work with the very latest materials and innovators. At BAC we don’t wait for new technology to come to us, we actively seek it out and work with the very best in the industry to stay at the forefront of the automotive and motorsport industries.

“Making significant weight savings and improving body strength will allow us to offer improved performance to our customers. This is the latest in a line of ground-breaking innovations on the Mono, and we were delighted to have worked with graphene composite industry leaders, Haydale, on this exciting project.”

Ebby Shahidi, Haydale Composite Solutions Ltd.’s Director of Aerospace and Defence added: “We are pleased to have worked on the design and development of the graphene enhanced carbon fibre materials for the BAC Mono. These initial materials have shown some major increases in impact and thermal performance coupled with improved surface finish and it’s pleasing to see these attributes being demonstrated on such a high performance vehicle as the Mono.

“We look forward to collaborating further with BAC and delivering even higher performance materials and components to increase the performance of this exciting vehicle.”

BAC showed the graphene enhanced Mono at the Science in the City festival in Manchester.

HRH Queen Elizabeth II visits BAC, the company behind the bonkers MONO sports car.

• BAC has played host to the Queen at the Exhibition Centre Liverpool
• Her Majesty was visiting the International Festival for Business, meeting with key company bosses and founders
• She had a chance to see the BAC Mono up close, and declared it to be terrific

The team at BAC has played host to a very special guest, with Her Majesty the Queen meeting the team and getting up close with the company’s single seater supercar, the Mono.

Her Majesty was visiting Liverpool on 22 June to meet the key companies and businessmen involved with the International Festival for Business, which is running in the city from 13 June to 1 July.

Neill Briggs, BAC’s co-founder and Director of Product Development, and Duncan Lee from BAC Hong Kong represented the company at the reception, with Neill introducing Her Majesty to the Mono and showing her around the car.

The Queen was very impressed with the single-seater supercar, and, in a private conversation with Neill Briggs, said how it was wonderful to see a car that was so different. She was also delighted to see such a remarkable car that had been designed, created and made in Britain. As a memento of her day, BAC was pleased to present Her Majesty with a Mini Mono – a scale model replica of the car.

Neill Briggs said: “It was a real honour to meet the Queen and represent BAC and the city of Liverpool at the International Festival for Business. I was especially proud to show Her Majesty the Mono on behalf of all our colleagues and employees in all 25 of our markets around the world.

“The city of Liverpool is a place that is very dear to our hearts, and we are proud to be part of its flourishing business community. This is a truly special day for me and for the company, and one that we will remember for years to come.”

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were visiting Liverpool to visit the International Festival for Business (IFB), formally open the Pullman Liverpool hotel before visiting Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

Notes to Editors

Bespoke sports car manufacturer BAC (Briggs Automotive Company) is based in Liverpool and was co-founded by brothers Ian and Neill Briggs. It produces the fast and highly acclaimed Mono sports car, a single-seater formula style car that provides a visceral and exhilarating driving experience.

Since its launch in 2011 it has been going from strength to strength and is now sold in several markets around the world. It launched with great success and fanfare in Hong Kong at the end of 2015, with eight cars sold in a single night. BAC dealers can also be found in North America, Japan and London.

The 2016 model year version of the Mono comes with an all-new four-cylinder 305bhp 2.5-litre Mountune engine, which takes the 580kg car from 0-60mph in just 2.8sec. It made its global debut at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it set an unofficial record up the event’s famous Hill Climb.

Despite its global appeal, BAC Mono remains proudly British, with parts sourced from its home country wherever possible.

The Ford Escort has been named as the fans most favourite of all time by the Ford fans.

• Britain’s favourite classic Fords are the Escort and Capri
• Celebrating icons ahead of Classic Ford Show
• Major event for the Blue Ovals’ finest takes place at Santa Pod, Sunday, June 5

The iconic Escort has been named the favourite Ford of all time by fans of the UK’s best-selling car brand.

Launched in 1968, the Escort was sold in six generations and enjoyed an impressive 32-year production run, with the final hatchback model rolling off the production line at Halewood, Liverpool, in July 2000, although the Escort van remained on sale until 2002.

In total, over three million Escorts were sold in Britain, making it one of the country’s best selling cars of all-time.

It spawned several performance models, including the RS1600, the Mexico, the RS2000, The XR3, RS Turbo and RS Cosworth, all of which enjoyed astonishing motorsport success.

The Escort scored 36 per cent of the vote in a survey organised by The Classic Ford Show, beating the Capri to a close second in terms of legendary status.

Both of the icons, along with other fine names from Ford’s past, such as the Anglia, Cortina, Mustang and Granada, along with more modern icons such as the Fiesta and Focus, will be in abundance at the Show, which takes place at Santa Pod, Beds, on Sunday June 5.

The Classic Ford Show, in association with Admiral, will play host to thousands of the best Fords in Britain, from both club exhibitors and individual entrants.

There will be a wide variety of standard, tuned and modified cars on display at the show, which is supported byClassic Ford, the UK’s leading publication for fans of the Blue Oval’s most iconic models.

It will feature an exclusive Ford-only Run What Ya Brung on the drag strip, open to show visitors and their cars. The quarter-mile contest will give guests the chance to pit their own Fords against each other, and drivers will receive a full performance print out showing reaction time, terminal speed and the time it took to complete the sprint.

Another major highlight of the show will be a series of Ford Drag Car demos, featuring some of Santa Pod’s most famous Ford-based dragsters, which are always a huge hit at the show. The hotted-up Capris, Sierras, Anglias, Fiestas and more will be available to view in the pit area, where showgoers can get up close to the cars and their drivers.

Santa Pod will also be doing a few runs with the strip’s famous FireForce Jet Car. Powered by the engine from a Skycrane helicopter and putting out approximately 10,000bhp and 5,000lbs of thrust, FireForce has the fastest terminal speed of any Jet Car in the world – it’s an impressive beast to look at, and even more awe-inspiring to hear.

In addition, there will be dramatic live stunt displays, drift trikes and the opportunity for  showgoers to win a Ford Focus ST, which is currently being transformed by Classic Ford’s sister title, Fast Ford.

This year, the show is backed by Admiral, which has introduced a range of classic car insurance products including policies aimed at owners of multiple vehicles.

Those wanting to make a weekend of it will be able to take advantage of on-site camping, available from midday on Saturday June 4, complete with a bar and live entertainment.

Not that we need telling, but the UK is more congested on the roads today than five years ago.

Traffic congestion in the UK’s biggest cities is 14% worse than it was just five years ago, according to a major new report just released. Across the rest of Europe, average congestion is actually 3% down over the same period.

The annual Traffic Index from TomTom shows average UK journeys in 2015 took 29%* longer than they would in free-flowing conditions – up from a 25% delay in 2010.  

The analysis of 14 trillion pieces of traffic data worldwide showed that the morning rush hour is almost 10% more congested than in 2010, with the evening peak nearly a fifth (19%) worse – suggesting that people return home in a narrower time period in the evenings.

The average commuter driving to and from work in the UK’s top 25 cities wasted 127 hours (more than 5 whole days) stuck in traffic during 2015.  

Congestion has got 4% worse in the past year alone. It’s risen in 17 of the 25 UK cities in the report, with a further 4 remaining about the same.  Only Nottingham, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and Preston have shown slight decreases.  

The TomTom Traffic Index analysed traffic patterns in 295 cities globally and found that Belfast was once again the most congested city in the UK – and 14th worst in the world.  Journey times in 2015 were 40% slower than free-flow traffic throughout the day – peaking at 86% longer in the evening rush hour.

London is the 20th most congested city worldwide – and second worst in the UK - with journey times 38% slower, rising to 66% in the evening peak.  The Northern Powerhouse of Manchester (37% slower) moves up into third place, overtaking Edinburgh (37%) and Brighton (34%).  

The next five worst cities for congestion are Hull, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Bristol and Sheffield.

“Transport authorities are managing congestion with well-engineered policies, but you can’t just build your way out of traffic jams”, comments Ralf-Peter Schaefer, Vice-President of TomTom Traffic.  "Studies have shown that policies of ‘predict and provide’ are unsustainable.  Building new motorways and ring roads doesn’t eliminate congestion.  More must be done to better manage existing road space and to spread demand.  

“People simply aren’t doing enough to change their travel habits - such as working flexible hours, avoiding peak commuting times, making use of real–time traffic information and trying alternative travel modes.

“If only five per cent of us changed our travel plans, we could improve traffic congestion on our main roads by up to thirty per cent.”

Globally, Istanbul has been knocked off the top spot by Mexico City.  Commuters in the Mexican capital can expect to spend 59% extra travel time stuck in traffic during the day, rising to 94% in the evening peak period – a total of 219 wasted hours a year.   

The next most congested big cities worldwide are Bangkok (57%), Istanbul (50%), Rio de Janeiro (47%) and Moscow (44%).

TomTom has been collecting traffic data since 2008 and over that period, the UK city that has recorded the largest overall growth in congestion is Coventry - up a staggering 67%.  Stoke-on-Trent has seen the biggest increase in rush hour congestion, at 44%.

But Cardiff can give itself a pat on the back, with overall congestion down 19% since 2008.  

The TomTom Traffic Index is the only global measurement of congestion comparing travel times between non-congested hours and rush hour periods, for passenger vehicles.  It takes into account local roads, main roads and motorways across 295 cities in 38 countries on six continents.  

The latest report is based on data for January – December 2015 and can be found here:

www.tomtom.com/trafficindex

The all-electric Nissan e-NV200 is helping to keep the city of Liverpool moving, with a fleet added to Merseytravel.

The all-electric Nissan e-NV200 is helping to keep the city of Liverpool moving after being drafted onto the fleet at Merseytravel. The local transport executive has added three e-NV200 Combis to its fleet of 40 vehicles for use by maintenance teams.

The eNV200s – which cost an average of just 2p a mile to run – are being used to transport workers and their tools around the Merseytravel estate including the various bus stations, three ferry terminals, seven tunnel ventilation stations and the two Mersey road tunnels: the Queensway and Kingsway.

With 90,000 vehicles crossing underneath the River Mersey every day, it’s Merseytravel’s job to ensure that the tunnels are effectively maintained in the most cost effective way.

By using the e-NV200, fuel costs are substantially reduced while it also helps to improve the local air quality as they do not emit any exhaust emissions.

Councillor Liam Robinson, Chair of Merseytravel, said: “Our vision is for electric and other low emission vehicles to play a role in developing a vibrant low carbon economy across the region.

“The introduction of more electric vehicles to our own fleet is another major step forward.”

Last year Merseytravel took an all-electric Nissan LEAF as one of its pool cars.

It has also launched its ‘Recharge’ initiative, a government-funded project to provide a network of charging points at key locations to encourage and support electric vehicle ownership throughout the Liverpool City Region and West Cheshire.

So far 30 chargers have been installed at locations including ​Seacombe  Ferry Terminal, Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Broad Green Hospital, and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

British Luxury Single Seater to go to sea with the BAC MONO Marine Edition

• Built-to-order luxury BAC Marine Edition Mono based on popular single-seater Mono supercar, powered by 305bhp 2.5-litre Mountune engine
• Complete with a carbon-fibre crane arm and lifting points for super-yachts, the Marine Edition is completely customisable inside and out
• The new Marine Edition features marinised anti-corrosion components as it’s designed for life on-board the world’s most premier super-yachts and costs £500,000
• The Marine Edition reflects a wider momentum within the BAC brand with a new dedicated factory in Liverpool producing four Monos per month
• The company is known as a unique British brand in the top tier of the global luxury market, focusing on cutting-edge product development, with significant exports to the US, South America, Japan and Asia

BAC unveils its latest iteration of the popular Mono – The Marine Edition. Built on a passion for luxury and exclusivity, BAC has created a Mono that is at home aboard any super-yacht. Weighing in at only 580kg, the Mono is ideally suited to the super-yacht environment where lean mass, performance and design are paramount.

Based on the Model Year 2016 Mono, the 305bhp 2.5-litre Mountune-powered single-seater car has been custom-made by the top tier luxury British carmaker, BAC. The car, which is completely customisable inside and out, has been created with a focus on luxury marine lifestyle.

The Marine Edition comes complete with a carbon-fibre crane arm designed to transport the Mono on top of any super-yacht, the crane arm can be universally used with all yacht crane systems.

The chassis has been developed with the crane arm in mind too, with custom chassis lifting points for super-yacht crane cradles and mounting to helipads, making sure that the Mono is secure whilst on board.

To ensure that the Marine Edition is kept protected in the salty climates, BAC has developed an anti-corrosive coating for components. BAC will deliver the car with an Environmental Control Container System to stow the car on board with temperature and humidity controls, guarding the car from the marine environment.

Costing £500,000, the Marine Edition is completely bespoke and built to order, reflecting a wider momentum within the BAC brand. With a new dedicated factory in Liverpool, BAC are able to produce four cars per month to compete with strong demand from customers in the US, Europe, South America and Asia at its current capacity.

BAC co-founder Ian Briggs started his career in yacht design and says, “I started my career designing luxury yachts and I have wanted to combine my love of marine and automotive design ever since. The Marine Edition Mono represents purpose and style for a clientele that knows no compromise.”

Andrew Whitney, Director of Strategy & Corporate Development at BAC says, “Today’s super-yachts are paragons of exquisite taste, exceptional design, and the ultimate experience possible. It is only fitting that owners should be able to extend that experience beyond the vessel upon arrival.

“The Marine Edition Mono is uniquely qualified, with unparalleled design, performance and driving sensation, while its low mass of only 580kg allows vessels to carry even a brace of Monos for a little over a ton. What better way for friends to arrive?”