Singles Only

What do the BAC Mono R and BMW M 1000 RR have in common? More than you might think, actually...

- OLLIE UNCA

Passengers don't enjoy my driving. Being pitched about, hunting for the phantom brake pedal, regretting that recent banana, the conviction that brace, brace, the brace is the next instruction. And the thing is, I don't enjoy having them there. Aware of their jostling and grimacing I change the way I drive. End result: disgruntlement reigns, tension across the cabin.

To be clear here, I can take my family and friends out without making them violently ill - the kind of driving I'm referring to is the driving for driving's sake kind. Which raises the question of why sports cars have to have two seats when only 50 per cent of the occupants are going to enjoy the experience. Unless they're approximately 12 years old.

BAC clearly realised this 10 years ago when it created a car without an other side, where tension across the cabin could never be a thing. For obvious reasons it was named the Mono. Over the years it's changed and developed, gaining power, losing weight and so on. But BAC is still yet to build a car that seats more than one. This is the Mono R and with inevitable predictability it's the harder, faster, sharper, racier one. But mostly it has a bazooka on the side.

And here it is alongside a motorbike. One that has downforce winglets. Ever been a pillion on a bike? Different world. One of my biggest career mistakes was taking a pro rider out for a lap in a fast car, only for him to turn round and insist on returning the favour. Back of a Suzuki Hayabusa for three laps, contorted with terror. Through corners he was knee down off the side of the bike. I was left behind on the back seat with a clear view forward, while the bloke in charge appeared to have climbed off. The BMW M 1000 RR is available with an optional passenger pack but this one thank God - doesn't have it.