BAC Mono Getting Even Lighter With Graphene Body

High-tech material will make lightweight track car 10-20 percent lighter.

At around 1,200 pounds, the BAC Mono is already one of the lightest vehicles on the market. But it's about to get even lighter.

The Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) that makes the Mono has received a grant from the Niche Vehicle Network to further develop the use of graphene. The super-lightweight woven material is similar to conventional carbon fiber, but made up of sheets just one atom thick to further reduce weight by some 20 percent. BAC already uses graphene for the rear wheel arches on the Mono, but the grant will help it further develop the material.

"Niche vehicle manufacturers are of paramount importance in the automotive industry," said Neill Briggs, "acting as stepping stones for mass-market production technology – which is where we aim to place our graphene-enhanced composite body panels in the near future."

The closest thing to a formula racing car for the road, the latest BAC Mono packs a 2.5-liter straight four, naturally aspirated and based on the Ford Duratec block – similar to what you might find under the hood of a Ford Fusion/Mondeo, Escape/Kuga, Transit Connect, or even the Mazda3. Only in the BAC Mono, it's been tuned by Cosworth to produce 305 horsepower.

That's enough to send the flyweight machine from 0-62 mph in just 2.8 seconds on its way to a top speed of 170 mph. The Mono will serve as the basis for a proof-of-concept being developed by BAC and grant co-recipients Haydale and Pentaxia.

The Niche Vehicle Network is an association of low-volume automotive manufacturers and suppliers in the UK, where this particular corner of the industry has historically been (and remains) particularly strong. Along with BAC, the Network includes member-marques like Morgan, Ariel, and even Aston Martin – producer of such luxury grand tourers as the Vantage, DB11, and the new DBS Superleggera.

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Aston Martin Is Getting Very Close To An IPO

It worked brilliantly for Ferrari in 2015. Can that success be replicated?

Several months ago, we learned that Aston Martin was considering an initial public offering, an action that would, if managed properly, raise a lot of money for the automaker. An IPO worked brilliantly for Ferrari in 2015, and Aston Martin (among others) took notice. And now Reuters has an update regarding Aston Martin’s progress on this subject. According to the report, the luxury car maker has lined up three banks, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan, to help plan for the IPO on the London stock market.

Sources claim Aston Martin could be valued at $5.6 billion to $7 billion. Over the past year or so, Aston Martin has hired a specialist to investigate an IPO and everything related, and based on this latest report, it appears things are moving along. Currently, Aston Martin is owned by an Italian private equity firm, a group of Kuwaiti investors, and a select group of wealthy Aston Martin owners. Company CEO Dr. Andy Palmer has made no secret of his desire to expand the automaker’s lineup, launch the Lagonda brand, and invest in new technologies. Doing all of that requires – you guessed it – money. Given the 104-year-old automaker’s projected worth and its highly desirable product lineup and future plans, an IPO does make an awful lot of sense.

For now, neither the company nor those aforementioned banks have commented, but we wouldn’t be surprised to learn more about this in the very near future. If you’ve ever wanted the opportunity to own a piece of Aston Martin, have your stock broker on speed dial.

BAC Mono Getting Even Lighter With Graphene Body

High-tech material will make lightweight track car 10-20 percent lighter.

At around 1,200 pounds, the BAC Mono is already one of the lightest vehicles on the market. But it's about to get even lighter.

The Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) that makes the Mono has received a grant from the Niche Vehicle Network to further develop the use of graphene. The super-lightweight woven material is similar to conventional carbon fiber, but made up of sheets just one atom thick to further reduce weight by some 20 percent. BAC already uses graphene for the rear wheel arches on the Mono, but the grant will help it further develop the material.

"Niche vehicle manufacturers are of paramount importance in the automotive industry," said Neill Briggs, "acting as stepping stones for mass-market production technology – which is where we aim to place our graphene-enhanced composite body panels in the near future."

The closest thing to a formula racing car for the road, the latest BAC Mono packs a 2.5-liter straight four, naturally aspirated and based on the Ford Duratec block – similar to what you might find under the hood of a Ford Fusion/Mondeo, Escape/Kuga, Transit Connect, or even the Mazda3. Only in the BAC Mono, it's been tuned by Cosworth to produce 305 horsepower.

That's enough to send the flyweight machine from 0-62 mph in just 2.8 seconds on its way to a top speed of 170 mph. The Mono will serve as the basis for a proof-of-concept being developed by BAC and grant co-recipients Haydale and Pentaxia.

The Niche Vehicle Network is an association of low-volume automotive manufacturers and suppliers in the UK, where this particular corner of the industry has historically been (and remains) particularly strong. Along with BAC, the Network includes member-marques like Morgan, Ariel, and even Aston Martin – producer of such luxury grand tourers as the Vantage, DB11, and the new DBS Superleggera.

View the original article here

Audi TT RS Preserves Its Epic Exhaust Note After Getting Shrunken Engine

This is the cheapest way to satisfy a need for speed and European car fetish in one go.

When looking at modern cars, it was the 1.4-liter turbocharged Fiat 500 Abarth that came out and taught the world that small displacement four-bangers could sound like eight-cylinder Ferraris. This was fantastic news because turbochargers and downsized engines were starting to become the norm, and now it was known that the change would not have to come at the expense of a rich exhaust note. Furthering the credibility of a small engine opera is the Audi TT RS, which shares a 2.5-liter turbocharged engine with the new RS3 sedan.

It makes the same 400 horsepower as the sedan and best of all, shouts a fantastic song despite not being a burly Pavarotti-sized motor. It’s secret? Well, let’s start with the fact that its 2.5-liters are spread out over five pots, each with 0.5-liters of space. This makes the engine odd, literally and figuratively.

With four, six, or eight cylinder vehicles, there is at least one cylinder that can help cancel out the explosive motion of the adjacent pistons, but that isn’t the case with an inline-five engine. The result is that the Audi TT RS maintains a raspy metallic exhaust note with a computer controlled snaps and crackles delivered with every upshift or downshift. Once transitioning from country road back into city, a simple removal of lead from shoe keeps things hushed, making the TT a perfect companion for the daily driver who needs their weekend thrills and doesn’t mind that the TT isn’t as cool as a Porsche 911.

2019 Audi S8 Spied Getting Sideways At The Nurburgring

A prototype of the super sedan was spotted flexing its muscles at the Green Hell completely stark naked.

Audi is preparing to launch a high-performance version of its new flagship A8 and judging from these new spy shots it looks nearly production-ready. After spotting the new BMW M3 dancing around the Nurburgring, our spies have caught a prototype of the 2019 Audi S8 getting sideways at the Green Hell. Unlike the M3, however, Audi hasn’t covered it in camouflage, so an official reveal probably isn’t too far away. Compared to the standard model, the prototype S8 sits lower to the ground and rides on larger alloy wheels.

To cope with the extra performance, massive ceramic brake discs have been fitted with six-piston calipers up front. The styling tweaks are subtle. As we can see the super sedan sports reshaped bumpers, wider side skirts and quad exhaust pipes, giving it a slightly more aggressive appearance. In terms of powertrains, the 2019 Audi S8 is expected to adopt either the 2.9 liter V6 from the Panamera 4S or the 4.0 liter twin-turbo V8 from the Panamera Turbo. Let’s hope it’s the latter, because the V8 generates 550 hp in the Panamera Turbo. Power is rumored to increase by around 20 hp from the old S8, so we can expect the new model to generate somewhere in the region of 540 hp.

If you want even more power, an Audi S8 e-tron could also be rolled out packing the same technology as the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, which produces 680 hp. In the Audi, this output will likely be detuned since Porsche will want the Panamera to reign supreme. As for when we’ll see the new 2019 Audi S8, the super sedan will probably debut at the Paris Auto Show in October if we had to guess.

BAC Mono Getting Even Lighter With Graphene Body

High-tech material will make lightweight track car 10-20 percent lighter.

At around 1,200 pounds, the BAC Mono is already one of the lightest vehicles on the market. But it's about to get even lighter.

The Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) that makes the Mono has received a grant from the Niche Vehicle Network to further develop the use of graphene. The super-lightweight woven material is similar to conventional carbon fiber, but made up of sheets just one atom thick to further reduce weight by some 20 percent. BAC already uses graphene for the rear wheel arches on the Mono, but the grant will help it further develop the material.

"Niche vehicle manufacturers are of paramount importance in the automotive industry," said Neill Briggs, "acting as stepping stones for mass-market production technology – which is where we aim to place our graphene-enhanced composite body panels in the near future."

The closest thing to a formula racing car for the road, the latest BAC Mono packs a 2.5-liter straight four, naturally aspirated and based on the Ford Duratec block – similar to what you might find under the hood of a Ford Fusion/Mondeo, Escape/Kuga, Transit Connect, or even the Mazda3. Only in the BAC Mono, it's been tuned by Cosworth to produce 305 horsepower.

That's enough to send the flyweight machine from 0-62 mph in just 2.8 seconds on its way to a top speed of 170 mph. The Mono will serve as the basis for a proof-of-concept being developed by BAC and grant co-recipients Haydale and Pentaxia.

The Niche Vehicle Network is an association of low-volume automotive manufacturers and suppliers in the UK, where this particular corner of the industry has historically been (and remains) particularly strong. Along with BAC, the Network includes member-marques like Morgan, Ariel, and even Aston Martin – producer of such luxury grand tourers as the Vantage, DB11, and the new DBS Superleggera.