The 5 Coolest Single-Seater Cars Ever Seen

The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is not a car to buy if you’re likely to carry around passengers a lot. It’s been revealed that as standard, the drag strip-friendly Challenger will be just a single seater machine, with the passenger seats all ditched to shed weight.

This got us thinking: what other cool single seater cars - ignoring stuff built for competition use - are out there? Here are a few of our favourites:

BAC Mono

Starting with the most obvious option, we have the BAC Mono. And we like the BAC Mono, because it’s enormously fast. Thanks to a 2.5-litre Ford sourced engine putting out 305bhp plus a weight figure low enough to make you consider tying it down on windy days lest it blow away, it’ll do 0-62mph in 2.7 seconds.

What’s much more impressive than the straight-line speed though, is how the Mono handles itself on track. Since it only weighs 580kg, is stupidly well balanced and comes with trick adjustable, inboard suspension, it recently managed to lap Anglesey circuit faster than a slick shod McLaren P1 GTR in a test by Evo magazine.

Granted, Anglesey’s a short circuit without the kind of long straights and high speeds the aero-focused, more powerful P1 needs to really shine, but regardless, that’s one hell of a giant-killing performance. Then again, you do pay £125,000 for the privilege…

Peel P50

From the sublime to the utterly ridiculous, we have the loveable little scamp that is the Peel P50. Made famous by a certain chap called Jeremy on a certain motoring programme, this dinky machine couldn’t be more different from the BAC.

It may be lightweight, tipping the scales at just 56kg, but the original cars from this obscure Isle of Man firm made just 4bhp from a tiny 49cc engine.

Speaking of the original cars, just 47 were built, of which only 26 remain, according to recent figures. As such, the survivors are worth a lot of money: one went under the hammer last year for £110,000 (pictured above), not far off the sticker price of the Mono…

Formula Ford Ecoboost

OK, so we said we were going to steer clear of the single-seater saturated world of motorsport, but this Ford is a bit of an anomaly. For starters, it is actually a road car: that’s a real number plate you see in the image above, and real lights.

It was built as a sort of marketing cum technical exercise by Ford a few years ago, using the chassis of a Formula Ford and a tuned version of the Blue Oval’s 1.0-litre Ecoboost triple, pumped up to 200bhp.

Not a particularly sensational figure, but with just 495kg to haul around, it was plenty fast. It even lapped the Nordschleife in a respectable 7min 22sec.

Honda Project 2&4

Given just how rare the whole single-seater thing is outside of motorsport, we inevitably have to dip into the world of concepts to continue. And we’re looking at one hell of a car: the Honda Project 2&4.

Revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2015, the 2&4 packed a MotoGP engine with 212bhp, revving up to 14,000rpm. Oh, and it weighed only 405kg.

Although it was displayed at later shows with a two-seater layout, it was a single-seater as standard. Besides, you’d probably struggle to find anyone mad enough to sit in the ‘floating’ optional passenger seat.

It doesn’t look like Honda will ever put this mad motorbike-inspired monster into production. Hardly surprising, but a shame nonetheless.

Lamborghini Egoista

Our final car is another concept, and it’s a mad one, even for Lamborghini. Created for the company’s 50th anniversary in 2013, the Egoista is a fighter jet-inspired nutcase with a proper canopy and a single-seater cockpit so tight you have to take the steering wheel off just to get in or out.

It’s powered by a modified version of the Gallardo’s tried and tested 5.2-litre V10, producing around 600bhp. The whole shebang is made from a blend of carbonfibre and anti-radar materials, just in case you, err, want to avoid radar for some reason.

What other single-seater cars do you think are worth a mention? Let us know in the comments!