Last month, Standard reporter Ryan Merrifield was invited to Cotswold Airport to watch a £150,000 BAC Mono be test driven, before riding in a Mercedes SLS AMG supercar with British champion racing driver Oliver Webb.

BRIGGS Automotive Company’s Mono is the world’s only single-seater road car – but it has no roof or windscreen and a kerbweight of just 540kg.

H.R. Owen Ecurie high performance car dealers stock everything from Ferraris and Lamborghinis, to Bentley’s and Rolls Royces.

However, when the most outgoing of petrol heads wants to buy a BAC Mono, they are advised to go on a track day, in this case under the supervision of champion racer Oliver Webb.

26-year-old Oli is the 2014 European Le Mans series Champion and 2015 Dubai 24-hour Champion, as well as finishing third in the 2010 Formula 3 championship, among other feats.

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard:

Oliver Webb and the BAC Mono

“It’s easy to drive in an environment like this, this is why we do it,” said Stephan Plant, general manager of H.R. Owen Ecurie Cheltenham.

“Basically, it is a Formula 3 car but it’s road registered. Though you can’t just jump in it and turn a key – there is no key.

“It’s a steering wheel, and you drive off,” he said, as test driver Abas roared past us, the rain drizzling down.

Stephan explained that track days allow new owners like Abas to get used to the different components of the car, including wearing a helmet.

“If you're used to wearing a crash helmet then great, if not then it's quite alien to drive a car with a crash helmet on, on the road.

“Also the central driving position is very alien because naturally you want to pull out to the right and get your vision down the right hand side of the road,” he said.

“So when you're driving that, you have to drive it like a bike to stay in the middle of the lane, so to speak.”

While Oli was going through the gears and handling of the car with a motoring journalist before he sped off down the track for a review, Abas explained how the Mono felt to drive.

"It was banging into gears until you explained it to me,” Abas said to Stephan. “But then, amazing. Wow. Literally. 100 per cent. I really enjoyed that.

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard:

Stephan Plant talks a test driver through the BAC Mono

“It's a lot safer to drive than you think. When you physically look at it from the outside it's like a Formula 1 car. But it's a beautiful car. I can see them coming onto the road,” he said.

"I'm surprised how easy it is to drive. It's quite daunting when you're looking at it or you're about to get into it. And you look at the steering wheel and you're like 'Oh, my God!' But when you physically start driving, it's like Wow!"

“It’s easy to drive here, but if you're in a traffic situation in central London it’s like Jesus!” warned Stephan.

“People can't see you either because you're so low. Even on the way here, people like driving towards you.”

The motoring journalist took his first couple of laps slowly, jolting forwards like a learner driver, but he soon got the hang of it.

"It's always the quiet ones, I tell you,” said Oli, as the Mono zoomed past us. “At first I thought, he's not going to push this and then first go: ROAR."

Throttling the car to its limit, the journalist eventually went into a skid, screeching the tyres, before crawling back in with his hazard lights on.

Oli then invited me to go for a spin in his Mercedes.

“You might want to leave that outside for a minute,” he said as I opened the passenger door to find his lunch in a paper bag on the seat.

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard:

Oliver Webb's Mercedes SLS AMG supercar

He said we’d do some drifting but, as we were pulling away, we were warned against it.

Apparently, the airport bosses had been on the phone and were ‘serious’.

If there was any more tyre squeals we’d have to leave the site.

“Okay, we won't be able to do what we were going to do,” said Oli.

Instead we bombed up and down the track as the rain picked up, Oli manoeuvring cones and bends at break-neck speed.

Getting back into my Vauxhall Corsa afterwards felt like trying to race a donkey uphill.