Do you hate backseat drivers? What about all passengers in general? Jalopnik readers have ten road-legal single seaters that would be perfect for you.
Welcome back to Answers of the Day - our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
As it turns out, there haven't been many single seat road cars. Cars are supposed to transport people, and building a car to only hold one person isn't particularly efficient. Moreover, what's the point of a sports car where you can't scare a person sitting next to you?
Consequently, most single seaters turn out to be 1+1s, with little seats on the side or tiny seats in the back. The Tango electric car, the Caparo T1, the LCC Rocket, the Tramontana R, just about every Le Mans race car converted to road use- these all have room for at least half a person with no legs.
These ones, though, are the real deal.
Photo Credit: Rinspeed
10.) Mazda Miata Mono Posto
Mazda built this back in 2000. Where the regular Miata is a tribute to classic British sports cars, the Mono Posto was more of a throw back to the old single seat speed record Italian cars of the 1950s. Very cool.
Suggested By: SKZ, Photo Credit: Mazda
9.) Formula Ford Road Car
Ford decided to stick some headlights onto one of their no-wing trainer racecars and called it a day. It is as close as you'll get to a racecar for the road because, well, it's a racecar that's road legal.
Suggested By: Joe_Limon, Photo Credit: Ford
8.) Mini Hotrod
A few Germans thought up the idea of a hot road built off of a riding motor "after a few beers," as all good ideas are. Amazingly, the ultra-strict German vehicle approval department approved these things for road use, though they can't top 50 miles an hour.
Suggested By: wulfenX, Photo Credit: Custom Manufaktur
7.) Vanwall GPR-12
Back in the 1950s, even the highest-level race cars were much closer in design to road cars, with their front engine layout and fairly basic suspension. You can actually buy a replica of one of those great single seaters, the Vanwall, with Jaguar V12 power up front.
Suggested By: Hart88
6.) SUB Threewheeler
For some reason, the idea of an open three-wheeler where the passenger seat is taken up by a Suzuki TL1000R engine didn't catch on. Shame.
Suggested By: Wilhelm_de_la_Kraut, Photo Credit: SUB
5.) Exomotive Atomic
In the same vein as the SUB is Exomitive's Atomic. This one has four wheels, but the passenger side is still filled up with a Yamaha R1 motor.
Suggested By: Kiwi_Commander, Photo Credit: Exomotive
4.) Neander Cyclecar
I have no idea if more than two of these things were build by Neumann Neander in Germany, but the design is just amazing. It's a three-wheeled one-seater that leans with the turns, and apparently you stop by pulling up on the wheel. Car design used to much more free form.
Suggested By: Jonee, Photo Credit: Le Cyclecariste Belge
3.) Lamborghini Egoista
The supercar of choice for lonely multimillionaires. As mad, weird, and excessive as a Lamborghini should be.
Suggested By: fartburgler, Photo Credit: Lamborghini
2.) Rinspeed ADVANTIGE R1
Much as we think of Lamborghini as being off the wall, nobody does crazy like Rinspeed. This 2001 concept (the R1 name is "R" raised to the power of one) was supposed to be 'green' since it runs on bio-mass fuel, but we're more interested in the cockpit that leans into turns.
Suggested By: Daniz207RC, Photo Credit: Rinspeed
1.) Mazda Suitcase Car
It's a car that's built into a suitcase. The idea was to go on a business trip, open up your suitcase, and then be able to drive wherever you needed to go in the city you're visiting. Read more at Road Race Engineering, then give thanks to the glory of Mazda engineers.
Suggested By: t_s, Photo Credit: Road Race Engineering