New Praga Bohema is a 700PS road-legal hypercar | GRR
Imagine a racing outfit famous for its karts making a road and track hypercar in response to a challenge from former F1 and current IndyCar driver Romain Grosjean and fine-tuned by an ex-Stig at Dunsfold. It doesn’t sound likely, but that’s exactly the story behind world’s newest hypercar, the Nissan GT-R-powered Praga Bohema. And there’s plenty more unusual about it, too…
Such as, it hails from the Czech Republic and a company, Praga, that started life building steam trains in the 19th century. It moved into cars (and motorcycles and aircraft) in 1907, building a motorsport business inspired by success 89 years ago when a Praga car won the 1,000 Miles of Czechoslovakia. Praga says it is the biggest and oldest car brand you might never have heard of.
Well, now you have heard of it and from this new car it is very definitely worth hearing about. The Bohema, as the pictures show, is something of a road and track stunner, at first glance a refugee from a prototype grid but road-legal with room for two adults and some luggage, despite being able to match GT3 lap times on a circuit.
It’s even civilised enough for cruising, according to Romain Grosjean anyway: “On the road, you get a smooth ride, the car eliminates the bumps, you can chat with the passenger, and everything is calm and OK. I was astonished by the Bohema’s amazing performance on track, its accessibility on road, and the ease of transition between the two.”
The Bohema was apparently Romain’s idea and he has had a hand in its development, mainly at the Slovakia Ring circuit but also in the UK at the former Top Gear track at Dunsfold where racer and development driver (and former Stig) Ben Collins got stuck in.
People who will definitely have heard of Praga are karters – the company turns out 7,000 kart chassis a year and have twice won FIA kart world championships – and, increasingly, those in supercar and endurance racing circles thanks to the Praga R1, which since this year has had its own one-make Praga Cup race series in the UK.
The R1 is a race car that at first sight appears to be the Bohema’s sire, but Praga insists that while the R1 inspired the new road car, there are no shared components. What the two cars do share is an extreme focus on light weight, carbon construction, aerodynamic downforce and plenty of power.
Behind the two seats in that cramped looking, but allegedly spacious cabin is the bullet-proof twin-turbo V6 from Nissan’s most famous and most long-lived supercar, the GT-R. In this Bohema spec it pushes out 700PS (522kW) at 6,800rpm and 725Nm (535lb ft) of torque but, with this engine’s propensity for tuning, 1,000PS or more is possible thanks to engine prep by ace GT-R tuners Litchfield Engineering in the UK.
Upgrades to the 3.8-litre V6 by Litchfield include a switch to dry sump lubrication (lowering the engine’s height by 140mm) and fitting new turbos. The engine is mated to a semi-automatic sequential Hewland gearbox, the whole powertrain mounted on a subframe rather than being part of the chassis’ structure, racing car style, in the interests of refinement.
The carbon monocoque is clad with non-stressed carbon panels honed to aero perfection inside an F1 wind tunnel. The wide front wing, arrow nose, curved windscreen, narrow cockpit and rear spoiler would make quite a statement on a race track, never mind coming up behind you on the M4.
There’s nothing here for show though, with Praga claiming 900kg of downforce at 155mph. Top speed is 186mph (300km/h) which as the Czech firm says is about as fast as you can go on any circuit. A neat touch in the body are 50-litre storage pods above the rear wheel arches, big enough for a helmet, race suit and boots.
The suspension is adjustable with pushrod-operated dampers mounted horizontally for maximum travel but minimum height. And this is a very low car. Wheels are 18-inch front, 19s rear and shod with semi-slick Pirelli Trofeo Rs. For stopping there are six-piston callipers working on 380mm carbon-ceramic discs.
The Bohema looks cool inside with its carbon, alloy and titanium parts, plus a super-cool multi-function and removable steering wheel. The lift-up doors have an electric release and there’s a step to aid access. With the cockpit’s extreme narrowness, it’s bound to be cosy in there for two, but Praga says there’s enough legroom for people up to two metres tall. Even with a leather and Alcantara finished cockpit, air-conditioning and adjustable seats, steering wheel and pedals, Praga says weight will be under a 1,000kg: a wet mass without fuel of 982kg is the target.
There’s no performance data so far with this first pre-production prototype, but GT3 racing car-pace in a road car should satisfy most drivers this side of an Aston Valkyrie or Mercedes-AMG One. Only 89 cars – to mark the 89 years since Praga’s road race win – are planned, with the first production example due to debut at a global brand centre to open in England early in 2023, with the first 10 cars due to be delivered through the rest of 2023. All the cars will be assembled by noted Czech rally team Kresta Racing. And the price of Romain Grosjean’s perfect road racer? £1.1m plus taxes.