Friday 21st August

Praga Bohema sets Spa lap record - without trying

Public track day blast nets a time faster than even a Pagani Huayra BC

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We all know how it goes with a manufacturer lap record: as many notaries as spare tyres, careful management of time and temperatures, private track hire and no outside influence. That isn’t quite what happened with Praga’s latest scalp; the team decided to set a quick lap at a Spa track day, and factory test driver Aleš Jirásek returned with the fastest lap ever recorded by a road car. By no means official, and largely only proving what we already knew about the Bohema’s potential, but there is an onboard video. And fast is always cool. 

2:21.42 is the lap time for the Praga, besting the previous record of the Pagani Huayra BC Roadster by more than 1.5 seconds (2:23.08). While Spa times are not as fiercely contested as Nordschleife ones, surpassing the track-focused Pagani V12 is some achievement. It’s as fast as bona fide racing cars, basically: the Formula 4 record at Spa is 2:22.522, for the Radical Cup it’s 2:22.325, and for the Ferrari Challenge it’s 2:19.084. The Senna, the most circuit-focused road-going McLaren yet, was more than three seconds off the Praga, at 2:24.82. That’s the sort of speed we’re talking about. 

As is so often the case with these lightweight, mega downforce machines, it’s not so much the Bohema’s acceleration that’s breathtaking - it’s how little speed it needs to lose for corners. And how little time that braking takes. For a car on road tyres, it’s staggering, the small 700hp squiggles at corner exit the only real clue it isn’t on more aggressive rubber. It’s surely going a good few seconds towards two minutes with the slicks that Praga also offers.

Tomas Kasparek, Praga Cars owner, said: "This achievement perfectly captures what the Bohema is all about. The fact that the car could then go and establish a new Spa benchmark without a dedicated record-setting programme demonstrates the philosophy behind the Bohema. It was never intended to be a compromised track special. Our objective was to combine genuine race-car performance with the freedom and usability of a road-legal supercar." So imagine what might be achieved with some more prep - maybe the AMG One’s 6:29 at the Nurburgring could be within reach…

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• GT-R-powered Praga Bohema enters production
• Praga Bohema sets amazing Dunsfold lap time

[Geoffcapes]

That's a seriously impressive time. Were they LMP cars in front?

[Krikkit]

5 seconds slower than a GT3 car, 20 seconds slower than LMP2... Doesn't seem that special.

[nismo48]

Fair play to them

[thegreenhell]

Fastest lap time on a track where no other manufacturers try to set a lap time, so you only have to beat a few random unknowns who set unverified times in unknown conditions? Sweet.

[brillomaster]

Im convinced. Yes its slower than gt3 cars or lmp2 cars, but those are both sharp wings and slick tyres, whereas this you could drive to the shops in.

[Frimley111R]

Krikkit said:

5 seconds slower than a GT3 car, 20 seconds slower than LMP2... Doesn't seem that special.

It wouldn't be if it was a track special but its the road car version.

[GTRene]

Frimley111R said:

Krikkit said:

5 seconds slower than a GT3 car, 20 seconds slower than LMP2... Doesn't seem that special.

It wouldn't be if it was a track special but its the road car version.

great for the small UK roads, it does not look wide at all...

[mmm-five]

Should ban them for timing on a track day

[gruppeb86]

So far as speed is concerned which this carries in abundance beit in a straight line or around a corner, what does it matter? What really matters, is how it compares in a competitive multi car/branded racing championship. Like many on here I lose count of the number of 'fast' cars. The market is saturated with all kinds of examples to cater for all our tastes and never ending expectations of something better. What I do know is a) It's too fast for our roads, b) most people can travel fast nowadays (in a straight line), and c) That'll be confined to the track.

[asci.white]

Krikkit said:

5 seconds slower than a GT3 car, 20 seconds slower than LMP2... Doesn't seem that special.

Why so dismissive?

It's designed to be a road car with track focus. I would say those results are impressive.

[brillomaster]

Its really got nothing to do with racing cars or series... its a road car, albeit a very extreme example. Its competitors are the mclaren senna, gt3 rs, valkyrie... not much really. Its not even competing with stuff like the mclaren 750xx or the ferrari xx programmes, as theyre basically derestricted gt3 cars on slicks.

[BertBert]

mmm-five said:

Should ban them for timing on a track day

Not sure it was your regular non-timing track day though as it went out with the LMPs!!

[mmm-five]

BertBert said:

mmm-five said:

Should ban them for timing on a track day

Not sure it was your regular non-timing track day though as it went out with the LMPs!!

It was also not in the UK, and we don't know the T&Cs of that particular track day - hence the smiley

[SDK]

Krikkit said:

5 seconds slower than a GT3 car, 20 seconds slower than LMP2... Doesn't seem that special.

Not that special

It’s one of the fastest and most capable road cars you can buy

[ex-devonpaul]

SDK said:

It s one of the fastest and most capable road cars you can buy

I'd like to see them try and get it down the roads around our way. There's be a lot less downforce by the end of it,

[epom]

Frimley111R said:

Krikkit said:

5 seconds slower than a GT3 car, 20 seconds slower than LMP2... Doesn't seem that special.

It wouldn't be if it was a track special but its the road car version.

The track version must look pretty am…. Functional !!

[Miles Remmington]

gruppeb86 said:

What really matters, is how it compares in a competitive multi car/branded racing championship.

Not this exact model, but the Praga R1 was very successful in Britcar. One won the overall championship in 2020 against a 488 Challenge, a Radical RXC GT3 and an Aston GT3, among other things (they got spun into their own class after that). So Praga do know how to make a competition-winning endurance racer.