Praga’s $1.28 million Bohema is the most impressive supercar you may not know

Would you be willing to spend $1.28 million on a new hypercar built by a company you’ve never heard of, from a country with no history of producing high-performance cars? And what if it’s powered neither by the hybrid or all-electric powertrain configuration we’ve come to expect from such models, nor by a precious V-12 engine? stylish and finely crafted, which most of us still want, but instead the engine is turbocharged and heavily tuned. Nissan V-6?

The new Praga Bohema, revealed today and driven by Robb Report , will have some work to do if it wants to convince those who already own rarer and more extreme Ferraris to add a car from the Czech Republic to their collection their collection. But it has two advantages.

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""The" — Test drive the Praga Bohema supercar prototype.

First, circumstances may actually be on its side. While the supercar will likely be electric overall, off-the-record conversations with industry contacts suggest that selling some pure-electric versions is proving difficult. Both the all-electric Rimac Nevera and its sister car the Pininfarina Battista, each limited to just 150 units, have yet to sell out. But there is still a strong appetite among collectors for cars with pure internal combustion engines.

Gordon Murray’s T.50 and T.33 will both be produced in runs of 100 and quickly sell out, the T.50 within 48 hours. And although both have a much more famous name and a bespoke Cosworth V-12, they also cost much more. The Praga’s petrol engine may not be the most exotic, but this could be your last chance to order a hypercar powered by just one engine. Even Gordon Murray, a longtime hybrid skeptic, has admitted that all of his future cars will be at least partly electric, and a Praga executive admitted admit that they are “doing well.” That could be their advantage. There are only 89 produced so you may need to move quickly.

""The" — The 700-horsepower model is only equipped with a twin-turbo V-6 engine.

So what is Praga? You may be surprised to discover that it is actually 115 years old. In the 1930s, they produced more airplanes and cars than Skoda and Tatra – two famous Czech car manufacturers – combined. However, communism was not kind to the brand and it eventually produced trucks and transmissions. Now privately owned, Praga began producing racing cars 12 years ago. Some of them were fitted with license plates, but the Bohema was the first bespoke supercar designed for road use, even if Praga knew that most customers would take their cars straight to a racing circuit.

Like the Rimac Nevera, which also comes from a country, Croatia, with no previous history of building such cars, the Bohema has been designed and built almost entirely in-house. The technical brief was clear: both comfortable and roadworthy but also the fastest street-legal car on the track, prioritizing minimal weight and aerodynamics over power. extremely strong. The goal was also to equal the lap times of a GT3 class driver on slightly slick tyres.

""The" — For the Bohema, Praga prioritized minimal weight and enhanced aerodynamics over extreme power.

So the body has a job to do, generating 1,984 pounds of downforce on the 2,165-pound Bohema at 155 mph, mating the tires to the Tarmac during cornering, while also keeping traction low and supply cool air to that oxygen-hungry turbo engine. But Juraj Mitro and Jan Martinek, the chief designer and chief engineer, also made it beautiful, and therein lies its other great advantage. They transformed Bohema’s semi-detached race car-like panels into a futuristic work of art that appears to move while standing still.

""The" — At speeds of about 155 mph, the Bohema generates about 1,984 pounds of downforce.

Our favorite styling details include the impossibly long and elegant arms mounted on the rearview mirrors, which extend from the central fuselage to the edge of the car and are almost flush with the hood. . Then there’s the wide, subtly curved and low rear clamshell, which tells you how low the frame’s mass is. That’s astonishing and a refutation of the notion that aerodynamics now forces such cars to look alike.

The uniqueness continues inside. You go down, through what looks more like a hatch than a door, into the cockpit, which is so tight that the two egg-shaped seats have to be arranged so that the passengers sit lower and slightly behind the driver so their shoulders don’t collide. into each other. Yet it’s supremely comfortable with a luxurious aesthetic that meets motorsport demands like nothing else on the road. And it’s all beautifully finished in carbon, Alcantara and milled aluminum.

""The" — Trimmed in Alcantara, carbon and aluminum, the cockpit is comfortable yet well-fitted.

Once the flyweight hatches are latched and the race harnesses are pulled tight, it’s time to fire up the 700-horsepower, 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-6. It’s loud and gruff, but not too intrusive, and changes from the track-spec Hewland sequential manual transmission come with a purposeful “thump” that’s audible but not jarring. At low speeds, visibility and maneuverability are surprisingly good for a barely road-legal Le Mans racer, and with a 1.7 cubic foot case in each sidepod, you have You can easily imagine yourself taking a trip in your Bohema.

""The" — Tuned by racing driver Romain Grosjean, the Bohema’s handling is superb.

But that is not its main purpose. When the road — or more likely the track — opens up, the car’s acceleration is absolutely monstrous. Even if it can’t match the Nevera’s instant torque and all-wheel traction, it’s still within the scary limits of what your brain and body can cope with. The hiss and vibrations from the turbocharged engine’s exhaust, once considered unrefined, only add to the character of this increasingly electric age, and the noise, ferocity and mechanical nature The learning curve of performance was almost enough to convert this longtime electric vehicle advocate back to using gas. .

""The" — The technical brief was clear: both comfortable and usable on the road, but also the fastest street-legal car on the track.

Tuned by Formula 1 and IndyCar star Romain Grosjean, the handling is also excellent, the Bohema’s lightweight nature can be felt in its always level stance and lag-free response to every steering input. And, of course, it slows down as much as possible, the carbon-ceramic discs keeping you suspended in six-point harnesses before pressing you back into the seat again as you exit a turn.

A Porsche Taycan as a daily driver and a Praga Bohema for the weekends seems like a good way to solve the fuel consumption problem. The vocals may be gruff, but this makes for a wonderful swan song for the internal combustion engine.

Click here to see more photos of Praga Bohema.