Historic automobile company Praga, now a global player in various fields of on- and off-track racing around the world, has revealed its all-new road-legal supercar in stock form. Pre-production sample: high performance, small quantity, beautiful. – the equipped vehicle is designed around three core principles – lightweight, carbon, gasoline.

The new Praga Bohema is a mid-engined two-seater, weighing under 2,204 pounds, capable of extreme performance on a track targeting GT3 race car lap times on its semi-slick Pirellis. However, it’s also comfortable and practical for twisty road trips. With a carbon fiber monocoque and fully adjustable race-oriented suspension, it’s incredibly light, reaching just 2,164 lbs (wet without fuel), while the engine The powerful six-cylinder twin-turbo sourced from the Nissan GT-R ensures reliability, ease of maintenance and further performance tuning potential. While Bohema’s racing-derived semi-automatic transmission will support a unique on-road experience with track-focused performance.

Purpose? That the Bohema is a uniquely styled, rare and exclusive car that you can actually drive to the track, wearing a helmet (taken from the bespoke luggage fitted in the 13.2 US gallon side compartment) progress of each car), put it on your lap after racing at high speed on Pirelli Trofeo R tires, then drive it home again. Inspiration? Long-time Praga friend and ambassador, former F1 driver and current IndyCar driver, Romain Grosjean challenged Praga to deliver a true two-man road/track performance car. tolerance, promising a truly unique driving experience. He then took on the Bohema project and highlighted the car’s seamless transition from road to track while taking on extended sessions on the testing 3.7-mile Slovakia Ring circuit challenged in a recent test.

“I was pleasantly surprised by the Bohema’s great performance on the track, its approachability on the road and the ease of switching between the two cars,” said Romain. “Praga really met my challenge! On the road, you have a smooth ride, the car does not crash, you can chat with passengers and everything is peaceful and fine. Then just switch focus and you’re on the right track. Same clothes, same car, but the feeling changes and you are pushing the limits and collecting incredible laps again and again, discovering unbelievable possibilities in Bohema. And we still have a few months to refine on-road compliance and on-track lap times!”

Result? The Bohema is a completely new design, developed by Praga’s small but talented team of engineers and designers and perfected in the F1 team’s wind tunnel. It uses a racing-derived carbon fiber monocoque, with extensive aerodynamics providing more than 1,984 lbs of downforce at 155 mph. Top speed is just over 186 mph: the fastest speed attainable on almost any track. Importantly, the car’s aerodynamically inspired engineering does not eliminate the elegantly designed and attractive bodywork that ensures the car looks fast and beautiful. High quality machined Praga Gold painted duralumin aluminum components including door hinges and tow hooks with integrated rear camera stand out on the Praga blue show car and reflect Praga’s attention to detail . The Bohema is the rarest car that has the ‘wow’ factor in both looks and performance.

Unlike many race-derived performance cars, the Bohema’s clever interior ergonomics deliver a narrow, aerodynamically honed cockpit that still accommodates two seats for adults up to 6 inches tall. .5 feet with fully adjustable driver’s seat, steering wheel and pedals, generous luggage space, air conditioning and useful rear visibility. All under 2,204 lbs. Praga’s obsession with a target weight of under 2,204 pounds is highlighted by the Bohema’s cockpit stats: structurally designed with 56 individual carbon parts and trimmed with quality leather and Alcantara tall, the cockpit’s target weight is only 74.9 lbs. The focus on keeping the Bohema under 2,204 lbs is demonstrated by Praga’s exceptional attention to detail in every aspect of the design, with extensive use of carbon fiber, alloy magnesium and titanium.

Its independent suspension uses adjustable dampers operated by horizontally mounted pushrods to maximize travel while minimizing body height. In such a light car, at just 396.8 lbs, Praga’s development engineers were able to keep the suspension supple enough for on-road use without having to resort to adaptive suspension. expensive. Center locking wheels measure 18 inches at the front and 19 inches at the rear to ensure road compliance thanks to the large tire sidewalls, but Bohema will accept 18-inch wheels across the board, ensuring compatibility with FIA GT3 spec tire sizes – racing tires with the widest possible range of competition tires globally. The powerful braking system uses lightweight yet durable 380 mm carbon ceramic discs with 6-piston calipers.

Praga Bohema is entering its final months of development with road and track programs planned in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and at its home track Slovakia Ring. Production of the $1.31 million (+ tax) supercar is expected to begin in the Czech Republic in the second half of 2023, with just 10 units initially planned for production in 2023. One customer global and specification headquarters will also be established in the UK in 2023, building on Praga’s growing UK racing program. Around 20 cars per year will be hand-built over the next four years to ensure exclusivity for owners and Praga plans to offer track delivery programs with a team of experienced test drivers to the owner to ensure that the full performance and capabilities of the Bohema are understood. and accessible.

Details of Praga Bohema

Praga Bohema’s PL38DETT powertrain is based on Nissan’s famous 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 engine used in all GT-R models since 2007. Initially based on the experience of Nissan at Le Mans, it is built around an aluminum alloy cylinder block and has twin camshafts per cylinder bank, with continuously variable valve timing on the inlet valves. The beauty of this engine lies not only in its sheer performance potential, but also in its renowned reliability and adjustability.

In particular, Nissan provides a completely new GT-R engine for Praga for Bohema. Engine development and servicing requirements then saw Praga partner with the UK’s renowned Litchfield Engineering; another long-time friend of the Praga brand. Litchfield has over two decades of tuning experience and is known as the global authority on GT-R engines. Litchfield removed the new engines and converted them to dry sump, which reduced the overall height of the unit to 5.51 inches. This allows the engine to be positioned lower in the Bohema and prevents the risk of oil buildup under high speed cornering loads.

Litchfield also made a number of modifications to increase reliability and power, including a move to a new twin turbo. In the base Litchfield spec, Praga is targeting Bohema’s production car with up to 700 horsepower at 6,800 rpm and 534 lb-ft of torque from 3,000 to 6,000 rpm. /min, but Litchfield is known for building engines with over 1,000 horsepower from the GT-R unit. The engine exhales through a titanium exhaust from the turbo to the exhaust, with much of the bar is powered by a catalytic converter, creating a clear crackle in the engine note while remaining within typical circuit noise limits – and ensuring that occupants can still organize a conversation even when exceeding the legal road speed limit.

The Bohema’s engine is coupled to the famous Hewland sequential transmission via a robotic clutch that allows switching to semi-autonomous driving mode. This transmission option, equipped with individual path-optimized helical cut gears, ensures quick shifts, durability and high torque handling at minimal weight. In classic racing and supercar fashion, the engine is located directly behind the cockpit, with the transmission behind the engine driving the rear wheels, providing optimal weight balance and cornering response. Importantly, the engine and gearbox are mounted independently to the carbon frame ensuring the loud and unpleasant resonances and vibrations of the subwoofer are not transmitted from the engine compartment to the cockpit. The 19.5 US gallon fuel tank ensures road trips can be completed with minimal fuss.

The Bohema chassis and body were designed and styled entirely in-house by the Praga team, using CFD (computational fluid dynamics) modeling, then fine-tuned in the F1 team’s wind tunnel. Engineers and designers have worked as one, to ensure all surfaces look interesting and elegant while constantly contributing to efficiency and aerodynamic performance. It’s undiluted form and function in harmony. It makes extensive and innovative use of aerodynamics, including a unique rear spoiler design, which combined produces more than 1,984 lbs of downforce at 155 mph. The chassis is an extremely strong, torsionally rigid carbon fiber monocoque: in modern times, Praga only designs and builds all-carbon racing cars, benefiting from its experience and knowledge. Local expertise in carbon fiber production in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is used by many of Europe’s leading luxury car brands.

Lightweight carbon fiber exterior panels are attached to the monocoque frame. The front top plate covers the suspension, with subtle bulges to accommodate the transverse dampers. At the rear, a single panel covers the engine, transmission and suspension. The front wings are unstructured, so the front mirrors are mounted on long rigid bars to provide a stylish and aerodynamic structure with excellent rear visibility without vibration or obstruction. Inside the aerodynamically styled rear wheel arches, there are deep storage areas where custom leather luggage is available – large enough for a helmet, racing suit and boots or a regular bag weekend. The doors are front-hinged and open electronically, with a redundant mechanical release mechanism. The deeply curved Praga windscreen ensures outstanding visibility inside the cockpit and is swept clean by an ingenious mechanism specially developed by Praga to ensure that the windscreen wipers remain in contact with the glass all over. set width of glass.

Cockpit With a racing-sourced carbon fiber monocoque, the cockpit is necessarily narrow but cleverly shaped to perfectly fit two large adults in racing-position comfort. The doors open to allow access to the vehicle body into the cockpit, with steps integrated into the footwells allowing the driver and passenger to lower themselves into the seats without having to step onto the seats themselves. Furthermore, the steering wheel can be removed to aid in and out. The driving position can be perfectly adjusted with the adjustable steering column, pedal box, seat position and angle. The ergonomically sculpted structure also incorporates molded recesses for the passenger’s arms and elbows to ensure comfort without infringing on the driver’s space – a lot of effort has been made to ensure a perfect environment for the driver.

The removable steering wheel itself is a work of art. It incorporates a large digital display, displaying speed, selected gear, oil and coolant temperatures, riding modes and warning lights. On either side are switches for the indicators, horn and other functions, along with a rotary wheel selector. The rims are beautifully decorated with Alcantara and the center pad is covered in leather with an embossed Praga logo. The size and position of the grips and shift paddles are perfectly designed to provide comfortable steering and shifting control for both drivers with small and large hands.

Right next to the steering wheel, in the slim center console, there are other controls including launch control, activation of the integrated fire extinguisher and electronic parking brake. Flanking the cockpit are electronic door buttons (complemented by mechanical buttons on the hood) along with mirror controls, while air conditioning controls are mounted in the roof console. stylish ‘fighter plane’ look: Praga’s design team took inspiration from the company’s aviation and racing components.

An ingenious and hidden spring-loaded mount above the center console allows the smartphone to be securely mounted for use as a satellite navigation device and performance data monitor. There are pockets in the doors and behind the seats to ensure bottles and sundries can be stowed safely. While everything in the cockpit has been designed to contribute to achieving the car’s low weight and functionality goals, aesthetics and attention to detail have not been overlooked – the steering wheel and The beautifully machined vents, the interior carbon fiber finish and the intricate hand-stitching of the Alcantara are perfect examples.

Market Five years after project planning and road testing began, Praga Bohema is now undergoing its final development program in the UK, Europe and the Middle East and will be launched in specification final production in the first half of 2023. Praga is aiming to offer the Bohema as road-legal in all major supercar markets and is currently taking orders and in discussions with sales partners and potential after-sales in countries including Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, UAE, UK and US.

Praga Cars UK will manage Bohema’s global brand center from its new UK headquarters, offering customer hospitality, test drive facilities and technical facilities. In recent weeks, the Bohema development team has been running a test program from Top Gear TV’s famous Dunsfold test track. The dry and wet sessions focused on fine-tuning rear aerodynamics within limits and comfort on the UK road, which recently ensured full compliance with road laws. Praga R1 racer and professional test racer Ben Collins – the most famous Top Gear Stig racer – has added to his Dunsfold expertise in recent weeks and hopes to return for the production version Bohema final production in 2023.

Praga plans to hand-build around 20 cars a year, focusing on quality and attention to detail over its four to five-year production programme: but a maximum of only 10 cars will produced in 2023 to ensure the first Bohema owners are provided with a vehicle and service of excellent quality.

Check out these two videos of the all-new Praga Bohema, still in production prototype form but still a serious monster on the track, especially when Romain Grosjean puts the pedal to the metal: