The historic automotive firm Praga, at the moment a worldwide participant in numerous on- and off-track racing disciplines world wide, has revealed its all-new road authorized hypercar in pre-production prototype kind: a high-performance, low-volume, beautifully-appointed car designed round three core ideas – light-weight, carbon, petrol.
Praga Bohema overview
The new Praga Bohema is a sub-1,000 kilogrammes, mid-engined two-seater that, in the appropriate palms, is able to excessive excessive efficiency on observe focusing on GT3 race car lap instances on its semi-slick Pirellis. Yet it’s also snug and sensible for head-turning road journeys.
With its carbon fibre monocoque and race-oriented absolutely adjustable suspension, this can be very gentle, focusing on simply 982 kgs (moist with out gas), whereas its highly effective Nissan GT-R-derived six-cylinder twin-turbo engine ensures reliability, ease of servicing and the potential for additional efficiency tuning. Whilst the Bohema’s race-derived semi-automatic transmission will help a novel on-road expertise with track-focused efficiency.
The objective? That the Bohema is a uniquely styled, uncommon and unique car that you just actually can drive to the observe, pull on a crash helmet (taken from the bespoke baggage fitted in every of the car’s revolutionary 50-litre aspect pods), put in lap after lap at excessive velocity on its Pirelli Trofeo R tyres, after which drive dwelling once more.
The inspiration? Longstanding Praga pal and ambassador, and former F1 and present IndyCar driver, Romain Grosjean challenged Praga to ship a real uncompromised two-person road/observe efficiency car, promising a really distinctive driver expertise.
He was subsequently concerned within the Bohema challenge and highlighted the car’s seamless transition from road to trace while delivering in depth periods on the difficult six-kilometre Slovakia Ring circuit in current testing.
“I was astonished by the Bohema’s amazing performance on track, its accessibility on road, and the ease of transition between the two,” mentioned Romain. “Praga has truly delivered on my challenge! 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. Then simply switch focus and you are on the track. The same clothes, the same car, but the feeling changes and you are pushing the limit and collecting amazing lap times again and again, discovering unbelievable possibilities in the Bohema. And we still have a few months to fine-tune the on-road compliance and on-track lap times!”
The end result? The Bohema is an all-new design, developed by Praga’s small, however gifted staff of engineers and designers, and perfected in an F1 staff’s wind tunnel. It makes use of a race-derived carbon fibre monocoque, with in depth aero offering over 900 kgs of downforce at 250 km/h. Top velocity is simply over 300 km/h: the quickest velocity achievable on nearly any racetrack.
Crucially, the car’s aerodynamically-inspired engineering has not eradicated elegant and intriguing designed bodywork to make sure the car appears quick, and appears good. High high quality machined Praga Gold painted duraluminium particulars embrace door hinges and a tow hook that includes an built-in rear-facing digital camera that stand out on the Praga blue present car and replicate Praga’s consideration to element. The Bohema is that rarest of vehicles with the ‘wow’ consider each appears and efficiency.
Unlike many racetrack-derived efficiency vehicles, the Bohema’s ingenious inside ergonomics delivers a slender, aerodynamically honed cockpit but seats two, two-metre-tall adults with absolutely adjustable driver’s seat, steering wheel and pedals, beneficiant baggage house, aircon and helpful rear visibility. All at lower than 1,000 kgs.
Praga’s obsession with its sub-tonne goal weight is highlighted by the Bohema’s cockpit statistics: structurally designed with 56 particular person carbon elements, and trimmed with high-quality Alcantara and leather-based, the cockpit’s goal weight is simply 34 kgs.
The concentrate on maintaining the Bohema beneath 1,000 kgs is demonstrated by Praga’s exceptional consideration to element in each side of the design, with in depth use made from carbon fibre, magnesium alloys and titanium.
Its impartial suspension makes use of pushrod-operated adjustable dampers mounted horizontally for optimum journey whereas minimising bodywork top. In such a light-weight car, with simply 180 kgs of unsprung mass, Praga’s improvement engineers have nonetheless been in a position to preserve the suspension supple sufficient for road use with out having to resort to costly adaptive suspension techniques.
The central-locked wheels are 18in diameter on the entrance and 19in on the rear to supply on-road compliance by way of their massive tyre partitions, however the Bohema will settle for 18in wheels all-round, which ensures compatibility with the FIA GT3 spec tyre dimension – the race tyre with the widest doable vary of competitors tyres globally. The highly effective brakes use light-weight however sturdy 380 mm carbon ceramic discs with six-piston calipers.
The Praga Bohema is coming into the ultimate few months of improvement with road and observe programmes deliberate within the UK, Europe and Middle East and on the Slovakia Ring dwelling circuit. Production of the €1.28m / £1.1m (+ taxes) hypercar is scheduled to start within the Czech Republic within the second half of 2023, with simply 10 vehicles initially scheduled for 2023 manufacturing. A world consumer customer and spec’ing headquarters will even be established in England in 2023, constructing on Praga’s rising race programme within the UK.
Approximately 20 vehicles per 12 months will probably be hand-built over the next 4 years making certain exclusivity for house owners, and Praga plans to supply observe handover programmes with its skilled test-driver line-up for house owners to make sure that the total efficiency and capabilities of the Bohema are understood and accessible.
Praga Bohema intimately
Powertrain
The Praga Bohema’s PL38DETT is predicated on Nissan’s famed 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V6 engine utilized in all its GT-R fashions since 2007. Initially drawing on Nissan’s expertise at Le Mans, it’s constructed round an aluminium alloy cylinder block, and there are double overhead camshafts per cylinder financial institution, with a constantly variable valve timing system on the inlet valves.
The fantastic thing about this engine isn’t just its sheer efficiency potential, but additionally its famend reliability and tunability.
Uniquely, Nissan provides model new GT-R engines to Praga for the Bohema. Engine improvement and servicing necessities then sees Praga working with the UK’s famend Litchfield Engineering; one other long-time pal of the Praga model. Litchfield has greater than 20 years of tuning expertise and is named the worldwide authority on GT-R engines. Litchfield strips the brand new engines and converts them to dry sump, which reduces the general top of the unit by 140 mm. This permits the engine to take a seat decrease within the Bohema and prevents the dangers of oil surge beneath high-speed cornering hundreds.
Litchfield additionally makes numerous modifications for elevated reliability and energy, together with swapping to new twin turbos. In this base-Litchfield specification, Praga is focusing on the Bohema manufacturing car to ship as much as 700 bhp at 6,800 rpm and 725 Nm of torque from 3,000 to six,000 rpm, however Litchfield is thought for constructing 1000 bhp-plus engines from the GT-R unit.
The engine breathes out by way of exhausts which are titanium proper from the turbos to the tailpipes, with a lot of the silencing supplied by the catalytic convertors, giving a pointy crackle to the engine notice whereas remaining inside typical circuit noise limits – and making certain that occupants can nonetheless maintain a dialog even at nicely over authorized road velocity limits.
The Bohema’s engine is mated to the famend Hewland sequential gearbox by way of a robotic clutch permitting for semi-automatic drive mode. This alternative of gearbox, outfitted with bespoke road-optimised helical minimize gears, ensures fast-changing, sturdiness and skill to deal with excessive torque at a minimal weight.
In traditional race car and supercar fashion, the engine sits immediately behind the cockpit, with the transmission behind the engine driving the rear wheels, for optimum weight steadiness and responsiveness in turns. Crucially, the engine and gearbox are independently mounted from the carbon chassis making certain annoying and loud sub-woofer fashion resonance and vibrations should not transferred by way of to the cockpit from the engine bay. A 74-litre gas tank ensures road journeys will be accomplished with minimal fuss.
Chassis and bodywork
The Bohema has been designed and styled fully in-house by the Praga staff, utilizing CFD (computational fluid dynamics) modelling adopted by fine-tuning in an F1 staff’s wind tunnel. Engineers and designers have labored as one, to make sure all surfaces look thrilling and stylish but stay uncompromised of their contribution to aerodynamic effectivity and efficiency. It is undiluted kind and performance in concord.
It makes use of in depth and revolutionary aerodynamics, together with a novel rear spoiler design which, mixed, ends in over 900 kgs of downforce at 250 km/h.
The chassis is an especially sturdy, torsionally inflexible carbon fibre monocoque development: in fashionable instances, Praga has solely ever designed and constructed all-carbon race vehicles, benefitting from the expertise and native experience in carbon fibre manufacturing within the Czech Republic and Slovakia employed by lots of Europe’s main luxurious car manufacturers.
The light-weight carbon fibre outer panels are hooked up to the monocoque. The entrance high panel covers the suspension, with delicate bulges to accommodate the horizontal dampers. At the rear, a single panel covers the engine, transmission and suspension. The entrance wings should not structural, so the entrance mirrors are mounted on lengthy inflexible stalks to offer trendy and aerodynamic constructions with wonderful rear imaginative and prescient with out vibration or obstruction.
Within the aerodynamically styled rear wheel arches there are deep storage areas, for which custom-fit leather-based baggage is accessible – sufficiently big for a crash helmet, racing swimsuit and boots, or an off-the-cuff weekend bag. The doorways are entrance hinged and electronically launched, with back-up mechanical releases.
The deeply curved trademark Praga windscreen ensures exceptional visibility contained in the cockpit, and is swept clear by an ingenious mechanism specifically developed by Praga to make sure that the windscreen wiper stays in touch with the glass throughout its full width.
Cockpit
With the race-derived carbon fibre monocoque, the cockpit is essentially slender however cleverly formed to completely match two massive adults in race-position consolation. The doorways swing open giving entry over the bodywork into the cockpit, with steps constructed into the footwells to permit driver and passenger to decrease themselves into their seats with out having to step onto the seats themselves. Furthermore, the steering wheel is detachable to assist entry and exit.
The driving place will be completely tailor-made with adjustable steering column, pedal field, and seat place and angle. The ergonomically sculpted construction additionally incorporates moulded recesses for the passenger’s arms and elbows to make sure consolation with out infringing on the motive force’s house – an excessive amount of effort has been made to make sure an ideal driver’s setting.
The detachable steering wheel in itself is a murals. It incorporates a big digital show, exhibiting velocity, gear chosen, oil and coolant temperatures, driving mode and warning lights. To both aspect is a switchgear for indicators, horn and additional capabilities, plus rotary thumbwheel selectors. The rim is fantastically trimmed in Alcantara and the central pad is roofed in leather-based with an embossed Praga brand. The grip and paddles’ measurement and positioning have been designed completely to supply steering and shift management comfortably for small and large-handed drivers alike.
Just to the aspect of the steering wheel, within the slim centre console, are additional controls together with launch management, in-built fireplace extinguisher set off and the digital parking brake. To both aspect of the cockpit are the digital door releases (supplemented by mechanical releases within the roof) plus mirror controls, whereas the aircon controls are mounted in a trendy ‘fighter jet’ fashion roof console: Praga’s design staff taking inspiration from the corporate’s aviation and race car divisions.
An ingenious and hidden sprung-mount bracket above the centre console permits a wise telephone to be securely mounted to be used as a satnav and efficiency information monitor. There are storage pockets within the doorways and behind the seats to make sure bottles and oddments will be safely stashed out of the way in which.
While every part within the cockpit is designed to contribute to the car’s low weight goal and performance, the aesthetics and a focus to element haven’t been missed – the fantastically machined thumbwheels and air vents, the ending of the inside carbon fibre and the beautiful hand stitching of the Alcantara are excellent examples.
Market
Five years since challenge planning, and testing on observe and road started, the Praga Bohema is at the moment present process its remaining improvement programme within the UK, Europe and Middle East and will probably be offered in its remaining manufacturing specification within the first half of 2023. Praga is focusing on making the Bohema accessible as road-legal in all main hypercar markets and is now taking orders and in dialogue with potential gross sales and aftersales companions in international locations together with Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, UAE, UK and USA.
Praga Cars UK will handle the Bohema’s international model hub from a brand new headquarters in England, offering shoppers with hospitality, take a look at drive and spec’ing services. In current weeks the Bohema improvement staff has undertaken a take a look at programme from the Dunsfold take a look at observe made well-known by Top Gear TV. Dry and moist periods have targeted on fine-tuning on-the-limit rear aerodynamics and on-road consolation within the UK, the place full road-legal compliance was not too long ago secured. Praga R1 racer {and professional} take a look at driver Ben Collins – probably the most well-known Top Gear Stig of all – added his Dunsfold experience in current weeks and hopes to re-visit with the ultimate production-spec Bohema in 2023.
Praga plans to hand-build round 20 vehicles per 12 months, specializing in high quality and attention-to-detail over its four-to-five-year manufacturing programme: however a most of simply 10 vehicles will probably be produced in 2023 making certain the primary Bohema house owners are supplied with a car and repair of very good high quality.
Assembly
Praga has a long-standing partnership with Kresta Racing, the Czech Republic’s most extremely revered rally staff, the place its spotless meeting facility will hand-build every Bohema, starting within the first half of 2023. The firm is thought for its excessive requirements of car preparation and meeting and was based by Czech rally legend Roman Kresta. His historic race victories embrace the Czech nationwide rally championship on 5 events, while additionally spending a decade within the World Rally Championship, driving for the official Ford and Skoda WRC groups.
Praga in motorsport
Many up-and-coming drivers have minimize their tooth in recent times in Praga’s famend karts, which have been raced worldwide for greater than a decade. Up to 7,000 kart chassis are constructed by Praga yearly, making it one of many world’s most profitable kart producers, having twice gained FIA world championships previously decade.
In current years, Praga’s R1 race car has additionally turn out to be a rising drive in racing throughout the UK, Europe and North America. These carbon fibre monocoque, mid-engined race vehicles are recognized for his or her GT3-beating downforce efficiency and dealing with, mixed with their comparatively reasonably priced working prices and ease of upkeep.
As an instance of Praga’s successes, in 2020 the R1 scored total victory within the extremely aggressive Britcar Endurance sequence; in 2021, now in its personal class inside Britcar Endurance, R1s took seven wins out of 9 races towards much more unique and expensive-to-run GT3 equipment and prototypes: locking out P1 to P8 in qualifying at Oulton Park a spotlight of the season. In 2022 a brand new one-make Praga Cup UK attracted widespread consideration and top-level drivers, while R1 race wins have been achieved in Australia, Dubai and the USA.
Praga historical past
Praga is the largest and oldest car model you may not have heard of, however is happy with its wealthy historical past. It dates again to the late 1800s as a heavy industrial producer of every part from bridges to steam trains, and it was a big presence in Central Europe through the first half of the twentieth century. It moved into car manufacturing within the early 1900s, making its first car in 1907, turning into a serious producer of vehicles, bikes, industrial autos and plane. Praga-built vehicles, specifically, dominated the roads within the agency’s native Czechoslovakia.
The firm additionally developed a variety of passenger vehicles and bikes, particularly through the Thirties. These included the gorgeous BD500 motorcycle and the sporting Praga Alfa car, which heroically gained the vital 1933 1000 Miles of Czechoslovakia road race 89 years in the past: inspiring Praga’s plans to make 89 Bohema hypercars for road and observe.
Car manufacturing declined after World War Two when the brand new communist authorities dictated that Praga targeting making vehicles and transmissions fairly than road vehicles. Skoda, as an alternative, was favoured because the nation’s car producer of alternative, with Tatra instructed to construct luxurious vehicles and vehicles.
With the autumn of Communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989, Praga – nonetheless a serious presence round Central Europe – was in a position to set its personal agenda once more as a privately owned firm. In the mid-Nineteen Nineties, while nonetheless producing vehicles and large-unit gearboxes, Praga launched a spread of motocross bikes; adopted within the early 2000s with specialist go-anywhere vehicles which have most not too long ago achieved sturdy ends in Dakar rallies, after which in 2009 by racing karts. It additionally works in aviation, with main engine-testing contracts that give its engineers entry to the easiest aerodynamic experience. An revolutionary, STOL Praga airplane is quickly to take to the skies from the corporate’s Praga Avia division.
In 2012 Praga re-entered the race car market with the launch of the R4S then the R1 race vehicles that in the present day win in one-make, combined prototype and combined endurance race sequence in Australia, Dubai, the UK and USA. The Bohema shares no single half with the R1, however the race car impressed the one-off street-legal R1R prototype – itself offering the catalyst for a extra luxurious, higher-performance and visually dramatic two-seat hypercar: the road authorized track-focused Praga Bohema.
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