Today

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.