What was meant to be a nice Spa day just turned into a hard day at work for Czech hypercar company Praga. It was only at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium for a track day with customers and guests. But with a company test driver behind the wheel, the 700-horsepower Praga Bohema has taken the record at the iconic track.
And it’s not like this was some obscure record set 30 years ago by a hot hatchback. Praga took the record from a Pagani, and the company did it while other cars were on the track.
A Spa Day Became Celebration Instead Of Relaxation
Praga Bohema Spa recordPraga
Praga was at Spa for a track day run by a company called Curbstone events. It puts on track days at some of the biggest circuits in Europe, letting owners experience their cars to full effect.
The Bohema was there for “what was intended to be a straightforward customer driving event.” It was a standard car on road-legal tires without any special preparation, which is remarkable when automakers can spend months preparing for a Nürburgring record lap and still fail for the smallest of reasons.
Company test driver Aleš Jirásek was piloting the Bohema that day. He said that “after a few sessions, we realized the conditions were good and decided to see what the Bohema could do.”
What it could do was run a 2:21.42 around the longest circuit on the F1 calendar. The time puts it almost two full seconds up on the old record, a 2:23.08 that was set by the driver of a Pagani Huayra BC in 2019. That’s a long time for a record to stand, so it shows how quick the Bohema really can be.
A Daily Driver Track Beast?
Praga Bohema Spa recordPraga
Praga calls this the lap record for a “type-approved, road-legal car on road-legal tires at Spa-Francorchamps.” So a real production road car on tires that could stay on for the drive home. The car comes with Pirelli Trofeo R rubber, which isn’t exactly a typical all-season, but it is much more streetable than the available Michelin slicks. With Jirásek having to plan his lap around the other drivers enjoying the circuit, and without even tweaking the suspension for the track, the time is even more impressive.
“This achievement perfectly captures what the Bohema is all about,” said company owner Tomas Kasparek. “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.”
Front three-quarter view of the only Praga Bohema in America.Roger Biermann/CarBuzz/Valnet
The Bohema is a sub 2,200-pound hypercar that makes nearly the same weight in downforce at 155 miles per hour. It has 700 horsepower from a version of the 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 you’d normally find in a Nissan GT-R. British performance experts Litchfield tweaked the carbon fiber car’s engine for this application.
Praga can add this record to its list, which includes fast times at some other very impressive tracks in Europe. It also set a seriously quick time around the Top Gear test track, where former Stig Ben Collins drove it there and back, and in the middle of his Sunday drive was just 0.1 seconds off the 1,139 hp Aston Martin Valkyrie’s best time.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Generally speaking, automakers setting track records has become a clichéd blob of marketing that has very little relevance in the real world. However, if Praga is being completely honest about this record (and we believe they are), this is actually a very notable achievement because it’s not something manufactured, if you will. There was no prep work, no planning, no attempt to spin the narrative for a favorable outcome, regardless of the actual outcome.
This was a really fast car demonstrating its capability in a real-world environment. Yes, there was a phenomenal driver behind the wheel, but running street-legal tires while zipping around cars and still taking a record set by a Pagani? That speaks more for the car and the company than any Nürburgring attempt planned out months in advance.
