The Praga Bohema is a sub-1,000kg road racer

The new Praga Bohema stands in its own niche. There’s no hybridisation, no batteries. Neither is there an exotic number of cylinders. Instead, there’s a 710PS (522kW) V6 engine (which, for road use, has an unlimited-mileage three-year warranty) and a three-figure kerb weight. It’s light, then, and that promises agility as well as speed. In other words, it has our attention.

Czech-based Praga may seem like a relatively new name, and in the world of supercars it is. But the company was established in 1907 and has a distant history in car manufacturing, even if it’s previous offerings were rather more ordinary than the wild Bohema it makes today.

Praga stopped making cars in 1947 but has history in manufacturing trucks, buses, tanks and aircraft. Its other activities sustain it today, which alleviates commercial pressure on its hypercars. The result? Development can be slow and thorough, and there’s no urgency to rush the car to market.

On the evidence of the three customer cars displayed at this year’s Festival of Speed, it’s an approach that’s working well. The Bohema is not only beautifully presented but also has details that illustrate the thought that has gone into making this road racer a bit more... road.

Praga returned to making cars in 2011 and for most of that time its offerings were for track and motorsport use only. The Bohema is the road-going evolution of the R1R, but its development has entailed a lot more than attaching number plates and indicators. The rough and ready interior of a racing car would be unforgivable for a road car, and you only need to pop open to the doors to see just how hard Praga has worked on making the Bohema comfortable.

The door opening is small, and so is the interior. Don’t expect Bugatti Veyron levels of space and luxury, but you can expect the quality of the fit and finish to be up there with the very best.

It is beautifully trimmed, and is ,as practical as such a car can be thanks to some clever thinking. For instance, the key slot is next to the door so you can insert it before you get in — no need to try to reach your pockets once you’re ensconced. 

The sat nav is your phone, which has its own slot in the dashboard, while there’s space behind the seat for a water bottle or Bluetooth speaker that you can reach from the driver’s seat. And while it’s snug for two, there’s space for the passenger’s arm behind the driver’s seat, so occupants don’t compete for elbow room. Meanwhile, twin luggage bins contain fitted luggage with space for two crash helmets.

There has also been a concerted effort to make the car habitable. For instance, the engine is mounted on a separate subframe to isolate its noise to a level that, we’re told, conversation is possible between driver and passenger. It’s not such a racing car for the road that an intercom is needed.

So far, so (reasonably) practical. But this is a car that also makes the most of its 710PS, which comes courtesy of a Litchfield-tuned version of the Nissan GTR’s engine. Praga has recently set lap records at three circuits in Czechia and Slovakia. On the same set of tyres for the entire tour, it displaced records previously set by GT3 racing cars running on slicks. Yes, the Praga Bohema still has our attention. The combination of internal combustion and light weight prove there’s plenty of life in the old ways.

Praga’s decision to attend the Festival of Speed in 2025 was relatively last-minute. With three Bohemas ready at the end of June to hand over to customers — the second, third and fourth produced — they hatched a plan to hand them over to their new owners at the event. The week after being at Goodwood, they attend the former Top Gear circuit at Dunsfold where ex-Stig Ben Collins would show them around their new cars, joined by the owner of the first car, which was delivered late last year.

We caught up with Praga Cars UK Director Mark Harrison on the company’s stand at Goodwood. He joined Praga in 2020 at a time when the company was ready to start marketing the Bohema to potential customers. Mark was PR manager at BMW from 2000 to 2009, and handled the launch of the Mini among other things.

 He then made the move to McLaren, working as PR director when the road car business was launched with the MP4-12C before going on to niche down into the supercar industry, working for the likes of Pininfarina and Rimac. “When Praga said the Bohema had a petrol engine and the car was 1,000kg, it was a refreshing change from a 2,000kg electric car,” he said.

Development of the Bohema had begun in 2017 but Harrison joined in time to have an influence on the car based on his previous experience in the market. “I can look at the car from the customer’s perspective and make a few last-minute adjustments on what works, what might not work,” he explained. An example is the engine cover, which during development was made of three completely removable sections but is now a one-piece hinged opening. 

“I asked the chief engineer and chief designer whether there was a way we can have one piece that lifts up so you can show the engine to people. They said it would be really difficult because they would have to lift it up, then bring it back and under between the exhaust and the rear wing. I said, ‘I know, but it will be worth it,’ and it absolutely is.”

As well as looking more dramatic, it means there’s less risk of damage as there would be if the panels had to be removed and left on the side. It’s this sort of thing that extended the development time but benefitted the end result. And early-adopter customers not only understand the reasons for the extra timescale but actively enjoy being involved. That’s something Harrison has learnt from prior experience.

“If you’re building 50 cars or 100 cars or 500 cars, you get ten per ten cent of customers coming in at the start. They know they’re taking a risk, but they’re really excited to be part of it. Then you get ten per cent at the end waiting to see if it’s going to sell out, and then dive in. The 80 per cent in the middle want to see the car, have a test drive and will disappear for six months on holiday.”

It’s those customers in the middle that Praga is now courting for a production run of Bohemas that won’t exceed 89 cars. And for those people, seeing three customer cars together at Goodwood is very reassuring, much more so than witnessing a prototype and a promise. “To actually be presenting real customer cars to the quality that we can see on the cars at the stand, it’s so much more convincing than having a show car concept car,” said Harrison.

The next customers have already expressed an interest in a Goodwood hand-over in 2026. And when the run of Bohemas comes to an end? “Then we’ll see what comes next.”

Photography by Toby Whales.