Praga Bohema Supercar And The Former Stig Get Ready For Goodwood Festival Of Speed
With its low-slung nose, narrow cockpit, and rear wing integrated into the bodywork, the Praga Bohema supercar looks like a driver could sneak onto the track at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and no one would notice. The term road-legal race car often comes up when auto enthusiasts discuss the most hardcore machines available, but this machine exemplifies that idea.
Ben Collins, formerly The Stig, is proving that the Bohema can back up its race-ready appearance by taking it to the track. He already set a lap record for pure combustion road cars around the former Top Gear Test Track, with a time of 1:09.8 minutes. Collins nearly beat the Aston Martin Valkyrie’s production vehicle record of 1:09.7.
Now, Collins is preparing for another potential course record. He is driving the Bohema up the hill climb at the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed, which runs from July 10-13. CarBuzz sat down with him for an exclusive interview, and Collins offered some insights about his plans at one of the United Kingdom’s most important automotive events.
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Collins On Goodwood
Collins isn’t sure whether Praga wants him to go for a Goodwood Hill Climb course record at the Festival of Speed. When we asked him about the company’s intention, he responded:
“I believe that’s the plan. I’m waiting for my orders on that one. I think the most important thing is that we’re meeting customers who bought the car. They’re going to receive their cars at Goodwood, which is fantastic, a great place to go.”
With so many VIPs and potential buyers in attendance, it would make sense for the supercar company to let Collins unleash the machine on the hill climb and go as fast as possible. Praga will deliver three Bohemas to their new owners during the Goodwood event. One of them will be the first example for a customer in the United States. Collins will also drive these new owners on the hill climb course so that they’ll be able to experience the supercar with a professional behind the wheel.
“So obviously, if I’ve got a passenger, it won’t be for a competitive run, but hopefully they might let me lose for one.”
– Ben Collins, Praga development driver
If Collins gets to do an all-out run at the hill climb, then the burning question is whether it could beat the current production car record, which is 48:82 seconds from the Czinger 21C. Collins remained modest in the interview. “I’ll have to have a look at that. I wouldn’t bet against anything with the Praga,” he said. He admitted that the course favored hybrids and EVs rather than the purely combustion-powered Bohema because all the vehicles begin from a standing start. It’s the same reason the Praga lost crucial tenths of a second to the Aston Martin Valkyrie around Dunsfold.
“That’s got a lot of power,” Collins said of the 21C. “You’re talking 500 horsepower more on a hill climb. And what I’ve learned from a previous run I did with Lucid – when we got the fastest for a production car, in a different class – it smoked a load of stuff. It beat the GT2 RS, and we were on an eco tire, because it was able to get the power down so, so well, and it had 1,000 horsepower.” According to Collins, “with a hill climber from a standing start, it does favor hybrids and battery tech more than something like what we have [in the Praga], which is where you get a more consistent drive, and you could do lap after lap.”
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What Makes The Praga Bohema So Special
The Praga brand is from the Czech Republic and has 116 years of history. However, it hasn’t built a road car since 1947. The revived company began teasing a new supercar in 2022. The automaker unveiled the Bohema later that year.
The motorsport-inspired machine starts at roughly $1.3 million, and Praga plans to build a limited run of 89 total examples. The company assembles each of them by hand in the Czech Republic to a customer’s exact personalization requests.
Beyond the race-ready appearance and seven-figure price, the Bohema has a fascinating engine. A twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 from the Nissan GT-R, making 700 horsepower, sits behind the driver. The unit receives additional tuning from the British firm Litchfield Motors. All the power goes to the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential gearbox.
Despite the relatively modest horsepower figure by modern supercar standards, the Bohema has a low dry weight below 2,300 pounds, allowing it to exploit every bit of the engine’s power. Underneath the skin, there’s a carbon composite monocoque and rear-mounted chromoly frame.
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Praga Bohema Specifications |
|
|---|---|
|
Engine |
Twin-Turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 |
|
Horsepower |
700 hp @ 6,800 rpm |
|
Torque |
535 lb-ft @ 3,000-6,000 rpm |
|
Transmission |
Six-speed sequential |
|
Drivetrain |
Rear-wheel drive |
|
Dry Weight |
Less than 2,300 pounds |
|
0-62 MPH |
Under 3.5 seconds |
|
Top Speed |
197 mph |
We can’t wait to see if Collins gets to unleash the Bohema’s full capabilities at Goodwood. After doing so well at the Top Gear course, he and the car show promise of going very fast at the Festival of Speed.
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