Praga R1R: Street Legal Villain
PRAGA R1R
STREET LEGAL VILLAIN
Words by Carlo Brema
Photos by Praga Global
You probably never heard about Praga until a few years ago, but it must be said that the company hailing from Slovakia exists since 1907, a period when it was still building agricultural machinery, trucks, carriages and war vehicles. We need to make a leap in time and reach 2015 to find the first street legal car Praga built since 1947, right after 68 years, here is explained the reason for the 68 units of the R1R here.
The R1R is one of the many tool that allow you to leave home in the morning, round some fast lap on the track, basically spanking every supercar out there and return to the garage at the end of the day. This will probably happen with painful back and arms, but the smile that you have printed on your face will repay any effort. So you need only a driving license and about € 198,000, not to mention that you will be practically stopped every second by the police and curious asking what the hell you have under your seat. Yep, what is this R1R? It is a featherweight rocket that thanks to a carbon fiber monocoque does not exceed a total weight of 700 kg (the needle stops at just 670 kg) and driven by a 4-cylinder turbocharged Renault-sourced able to develop 390hp and 530Nm of torque on the rear axle and through a 6-speed Hewland gearbox. On paper it is a missile, in reality it is even better.
Available with single seat or with a second optional seat – as long as you agree to enter into intimacy with the one sitting next to you – the Praga wheeled rocket is literally devoted to aerodynamics, not only in aesthetic terms where the huge spoiler stands out at the back and the look of a single-seater just covered by a light bodywork, both in terms of performance, where it is possible to generate a downforce even higher than the overall weight of the car, once reached 200 per hour. This, by the way, is a simple task, given a power/weight ratio nothing short of mental and that you could reach 100 kph in less than 3 seconds, with a declared maximum speed of about 260 kph. The Renault engine is a marvel and makes the 4-cylinder scream up to 7,000 rpm, at each gear change corresponds a strong kick in the back, all made even more drastic by the fact that you are not only sitting a few centimeters from the ground, but literally lying in the carbon shell and enveloped by the instrumentation on board.
There is absolutely nothing superfluous in front of you and the steering wheel in typical racing style is equipped with a digital display from which to keep under control the gears, the engine revs and various parameters useful to make the most of your driving experience. As mentioned, it is possible to roam on the road, but it is logical that any maneuver outside of going forward will be something really difficult – the price to pay for a similar fun. Overcome the difficulties in getting on board, while you are certain that you will not want to go down, the PRaga R1R is one of those “cars” that create a certain addiction, especially when you begin to get familiar with the braking spaces that are able to offer, not to mention the insane speed through cornering made possible by its aero, authentic fundamental point of the whole project, obviously also declined in the racing world with the R1.
If years ago the Lotus Seven paved the way for these weekend toys, the road traveled in the following decades has evolved, but making it almost impossible to enjoy a slow pace at the wheel of such a multi-talented weapon – in this sense, something like a Caterham still is multipurpose. Like the Radical, the Praga R1R is a track weapon that finds its personal nirvana and therefore yours between the curbs, but for being a toy it requires pretty important money and this, combined with the fact of being a rather exotic name, will not make life easy for it. What is certain is that these cars are petrol for our passion, precisely because they have nothing rational and exist only for one purpose, to make you feel alive.
PRAGA R1R
Layout – mid-rear engine, rear wheel drive
Engine – 4 cylinder 1.998cc – turbocharged
Transmission – 6-speed automatic gearbox
Power – 390 hp @ 6.750 rpm
530 Nm @ 4.200 rpm
Weight – 670 kg
Acceleration – < 3 sec.
Top Speed – 260 kph ca.
Price – € 198.000 ca.