A featherweight Czech track car just beat a Pagani's lap record at Spa, on road tyres
David just lapped Goliath at one of the world's greatest circuits
There are few better places to prove a car than Spa-Francorchamps, and few sweeter results than a small underdog beating a legend on its own turf. The Praga Bohema, a featherweight track car from a Czech company most people have never heard of, has just set a new road-legal lap record at the Belgian circuit, and the car it beat wears one of the most revered badges in motoring: Pagani.
The lap, and the margin
Factory test driver Ales Jirasek took the Bohema around Spa's 7 kilometres in 2 minutes 21.42 seconds. That beats the previous road-legal record held by the Pagani Huayra BC Roadster, which managed 2:23.08, by more than one and a half seconds. Around a lap this long and this fast, that is a commanding margin, and it puts the little Praga clearly at the top of the timesheets at one of the most demanding tracks in the world.
The most impressive part: it was almost casual
This is where it becomes genuinely remarkable. The record was not set during a carefully managed record attempt with slick tyres and a closed circuit. It happened during a normal public track day, with the Bohema running on ordinary road tyres. In other words, this was close to a best-case everyday result rather than an all-out effort, which strongly suggests there is a good deal more time still in the car with proper preparation and stickier rubber.
Why the Bohema is so quick
The secret is not brute force. The Bohema uses a Nissan-derived twin-turbo V6 with around 700 hp, which is modest next to the multi-million-euro hypercars it is embarrassing. What it has instead is physics. It weighs around 980 kg, a fraction of most rivals, and generates enormous aerodynamic downforce, close to its own weight, so it corners and brakes with a ferocity heavier, more powerful cars simply cannot match. It is a road-legal racing car in all but name, and Spa, with its long fast corners, is exactly where that shows.
AutoNext Take
This is the kind of result that makes you fall in love with cars all over again. A tiny Czech firm building a stripped-out, lightweight track weapon has just out-driven a Pagani, one of the most exotic and expensive names on earth, around the greatest circuit in Europe, and done it almost casually on road tyres. It is a glorious reminder that in a corner, lightness and downforce beat horsepower and heritage every single time, and that engineering purity does not care how famous your badge is.
There is a lovely Belgian dimension too. Spa-Francorchamps is not just any circuit; it is one of the sport's spiritual homes, a place where reputations are made and exposed, and setting a landmark time there means something a lap of a flat test track never could. The Bohema will always be a rare and expensive thing few will ever drive, but records like this are how a small maker earns a giant reputation. On this evidence, Praga has thoroughly earned its place among the greats.
