Praga and its UK plan
At a time when many manufacturers are reducing their racing involvement, Praga is expanding its programme and believes the UK is the perfect shop window for its new R1 model
“COMMUNISM CAME AND THERE WAS A POLITICAL DECISION THAT PRAGA WILL STOP BUILDING CARS”
When a new model from a car manufacturer with a 114-year history begins racing in the UK, you would expect that the company would be a wellknown marque. But that was not the case when Praga’s R1 began competing on these shores in 2019. And there’s a simple reason why: communism.
Praga was very successful during the 1930s, at a time when there were dozens of car manufacturers in Czechoslovakia. It dwarfed Skoda, for example, and didn’t just build road cars, but also trucks, buses, tanks, tractors and more. But that all changed after the Second World War.
“Communism came to Czechoslovakia and there was a political decision made that Praga will stop manufacturing cars, that will shift to Skoda, and Praga will concentrate on buses and trucks,” explains Praga engineering director Jan Martinek. By the time communism fell in 1989, Praga had faded into obscurity around the rest of the world, Martinek saying that “it wasn’t easy to stand up to the competition from established countries”.
“You can’t start mass-producing cars again out of nothing, so [first] it was the go-karts,” he continues. “Praga started building go-karts and Praga is one of the largest go-kart manufacturers in the world.” And that’s pretty useful if you have aspirations to build a successful car racing programme, Williams Formula 1 ace George Russell being one of the early Praga karters.
But the aspiration was always a return to car manufacturing, and that was realised with the Praga R4S in 2011. A couple of years later, the initial version of the R1 came along and this soon caught the eye of Vincent Randall, boss of UK club racing squad VR Motorsport.
“I saw the prototype R1 at the Autosport Show,” he says. “We were racing in clubs like 750 Motor Club Bikesports at the time and I looked at it and thought, ‘You know what? If I was going to build a race car, it would look a bit like that.’ I pondered the possibility of selling up out of club racing and trying to do something a bit more serious and we actually bought the first R1 sold to the UK in 2016.”
But there was a fairly fundamental problem – the R1 was not actually eligible to race in the UK. “It’s a full carbon monocoque chassis, so it’s extremely strong but, in the UK, you have to have a steel rollhoop, which it didn’t have,” explains Randall.
There started a long period of discussion with governing body Motorsport UK, while Randall began running the car in the Dutch Supercar Challenge, and eventually a compromise was found, the R1 making its UK debut in 2019 in the Britcar Endurance Championship. The car was instantly successful and won its class, but a few reliability issues prevented it from taking the overall crown. There were no such problems last year as teenagers Danny Harrison and Jem Hepworth – one of three Praga pairings – stormed to the title as Pragas won all but two of the races.
And Praga’s presence in the UK is set to move to the next level this season. A dedicated category for the Czech cars will form part of the Britcar series, and between 10 and 12 cars are expected to take part. “That’s a fifty-fifty mix of cars that are provided by Praga, in essence as factory cars, to an interesting group of novice racing drivers and current expert professional drivers, who will raise our profile significantly in the UK, and also paying customers – people who are buying the cars or racing via buying the seats,” says EX-BMW and Mclaren man Mark Harrison (no relation to Danny), who joined Praga last year as managing director of a new UK division.
Despite the uncertainties created by Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic, it’s reassuring to see a manufacturer investing in the
British motorsport scene. And the decision to target the UK market is a very deliberate ploy as part of the company’s expansion.
“Praga’s a very engineering-driven organisation and a lot of mine and Vincent’s plans are about how you raise the brand, and that’s why we’re focusing on the UK a lot,” says Harrison. “If we can build a solid foundation in the UK, raise the profile of the brand and the racing car in the UK, that gives you an immediate step into Europe, into the Middle East, into North America, into Asia. As great as the factory is in Slovakia and the headquarters are in Prague, they’re not necessarily great stepping stones towards the more mature motor racing markets, so that’s the logic of why the company is investing in developing the presence and profile of the programme in the UK.”
And, if the class within Britcar is successful this year, then a full-blown standalone one-make series is on the cards, with Praga one of the companies attempting to fill the gap in the UK market left after the LMP3 Cup flopped. “Earlier last year, we had ambitions to have a one-make series because 20-odd R1s racing together would be quite a sight and quite an experience for drivers,” says Harrison. “But we were realistic to think that could be in 2023 or 2024, because these things take time and there’s lots of people who’ve tried one-make series that have never happened. But, actually, there’s a very good chance that could be accelerated through the conversations we are already having.
“So, there’s some grand ambitions but also a really good foundation that gives us good reason to believe those ambitions are not foolish or out of this world. Those foundations are the strength of the karting business globally, and also the work Vincent has put in over the past two or three years to really put the R1 where it is in the UK now. We’ve reaped the rewards of that last season in Britcar and that’s given the momentum for this year.”
Randall always believed the R1 was destined to form the basis of its own series. “It’s almost the perfect car for a one-make series, because it’s easy to drive for people who are not that experienced, it’s easy to maintain but it’s got the performance of an LMP3 car,” he says. “And it’s safe as well – it’s a very safe car because it’s got a full carbon monocoque. It’s an excellent piece of kit.”
As well as the one-make series, Randall and Harrison also have some very noble aspirations. Randall wants to demonstrate that it’s possible for successful club racing teams to take that next step and operate faster cars at a higher level. At the same time, he is trying to encourage mechanics and engineers from a diverse range of backgrounds, who perhaps would not ordinarily have had the opportunity to get involved in motorsport, to become part of his team. Meanwhile, Harrison says educating the next generation is very important and intends to use Praga’s karting operation to give youngsters plenty of unique chances, such as working with Romain Grosjean – the former F1 racer is an ambassador of Praga.
But a central pillar for many of these ambitions is the latest iteration of the R1, which was unveiled earlier this week. Martinek says there have been four previous generations of the car, but this latest upgrade is by far the most significant – “by the scale of 20!” he says. This new version may look very similar to previous R1s, but do not be fooled. Just about every part of it is different.
New moulds have been used and even the two-litre Renault engine, which has stayed the same and produces 365bhp, has a much more advanced ECU. Martinek says that its power curve is now much smoother, despite being a turbo.
“What we have now is basically a new car,” he adds. “We have improved the aero. That was one of the major things we wanted to look at because since 2011, when the development started, we now have much more sophisticated tools. We are looking at roughly 15% more downforce, while we reduce the drag by about 5%, which we take as a significant accomplishment. There’s a front splitter, the main floor, the rear diffuser and the main wing, and so this all combined allowed us to increase the downforce and lower the drag.”
Another key improvement is in the safety features. The survival cell has been strengthened, while Zylon panels have been added to the side of the car in a bid to make it as safe as possible.
“We then looked at the other details on the car and what we’ve learned over the past seven years, throughout the generations,” Martinek continues. “We listened to our customers and we listened to the race mechanics, so we learned a lot about how to improve the electronics, where to put a connector and where not to, how to make access to the clutch easier, how to insulate the starter motor better, etc. We made an endless amount of modifications and changes to improve working on the car. You can’t really see that when you look at the car but, when you’re a mechanic on the car, you will definitely know the differences.”
The list of improvements is seemingly endless. There is a 50% larger fuel tank, along with the addition of a second main pump and four scavenging pumps. Then there are far superior front lights – one of the most visible changes. The operating panel has been made easier to use, for example some of the switches have been made larger. More sensors have been added to the car too. Then there is improved cooling around the engine and turbo.
In summary, Martinek says: “There’s plenty of small, sophisticated changes underneath the skin, which will make this a hopefully much better beast than the R1 was before.”
But there’s one very important factor that is certainly staying the same: enjoyment. “Out of hundreds of people, they always climb out of the car with a big grin on their face,” says Martinek. “Then you know that you’ve got the right car, because that’s why you do it at the end of the day. This is not about winning world titles, this is not F1, this is about having fun. And, in terms of having fun, we know we’ve got the right car.”
That message is now starting to spread, and the Praga factories are facing the kind of demand they have not enjoyed for decades. Harrison says this is a “nice problem to have”, while Martinek adds that some elements of production are switching from its Slovakia factory – which is handily positioned just over the road from the Slovakia Ring – to the Czech Republic.
Randall is delighted that the company is finally getting the recognition it deserves and says, had history taken a different course, Praga might have already reached far greater heights. “I always say when people ask me about Praga, because no one’s ever heard of them – or until relatively recently, nobody had ever heard of them – ‘they’re 114 years old and if it hadn’t been for building an iron curtain, they would be a Ferrari or Lamborghini, you would be hearing Praga along with those names’,” he says.
Harrison looks at it another way and describes Praga’s carbuilding renaissance as being like “the world’s oldest start-up”. As for Martinek, he is just pleased that the R1’s potential is finally being reached. “Since 2013, when I joined the company, I always dreamed of seeing 24 cars on the grid battling each other, so hopefully in 2022 I will,” he says.
It may be 114 years old, but it seems this really is just the start of Praga’s motorsport journey.
“I ALWAYS SAY, IF IT HADN’T BEEN FOR AN IRON CURTAIN, THEY WOULD BE A FERRARI OR LAMBORGHINI”