This Unknown Supercar Just Broke a Top Gear Lap Record

The Praga Bohema is a Czech-made supercar that debuted early last year. You may or may not have heard of it. Either way, deliveries began late last year, and now one example has lapped the Top Gear Test Track in the United Kingdom faster than any pure combustion car before it.

The supercar uses a twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V-6 engine sourced from the Nissan GT-R and modified by Praga with bespoke turbos, a dry sump, and a titanium exhaust system. It makes 700 horsepower and 535 pound-feet of torque, pairing with a six-speed sequential gearbox.

The car can hit 62 miles per hour in less than three seconds and reach a top speed of 197 miles per hour. All that power allowed the car to lap the track in 1 minute, 9.8 seconds. The Praga almost beat the Aston Martin Valkyrie’s lap time of 1 minute, 9.7 seconds, and the Aston is a 1,140-horsepower hybrid.

What the Bohema lacks in power, it compensates for in lightness and aerodynamics. The car weighs less than 2,300 pounds and can create up to 1,984 pounds of downforce at 155 miles per hour.

Likely helping Praga get the best time out of the Bohema was the driver, Ben Collins, the former Stig from the Top Gear show, who’s now a Praga test driver. He drove the car to the track on road tires and completed the lap without any modifications to the supercar. According to Praga, he simply donned his race suit, warmed up the tires, and attacked the track.

Praga has already allowed customers to drive the Bohema, and it’ll deliver three more cars to customers at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, including the first US owner. Praga, a company founded in 1907, plans to build just 89 examples of the supercar.