Downforce is a mysterious concept. You have to believe that invisible air will interact with your car’s aerodynamics and enable it to deliver cornering performance in a way it wouldn’t otherwise be able to do. It requires a completely different driving style from a car that generates lap-time from mechanical grip and driver bravery. Corners you’d feather in a touring car become arcs where you bury the throttle and experience the converse effect from the expected: the faster you go the more downforce you generate and the quicker you can go round the corner. You just have to believe, as you tip the scales from mechanical grip to aero, and the air pressure turns from enemy to ally.
Thankfully, in a race sim you can explore that balance without jeopardy, and Raceroom’s latest aero-laden machine will be the Praga R1, part of our Drivers Pack release that’s due in early December. This pack is deliberately curated to contain a mini ladder of cars that give you a cross section of very different driving experiences, but that all very much come under the headline of Fun To Drive. The R1 represents the top level in our Drivers Pack: downforce-laden, prototype-style performance, all in one svelte and incredibly lightweight package.
We’ve developed the Raceroom Praga R1 from official CAD data, combined with our usual attention to detail and collaboration directly with the company. We’ve witnessed the car up close, and built the car and its physics hand-in-hand with Praga’s Product & Operations Specialist, Chris Bridle, as well as the drivers that emerged victorious in the 2022 Praga Cup UK: sim racing superstar Jimmy Broadbent and break-out talent Gordie Mutch.
The Praga R1 is a car that works for novices and veterans alike. For the former it provides both excitement and a progressive learning curve that allows you to get fast, quickly. For pros – and experienced sim racers in Raceroom – as ever there are those final tenths that can achieved, that delve into the car’s final percentages of performance. It’s why we think it fits so well into our theme for December, as does Chris Bridle: “It’s fantastic to see such an accurate model of the Praga R1 on a platform that is well established but also really accessible to sim racers!”
The Praga name may not be on the tip of racers’ tongues, but the Czech company have been quietly working away over the last decade to put the marque front and centre in the motorsport world. It’s where it deserves to be: this is a proud company whose history actually stretches back over a century. The 2022 version of the R1 that we feature in Raceroom is the latest update of Praga’s track weapon, weighing in at an insanely light 660kg but packing a 365bhp, turbo-charged punch. In real life, it barely comes up to your waist: the top of the cockpit scoop is under a metre off the ground.
The R1’s power comes from a retuned 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo taken from a Formula Renault single-seater, and the suspension features inboard pushrods and double wishbones. The bodywork is all carbon fibre and features exposed cut-outs that accentuate its mecha-warrior looks: this is one aggressive-looking car, that looks like the bodywork has been shrink-wrapped around a single-seater.
The R1 has phenomenal braking power to balance the speed and its relatively diminutive size. Combined with that low weight (which is helped by a high-spec carbon tub at the car's heart), the R1 has a go-kart edge to the handling: but a go-kart that can pull 3G through a corner. Although the bodywork looks the business, there's a strong emphasis on underbody tunnels to generate LMP2-levels of downforce. However, it's also stiffly sprung and has an open differential, plus the turbo does take some managing in terms of delivery – which means it's a car where you can't let concentration slip. But driving an R1 is a quick – in every sense – way to scare big and heavy GT3s that might think they’re going to breeze past.
Our Praga R1 comes with all the main liveries used in the Praga Cup UK, including some beauties designed by Frank Stephenson – a man who has designed cars that include the McLaren P1, Maserati MC12 and Ferrari FXX!
The final word goes to Praga Cup UK co-champion Jimmy Broadbent:
“It's been awesome working with Raceroom to bring our Praga to the sim world. The detail on this car is amazing and honestly it's surreal to see it recreated to this level in sim!”
The Praga R1 is part of Raceroom’s Drivers Pack, which will be available in early December.