PRAGA R1 gets new rollbar system in order to race in the UK

PRAGA R1

gets new rollbar system in order to race in the UK

With its carbon monocoque, the Praga R1 is extremely safe on its own and doesn’t really need a traditional rollbar system. Some racing series, however, have stringent rules which do not reflect recent advances in materials and technology. In order to race, you need a rollbar, just for the sake of the rules. Naturally, we have found a solution. Vincent Randall from VR Motorsport will introduce you to the new rollbar system being used by Praga to successfully compete on racing circuits in Britain.

When VR Motorsport purchased its first Praga R1T in 2016, the car arrived in July, just a month after the UK voted to leave the EU. This timing was pretty significant, as you’ll see later in this article.

In its standard form, the Praga R1 utilizes a beautifully designed and crafted structural monocoque chassis. This enables it to enter races all around Europe and, indeed, the world without any modification, but, unfortunately, the situation in the UK is different. The MSA / Motorsport UK insist on a steel ROPS (rollover protection structure) for a car of this class, size and weight. Although we at VR Motorsport understand and respect this position, it was a major inconvenience for us.

We were left with two options: either find a race series that would allow the standard cars without any modification, or try and build our own ROPS system. Doing that required opening a dialogue with the MSA and engineering a system that would fit the R1 and comply with the MSA’s requirements.

At first, we decided to enter the Dutch GT prototype series. This allowed us to race on some legendary circuits like Spa-Francorchamps or Zandvoort. Even better, we got to meet and compete against some great people, and there were already two Praga R1s in the competition.

Still, we wanted to race in Britain, so we started the dialogue with the MSA in 2017. Soon, it became apparent that before making any changes to the car, we would have to let the MSA decide what class to actually place us in. This would ultimately determine whether or not we would be able to meet one of our key design criteria - making the ROPS system completely and easily removable when racing outside of the UK.

By early 2018, the MSA had decided that our car would be classified as a sports car, allowing us to use just a rear rollover hoop. A well-considered and safe approach, this was good news for us, as it meant we could make the ROPS removable. It also came at the right time – with Brexit negotiations dragging on, it looked less and less likely that we would find it easy to race in continental Europe in 2019. The time was tight, so we needed to go ahead and design our ROPS and a way to fit it to the carbon chassis.

We spent the summer of 2018 busy, designing the system while also competing in the GT and Prototype series. By the end of the

summer, we had won our classes in both series and had the ROPS design approved by MSA.

The roll bar itself is simple. We were able to re-use a lot of the existing fixing points in the car, those which were originally designed for things like the seat belts or the head restraint. We also utilized another specific feature of the R1 - its fuel tank bulkhead. What would be just a single skin in many other cars is a 20 mm thick aluminium honeycomb - carbon structural member. This allowed us to use a relatively small rollbar, which added just 9 kg to the overall weight of the car. Even better, we could retain the option of running the car two-seated for demo laps or driving experiences.

I am delighted to say we now have this amazing car competing successfully in the UK in the Britcar endurance series - and with only 20 minutes of tinkering it can revert back to a standard car. In 2020 our turbo car will be joined by at least one normally aspirated R1 and possibly a number of customer cars for various events around the UK and Europe.

Vincent Randall VR Motorsport Ltd