Praga Kart Greece -Our story

THE COLLABORATION WITH PRAGA KART

In 2013, Zahos the Art of Karting team gained a new, strong ally, as it became the official partner of Praga Kart. Vasilis and Nikos Zahos, with their many years of experience in karting as both drivers and coaches, knew that they wanted the best and safest karts for their students. They found what they wanted in Praga. The Praga kart chassis fulfills the brothers’ high demands when it comes to both quality and performance. There’s also the technical support. Being a large and renowned company, Praga was able to offer the help the Zahos brothers needed to make their dream of competitive racing team come true.

Nowadays, they coach more than 15 drivers each year, either to prepare them for races or just to improve their driving and have some good fun. The aura of the two brothers who run it brings droves of kids of all ages who want to have a go in the super stylish Praga karts -or who just want to watch.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF KARTING

The core mission of Zahos the art of karting team is to help kart drivers to become better and more competitive. The team has a vast amount of knowledge and experience to share with both beginners and advanced drivers.

Karting is unique in that it’s one of the few forms of motorsport you can get into at a really young age – often as early as 5 years old. At the same time, it’s a hobby that anyone can enjoy, no matter their age. Either way, karting helps to develop faster reflexes, precision control of a vehicle and teaches you to make fast decisions. This makes it more than just a hobby – for active drivers, it’s a way to improve their road-driving skills in a safe environment.

PRAGA KART IN GREECE

The headquarters of the “Zahos the art of karting” team also serves as a Greek representative of Praga Kart. It includes a central kart store and a workshop where the engineers fine-tune every Praga kart to fulfill the exacting demands of the drivers. You can learn more about what the team has to offer at www.pragakart.gr

With the colors of Praga Kart! Wins and titles!!

The “Zahos the art of karting” racing team has a long history with many successes in its past - and, hopefully, in its future as well. The drivers in Praga Kart colours are among the stars of the National Championship in Greece, Rotax Max Challenge and the lamex30 Series, often scoring victories or claiming titles. During the six years of collaboration between “Zahos the art of karting” and Praga Kart, the team’s drivers have repeatedly qualified for the Grand Finals, like the Rotax Grand Final 2018 in Brazil, which was a unique trip and an unforgettable experience for the whole team.

This year, “Zahos the art of karting” managed to get two drivers qualified for the Rotax Grand Final, which will take place in Sarno, Italy. Thanos Zanos, starting in the micro Max class, will be the youngest driver overall, while Emmanouil Tzamariadakis will be among the most competitive in the DD2 Master Max. Other drivers from “Zahos the art of karting”, Yiannis Ntafos and Andrew Spanos, will appear in the junior x30 class.

PRAGA ALFA

Hard-worker of the skies

Text: Vojtěch Dobeš Photo: Petr Kolmann

When we think of flying and airplanes, we usually imagine massive, gleaming jets departing from sprawling airports. For most people, an airplane is something so technologically complicated it borders on magical. Something that needs constant attention, lots of staff to care for it and a perfectly controlled environment to operate in.

Not all planes are like that, though. Sometimes, you need a plane that can do the hard work where other planes cannot even land. A plane that will take off from a field (or a lake), carry supplies, fight fires, drop skydivers, rescue the injured, dust crops and do all kinds of other tasks, while requiring minimal maintenance. What you need for the job is the Praga Alfa.

This plane is not built to be pampered and look pretty. It was made for hard work. Originally, it was designed to replace several older models, including the legendary Antonov An-2, at the time still the most widely used airplane in the country. The idea was to replace the An-2 with two types. One larger – this role was supposed to be filled by the Let L-410 Turbolet, also from the Czech Republic – and one smaller. The result was the SM-92 Finist, which later evolved into the Praga Alfa. Its design was fairly typical for a hard-working plane. High- -mounted wings gave it stability at low speeds and made loading and manoeuvering at makeshift airstrips easier. Large flaps and slots helped to achieve low minimum speeds and STOL (Short Take-off and Landing) capabilities. High, conventional landing gear (two large wheels in front, one small at the back) allowed it to cope better with rough surfaces. Sliding doors made the loading and unloading of passengers or cargo into the cabin easy. And everything was built to be simple and durable, to last even in harsh conditions and when no hangar was available.

The original version of the aircraft was powered by a radial piston engine. Later, it was decided to go for a more effective and powerful Walter M-601 turboprop engine, and production was eventually moved to the Czech Republic. The plane received a new name, the Praga Alfa, and an application to get European EASA certification was started. Currently, one fully functional prototype with the Czech registration OK-FOX is operated by Praga from Hradec Králové airport in the Czech Republic. The choice of engines now also includes a General Electric Aviation (formerly Walter) M601 or a GE H75-200 or Pratt & Whitney PT6A engines.

THE MAGIC OF FLYING SLOWLY

When deliveries of production Alfas to customers all around the world start, the aircraft will perform various duties – but most of them will have one thing in common. However counterintuitive it may sound, one of the biggest strengths of this plane is its ability to be slow. While Praga’s automotive engineers are doing their best to make their cars as fast as possible, with this airplane it is the other way around. The ability to produce enough lift at low speeds means it is able to do a whole lot of things that other planes can’t. Like taking off from less than 200 metres of “runway” (or a field) and clear a 15 metre-high obstacle in just over 500 metres. To land, the Praga Alfa needs even less space.

This, of course, comes in handy when flying in remote areas where you can’t hope for long runways – or, sometimes, any runways at all. The Praga Alfa is built to do the hard jobs, often in remote places where few other planes can fly, and many of those that can, like the DeHavilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver or the Pilatus PC-6, aren’t in production anymore. Praga aims to provide a replacement for many of those aging planes working in tough conditions around the world.