You Can Buy This Whole-Ass Praga Race Car For Less Than A Base Porsche 911

You may be able to swing the cost of a relatively cheap road car that was turned into a race car, but no normal person could afford an actual race car, like the Praga R1, that was designed from the ground up to lay down the fastest laps possible, right? Until companies are forced to start paying their workers a fair wage, that's unfortunately probably true, but at the same time, you may be surprised to see just how little it costs to pick up a used track special. Head down to Miami, for example, and you can pick up this 2014 Praga R1 for less than the cost of a new, base-model Porsche 911. 

I'm sure a few of you can probably recite the starting MSRP of every new car on sale right now, from memory, but if you don't know what it costs to get into a Porsche 911 Carrera, don't worry, I'll forgive you. Add in the $2,350 destination charge, and you're looking at a minimum of $137,850 for the most basic 2026 911 Carrera that Porsche sells. It's a hell of a performance car, but that's still enough to buy this entire house in Detroit. Meanwhile, the Praga, which I need to remind you is a whole-ass race car, is listed for a mere $129,800.

That's still house-in-Detroit money, but in exchange you get an absolute track monster, not just a super-comfortable grand tourer with enviable handling for a road car. And since Praga did sell a street-legal version, it's at least plausible that you could convert this one into something you could use off-track. Pull up to dinner in this thing, and the valets are definitely parking it up front for everyone to see (because they'll refuse to drive it, but still).

Okay, so you probably don't actually want to drive a dedicated race car on the street, even if you could afford to make it street legal (and especially in a state that requires front plates), and parts availability could be an issue, but it's not like it's entirely custom. The engine, for example, is a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder built by Renault Sport that should be good for at least 365 horsepower and 291 pound-feet of torque. Power is then sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed sequential semi-automatic transaxle from Hewland JFR, and with an estimated 1,400-pound curb weight, you're looking at slightly more than 3.8 pounds per horsepower. Not bad at all.

According to the listing, the car also comes with "a rebuilt shift compressor, new battery, starter motor, right driveshaft, suspension inspection, brake and clutch bleeding, and replacement of all fluids" and "has been preserved, not altered, respecting its original engineering intent and ensuring it remains ready to perform exactly as designed." You'll also get five full sets of spare wheels and tires and "an additional spare parts package" to help you keep your new racer running. 

Not that it's done much running over the last decade. The listing also claims that Chassis #015 "has been part of the Squadra Lupo private collection since new and has had a single owner from day one" and "has never been raced or abused, used exclusively for private track days and professionally serviced after every outing. With less than 25 operating hours, it remains in outstanding preserved condition." So it's basically brand new. 

While it's true that a car you can't drive on the street makes a poor substitute for one that you can, the fact remains that you can drive faster and push a car harder on the track than you can on public roads. If you can afford a supercar like the $350,000 Ferrari 296 GTB, it almost definitely won't be your only car, so why not buy a race car instead and really enjoy yourself while building your skills? You may not ever get fast enough to become go pro, but at least you won't have to worry about cops ruining your fun any time you want to go fast.