As the Praga R1 – a thoroughbred mini-prototype race car from the Czech purveyors of karts and Dakar trucks – entered the paddock, its driver dipped the clutch and gave the throttle three short, sharp, stabs.
The engine revs rose in line with the staccato blips, the sound of a highly tuned four-cylinder turbocharged engine ricocheting off the nearby pitlane garages.
