The Austro Daimler 'Sascha': Porsche's first racer?

• 

We see here rather a lot of post-war Porsches for a website dedicated to pre-war cars. Don't be distracted, though; it’s the centrepiece which is the star here, an Austro Daimler ADS-R racer dating back to 1922 and with strong links to later Porsche sports cars, with it being an early design of Herr Doktor Ferdinand Porsche. He was the man who built it prior to starting car manufacture under his own name; in fact, he worked as a chief designer for Austro Daimler at the time. We’re not quite sure whether they initially liked his idea for a lightweight racer, though. Porsche named the car Sascha after his friend Alexander Joseph Graf Kolowrat-Krakowsky, better known as Sascha. Count Sascha is said to have greatly encouraged him to build a small sports car, and he also personally financed the project.

Does that make it the first Porsche sports car? We'll leave that for the experts to debate, but it seems a nifty design in all its Spartanness. With an 1,100 c.c. four-cylinder engine with an aluminium block and bevel-driven overhead camshafts, it pumped out some 50 b.h.p., making it seriously competitive in its day. It seems Austro Daimler realised that, as it was not confined to being just a one-off. For the 1922 Targa Florio, no fewer than four Sascha racers were built, with three of them entered in the race. They came first and second in class. Legend has it that the cars were originally white in colour but painted red for the train journey to Italy to ensure that they wouldn’t stand out too much and get stolen. To make them easier to identify from a distance, playing card symbols were painted on the sides of each of them: hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades.

Do any of them besides this one survive? We’re not sure. This picture dates from the early 1960s when the Porsche Museum already existed and the Austro Daimler racer was already part of the inventory. It is photographed here outside the manufacturing hall next to brand-new 356s. The car is still part of the museum collection today, but a few years ago it was restored and repainted in white, oddly now wearing the spades symbol rather then the diamonds seen here

Words: Jeroen Booij
Picture: Porsche Museum

Make a comment, ask a question, give your opinion, share additional information or start a discussion by filling in the fields below.