Austro-Daimler Sascha

The Austro-Daimler Sascha (also called Sascha or Sascha Porsche) is a car from 1922. It was designed by the [Austrian, Czechoslovakian and German car, truck, aviation motor and tank designer] Ferdinand Porsche. The car was named by Ferdinand Porsche after Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky, a friend who had encouraged him greatly to build a small, lightweight sports car.

Austro-Daimler Sascha in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart

In that period, Porsche still worked for the Austrian Austro-Daimler and designed a small, lightweight sports car of 1100 cc that was revolutionary for its time. It had a four cylinder engine with 8 inclined overhead valves and bevel-driven dual overhead camshafts, preceding the bevel drive of the later Fuhrmann engine in some Porsche 356 Carrera models. The motor had a very wide crankcase with a cast flat surface all along the two members of the ladder frame to which it was bolted rigidly in the same fashion as the big 6 Cylinder Hispano Suiza cars. The engine of the Sascha had a capacity of 1100 cc and produced 50 horsepower, which was quite a lot for that time.

The car achieved a top speed of 144 km/h. For racing, the fender and spotlight could be removed. Surviving examples of this vehicle show staggered bucket seats for the driver and mechanic and the absence of a tail body. In most period photographs, the rear suspension, brakes and differential are exposed, though some also show a variant with a small torpedo tail being used. For the Targa Florio race of 1922, three Saschas were sent to Sicily. They came first and second in the 1100 cc-class with an average speed of 54 kilometres per hour (34 mph) over a distance of 432 kilometres (268 mi), with very bad roads and a few slopes of 12.5%.

By comparison, the overall winner of the Targa Florio in 1922 won in a Mercedes at an average of 63 km/h while the car was equipped with a much more powerful engine.