Porsche has posted a video dedicated to one of the most crucial vehicles in its entire history. This year marks a century since the historical triumph of the Austro-Daimler ADS R Sascha at the Targa Florio race.
Responsible for the design is none other than Ferdinand Porsche himself, then the head of development at Austro-Daimler. His ambition was to produce a compact, affordably priced car in a large production run. However, the Austro-Daimler Board of Directors was opposed to this idea, forcing him to switch attention to building a competitive sports car instead. Porsche referred to Count Alexander Joseph Graf Kolowrat-Krakowsky, known under the nickname Sascha, for the funding of his project. So were multiple Sascha prototypes born, heading to the mountains of Sicilia for the Targa Florio race.
The result bore historical importance: the Sascha won the tournament in its own competition category. As the same time, it landed 19th in the overall standing. The class victory was not enough for Austro-Daimler to greenlight mass production and led to Ferdinand Porsche leaving the company altogether to found his own one. Thus was Porsche born.
Make sure to watch the video if you haven’t already, it’s quite insightful!