Austro-Daimler Sascha


Contrary to the opinion of the leadership of Austro-Daimler, Ferdinand Porsche in 1919 took up the construction of a racing car, giving it the name Sascha, in honor of the legendary personality of those years. It was the Austro-Hungarian Count Sascha Kolovrat, a famous filmmaker, who came to Austria from Bohemia and was fascinated by cars. He himself repeatedly participated in competitions as a racer. In the hardest Alpine race of 1913 (distance of 2415 km), he took a partner with him - a small piglet, which was one of the curiosities of automotive history. Kolovrat himself financed the construction of a car of his own name.

Light racing car Sascha with brakes on all wheels made full use of the small engine to achieve maximum speed, so it was called the “Austrian Bugatti”. The engine was made of aluminum, but with steel cylinder liners, had light alloy pistons, dual ignition and a lubrication system with a so-called “dry” crankcase.

In 1922, 4 Sascha cars took part in the Targa Florio race. One of them was managed by Alfred Neubauer, the future chief of the Mercedes racing team. Sascha ranked second in the class of cars with a motor up to 1100 cm3, while the other two cars won in the category of sports cars. In total, in 52 races in which Sascha cars participated in that successful year of 1922, they won 43 victories, repeatedly became winners of the most famous competitions.
Sascha version with a 1.5-liter engine did not have such a rapid success. The defeat in the race at Monza led to the rejection of further refinement of the car and in the end to the departure of Ferdinand Porsche from the company. Nevertheless, the new Sascha version with a 2-liter engine participated in several prestigious races on the English track in Brookland in 1926.

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