Porsche Flawlessly Restores Founder's 100-Year-Old Race Car Called Sascha

Oct. 30, 2022 11:00 AM ET by Nikesh Kooverjee Video / 3 Comments

The company's restoration department has given the 1922 Austro-Daimler ADS R a nut-and-boltrestoration for its 100th birthday.

Study the history of car making and you'll see a passion for motorsport is what inspired the founders of some of the best-known car brands today. Two of the most prominent in the field had to be Enzo Ferrari and Ferdinand Porsche, both of whom started their careers driving products from other manufacturers before going out and making their legendary racing cars.

In the case of Porsche, the German automaker kicked his career off in 1906 as a chief designer for Astro-Daimler. It was during this same era that he took to the track in his ADS R racecar, nicknamed Sascha, which helped him earn a class win at the Targa Florio in 1922.

As a result, the historic significance of this car is immense which Porsche now covers in this sub-10-minute featurette. Considering that the ADS R was put together 100 years ago, you can expect that it was subject to some considerable wear and tear, but thankfully Porsche has a state-of-the-art restoration facility at its headquarters in Stuttgart. One thing we all know is that Porsche loves a good restoration, and given this model's significance, you can imagine that no expense or resource was spared.

Interestingly, Porsche's ADS R has been on display at the brand's famous museum for years before the company handed the restoration project to the facility's supervisor, Kuno Werner. As the car's extensive history was researched, the team discovered that the car had previously been restored at the brand's training workshop back in 1975.

Getting the car back to its former glory included reconstructing every single component, such as that 1.1-liter inline four-cylinder engine. It only produces only 49 horsepower but with a curb mass of 1,318 pounds, this is all it needs to propel it to a potential top speed of 89 miles. Next to something such as the brand's modern race-inspired Porsche 911 GT3 RS, these numbers may not seem impressive, but remember the technological restrictions that manufacturers had to battle with 100 years ago.

The man in charge of actually putting the ADS R together was the division's youngest employee, Jan Heidak. The 28-year-old expert made use of an extensive list of resources including former technicians to ensure that his restoration was as true to the original model as possible.

With a fresh coat of paint and a newly tuned engine, there's no denying it looks phenomenal as it trots down the brand's test track.

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