Austro-Daimler Prinz Heinrich; the first ever sports car ...
Ferdinand Porsche was barely 30 years old when he became the chief engineer at Austro-Daimler in 1906. In addition to developing the Austrian company's first road car independently from Daimler in Germany, he also quickly set his sights to racing, which he felt was the best to proof the quality of a design. The main objective was the daunting Prinz Heinrich Trial, which spanned four days and around 2000 km, and was open to production based cars only. Porsche interpreted the latter as loosely as the rules allowed when he designed Austro-Daimler's 1910 competitor. It featured a sophisticated engine with the highest specific output of all its contemporaries and a slippery body. Ferdinand Porsche himself drove the radical machine to victory, followed home by his works team mates, who finished second and third. Although the race winning machine was developed as a pure competition car, it was still very much suited for use on the road. This was underlined less than a year later when Austro-Daimler launched the 22/86 Prinz Heinrich production car. Apart from a different rear axle, it was virtually identical to Porsche's winning machine. This was unprecedented at the time and in retrospect the Prinz Heinrich can be considered as the first proper sports car. Even more than the trial winning car, the production machine established Porsche as one of the foremost engineers of his era.
Sadly only very few of these early Porsche designs have survived. We were very fortunate to capture one example in great detail at the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed. This particular is owned by none other than Ferdinand Porsche's grandson, Ernst Piech.
Enjoy the links:
[url="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/4826/Austro-Daimler-22-86--Prinz-Heinrich-.html"]1911 - 1914 Austro-Daimler 22/86 'Prinz Heinrich' - Images, Specifications and Information[/url]
