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Motorsport runs in Daniel Petr’s blood. He used to race a classic Škoda 100, and his father was also involved in the racing scene. So, it’s no surprise that, as a designer at Škoda Auto, Daniel is considered the unofficial expert on sport-cut models. He also designs the look of Škoda Motorsport cars.
It’s only natural, then, that when dreaming of a rebirth of one of Škoda’s historic icons, he chose a sports car—again. In the previous series Icons Get a Makeover, he brought the Škoda 200 RS to life.
This time, in celebration of Škoda’s 130th anniversary, he picked an even older and rarer inspiration: the Škoda Sport, which raced in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1950.
“Since I’ve been designing Škoda Motorsport cars for years, I had to go with a racing car,” Daniel laughs, adding: “This car is such a Škoda darling. It has a lot of distinctive features that I could build on in its modern version.”
The most prominent of these features is the car’s front grille. “Back then, many Škoda cars had a similar look. With its horizontal lines, the grille just begged to be reinterpreted in our new Modern Solid design language,” Daniel explains. That’s why the new grille stretches wide and features slats, just like the original. The top slat is a stylized version of today’s Tech-Deck Face grille, imagined in a carbon fibre design.
Daniel also carried over the original’s entire side profile, including the bold, muscular fenders that gave the Škoda Sport its unmistakable character. The fenders were hand-shaped from aluminium, which is clearly visible in their sculpting. “The original car has a very simple design, which fits perfectly with our current Modern Solid philosophy. There’s beauty in simplicity, and I tried to preserve that as much as possible,” comments Daniel on the concept of the car.
Still, Daniel’s modern take on Škoda Sport includes features the original didn’t have, such as carbon wheel covers and pronounced air intakes and outlets. “I designed the car to be functional today. Since it’s a race car, I envisioned it having either a combustion engine or a hybrid powertrain,” he explains, which is why prominent cooling vents were necessary.
The Škoda Sport is the only car from the Mladá Boleslav brand to have ever competed in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. That happened in 1950, a year after the racing special—based on the 1946 Škoda 1101 “Tudor”—was created. It featured a low, open two-seater body hand-crafted from aluminium sheet metal, along with a range of technical upgrades, most notably an increase in power of the 1.1-liter four-cylinder engine to 50 horsepower. Even when fully fuelled and loaded with tools and spare parts, the car weighed just 700 kilograms. On the La Sarthe track, the Škoda Sport reached speeds up to 140 km/h. Despite this speed, it consumed just 12 litres per 100 km of the then-common racing fuel mix (gasoline, ethanol, and acetone). This efficiency allowed the team to drive longer without refuelling compared to some rivals. However, the dream result never came, after 13 hours, drivers Václav Bobek and Jaroslav Netušil had to retire due to a relatively minor connecting rod pin failure. Further participation was blocked by the tense political situation of the time. The Škoda Sport didn’t return to Le Mans until many years later in the historic vehicle races.
One thing Daniel kept nearly identical was the car’s colour scheme: a white body, a red lower stripe matching the red interior, and a vertical blue stripe. “I decided to use the blue stripe as a functional design element. I gave it a 3D effect—it acts as an outlet for cooling the engine bay and brakes,” he explains. The windshield has a small notch in the centre, referencing the twin wind deflectors of the original. And of course, the side of the car features the number 44—the same number the original Škoda Sport bore at Le Mans.
Before Daniel drew the first lines of his modern Škoda Sport, he dove into the company’s archives.
“I had to study the car properly. I found old blueprints and photographs. There’s a certain atmosphere in those materials that just pulls you in and makes you more eager to get to work,” he says. Then came the first paper sketches. „I needed to decide which modern elements to include, and which features to carry over from the original. Paper is best for that,” smiles the veteran of Škoda Design.
Only then did he move to digital sketches. Overall, Daniel worked on the modern Škoda Sport for about a month—an hour here, two hours there—whenever time allowed. “I had to coordinate it with my work on production models, which obviously take priority. But I always looked forward to working on this dream project. It was actually relaxing,” he adds. He assures us that the modern Škoda Sport concept contains no design clues about aforementioned upcoming production cars.
We’re certainly excited for those future models—and for what Daniel and his colleagues will dream up next.
Thanks to years of racing with a classic Škoda 100, Daniel Petr is Škoda Design’s unofficial specialist in sporty and racing models. He typically works on Monte Carlo and RS versions and is the designer behind legendary models like the Octavia WRC and Fabia WRC, along with other Škoda Motorsport vehicles—including the current Fabia RS Rally2. He also created custom camouflage wraps for selected cars Škoda revealed before their official launch. Daniel remains deeply connected to motorsport, even though he recently swapped his race-tuned Škoda 100 for a vintage civilian convertible. It’s actually the experience of open-top driving that inspired his vision of a modern Škoda Sport.
