Legends never die. He wil stay alive as long as people like you keep his memory alive, as with this video. As a child born in 1986 seeing him in the truck race Ari in a car when my father was watching Dakar... i'll never forget it. It blew my young mind as to why something so big can go so fast, even though I only later truly came to understand how amazing it all was. RIP Legendary Bear of Dakar PS. The 1987 truck was Jan de Rooy his favorite as the truck was balanced and had little issues and it did great that year. For him it was his most memorable one.
You are the first foreigner (apart from people in Flanders, of course) in my life that pronounces my name name correctly! My compliments. It is worth noting that the fatal incident had quite some reverberations between Jan de Rooij and DAF. Jan de Rooij did not want to quit the rally. DAF ordered him to do so for marketing reasons. But up to this day, Jan de Rooij maintaines that the eventuality of a fatal accident was discussed beforehand with DAF management and it was agreed that it would not be a reason to withdraw. So Jan felt betrayed and broke with DAF management forever.
@@danielspoon1234 in terms of motor sport I feel like these high horsepower beasts from group B and the Dakar was really the start of the new horsepower wars. Before the start of the 80s we had V8's making 155 horsepower. My dad has his corvette-engine swapped '64 Impala and I have a Yamaha derived 2zz-fe in a hatchback that is plenty fast. Engineers build off each others shoulders. Otherwise we wouldn't have what we do today. The 70's and early 80s were bad years for american cars.
There's lots of interesting examples of out-of-place cars throughout history, things that seem remarkably ahead of their time yet missed the mark. I particularly love the Gran Prix stock car racing era as things were really off the wall and yet new technologies were changing the game almost on a yearly basis. Auto Union made a car in 1936 that produced over 600hp, over 600ft-lbs torque, had a fully enclosed streamline wind-tunnel tested chassis, and was capable of reaching over 250mph. Thing is, they had no concept of downforce and suspension designs were primitive which led to the car being quite the widowmaker.
That shot of the truck vs the Peugeot is incredible. I knew they were very capable machines but hadn't an inkling that they were quite so powerful and fast. Amazing story.
@@DoubleTime53 He's just never heard of the T16, which is a weird looking car that looks like an RS200 if you squint. And if you're drunk. In a sandstorm. At 200 kph.
@@theothertonydutch as far as I can remember the peugeot's were enlarged groupe b cars to cope with the desert terrain. First with 205 body, later 405 bodied.
The clip of De Rooij overtaking Vatanen is taken minutes before the crash of the X2. The flats they race on end in a more bumpy section which the X2 hit at the wrong speed, causing it to lose on control. Image the carnage if it was the X1 crashing doing 220 instead of 190 km/h. Van Loevezijn was thrown from the cab while still strapped to his seat. The seat rails were never upgraded from factory and never designed to survive a crash like this. There is footage from a French broadcaster, who were first on the scene as they acted as the emergency air lift helicopter. Van Loevezijn is a couple of hundred meters away from the cab, Chriss Ross (a Scotsman) and Van Rijt can be seen laying next to the cab and inside it, battered and bruised. It was a weird day for the Dakar as a French broadcast crew had flown ahead to the next base camp the night before, while the other helicopters planned on flying along with the race that day. A massive sandstorm turned up just as the race started and grounded all helicopters. This meant the French crew and their chopper were the only ones in the air. They became the default rescue helicopter and therefore were the first on the scene off the X2 crash. The entire broadcast is on YT but is isn't easy to find, I think the station was TV4 or TV24. The French did not care back then and showed the injured crew and the body of Van Loevezijn, still strapped to his seat, a little to close for comfort. For those who understand Dutch or can deal with forced auto-translated subs, there is a Dutch documentary on this race and crash called "De woestijn bleef leeg" ('The desert remained empty") and is on YT.
Wow, thank you for sharing your knowledge and the connection to the links. I cant imagine what was going through his mind and body as they sat there in the desert waiting n hoping someone would someone would come to help, warrior's of racing history.
@@labradudel21 It was. The documentary is heart wrenching as they interview Theo van de Rijt. He says he will always feel responsible as he was behind the wheel. The look in his eyes is such intense sadness.
Found the video you mentioned. I’ll not tell the exact title but search for ‘tv24 daf crash 1988’ and scroll down until you find a thumbnail with gold foil. Viewer discretion is advised.
When I worked at DAF, I was monitoring torque figures using our diagnostics system. It was an XF with a 13 litre straight six. 2300Nm of torque was the highest figure I saw. The power trucks have is impossible to imagine until you’re in one and it’s being worked hard.
That is some good torque numbers and you are correct in saying the power that these things can put down at 100% load is a force you feel right through you when driving.
Dakar trucks are the most fascinating things to me. It's rather difficult to comprehend how such hulking beasts can conquer hard terrain with such ease
Not really. It is far easier then a rally car. Ofc it is far more likely to fall over in a truck then a car due to weight and center of gravity/that suspension setup. It is far more impressive how real freight trucks are dealing with snow and ice and or just operating around city/traffic in general. The 300-500hp commercial vehicles 64-74m long and weights going as high as 640000kg and even exceeding 70000kg. Even on asphalt and just a slight hint of a hill start. Getting the machine going is a experience. The hole front twist as the modest engine starts to pull twist and turn the machine forward. And the experience of running out of RPM's and not shifting gears early enough. Feeling the engine stall on you and the insane power asked out of the machine. Then rush down a hill going over the speed limit just to be able to clear the winter hill. The amount of energy involved and the problems of stopping in a hill where humans behind you are looking more and more like a bowling alley with the pins ready to be striked. This trucks are just "monster trucks". They just look like commercial vehicles but that is about where it ends. They are not that crazy compared to sharing roads where only trains are bigger then you. That is impressive. Do not go up agents a train btw. Train never loses. It always wins no matter if it derails afterwards. Trains do not know what lose means unless trying to go up a hill.
Many trucks was still a monster from Mercedes, Iveco, Man, Tatra, Hino, Maz and of course Kamaz, the 10 years holding title for Dakar Trucks Champion, i still remember when Vladimir Chagin was the Driver.
Did you know that de Rooy actually rebuilt two replicas recently, the nose, and the two headed monster, to run once again in the dakar classics category?
The nose is a replica. The original is owned and displayed in the DAF museum. The two headed monster is the actual race truck renovated back to its original colour scheme as used in the 1984 Paris-Dakar. Latter is not a replica but the real truck!
It's sad to lose anyone in motorsports, especially during the peak (my opinion) of pretty much all motorsports- the late 80s.. but if I'm being honest. If I had to choose how I went out, it would be in one of the many beasts of the 80s and early 90s. F1, group b, group c (personal favorite with the sauber c9), Dakar and many others are a dream a 90s kid like me won't have- but they got to live that world. A world that is only spoken in myth and legend. As heartbreaking as it is to lose someone in racing.. what a time to be alive.
I lived through 80s and it wasn't just Motorsport, everything was great in Britain. Personally I was doing well in my career and I raced a Mini. A super decade we'll never see the likes of again.
After a lifetime in the truck industry buying, operating and maintaining all makes of trucks, DAF in my opinion was the best in the bunch. The products, support network and the fantastic people, were always easier to deal with than other brands. Visits to Eindhoven, Westerlo and the museum were always a fun experience. I remember these Dakar trucks, seeing them in the museum is a well worthwhile experience. Thanks for this this trip down memory lane. Long live DAF.
@August Neidhardt von Gneisenau I live in UK so have no experience of this manufacturer. I have seen a lot of them over the years in Eastern European countries. They looked very strongly built back in the day.
Ah yes the 1980s ... when cigarette smoking men where doing whatever the heck they wanted to do and then slapped turbos on it! Good times! :D And thank you for your videos, always a pleasure to see one popping up :)
yup. full open motorsports..MotoGP, Indy, Formula, Rally, Dakar.. even NASCAR was still competitive among cars not just drivers amd the Camel Trophy l Expeditions
@@JohnnyAFG81 Formula 1 in the 80s had power ratings in the 4 digits. And then take into consideration that the cars that had those engines were significantly smaller (and far less safe) than the F1 cars they drive today. You hit something, odds are you were dead. It was ridiculous.
I've been a long time fan of the Dakar rally, but due to being an American, the most I've really been able to see was clips here and there. I'm still infatuated with the idea of these massive trucks racing offroad alongside cars and bikes. I got the Dakar Desert Rally game, along with the classics DLC, and was confused as to why this little Peugeot and this old truck seemed to be the fastest things in the game. This video did a great job of helping me see why, and teaching me a bit more about the history of a racing event I've wanted to see more of for a long time. Seeing the footage of this twin-engined truck racing across the sand right next to this little redesigned Group-B car is exactly why I love this rally.
There will never be a more iconic time for Motorsport than the 80’s.. 10T of truck moving at over 200 km/h is proof of that! Seeing that Peugeot driven by Ari Vatanen reminded me of his epic Pikes Peak “Climb Dance” in a 405.. mind blowing!
At our company we have 1 dakar truck in storrage (its from a buddy of my boss) and that drove in the dakar multiple times. I had the plasure of driving in it ones and believe me, they still go up to 200km/h. Its insane. Im a truckdriver but those things are insane
i was in St Louis back around 2000 when the CFI tandem axle semi red racer ran faster than 9.99 in the 1/4 mile. Sadly i was there for NHRA tech school and they saw it happen. A meeting was held and they were told to never come back again. NHRA was scared to death of an 18000lb semi going into the stands at 140+mph
Thanks for this! - and i was so happy to se my landsman Ari Vatanen participating and win in Dakar for many years! greetings Levi in Sweden - (but Finn by origin!)
Genius Visoracer!- You cover so much much on your channel!!! My 1st rebuild as an 18 yr old apprentice at Daf was an 11.6 ltr which had done 500,000 day & night with many drivers, could not beleive Van de Rooy & Daf & Crew pushed That 11.6 so fast! - in '84! 39 yrs later- I still ride Mx bikes and modern stuff which do not scare me like the older tech does. Lot easier to ride though! Much appreciate your work, you really dig deep! Much respect Visoracer 👍👍👍👍👍
Good video, a bit of extra information. I'm from The Netherlands and on a visit to the DAF Musuem I met, purely by coincendence, Mr. v.d. Reijt. We had an in depth talk about DAF in general and his unfortunate accident in the Dakar rally. Jan de Rooy did not retire after the accident out of his own free will, DAF withdrew their team. De Rooy was and is very pissed about that. There is an interview with him with local television where he clearly states how pissed off he was and is by this decision of DAF management. Unfortunately this interview is in Dutch... I have to say I understand de Rooy's frustration, if you go racing this kind of accident can happen, part of the game.
I may have appeared in this @6:30. It was at a pre-shakedown event on the valkenswaard rally/motorcross track, and Jan drove the Turbotwin a few laps as a demo. He was meant to take it easy. He did not. The truck landed about 2m away from me after taking a jump of a bridge, and proceeded to apply all the beans up the following hill. It made an impression, both on me and the earth. the turbo howl hurts.
Let's not forget Peugeot was totally mad too. When Group B folded in 1986 after the Tour de Corse and Portugal rally incidents, Peugeot had just won the 1986 Constructors and suddenly had nowhere to go. Then they remembered Porsche's attempt at Dakar and thought "Since we have a machine now and soo much money invested into it, why not just send it to the Paris-Dakar Rally and let it eat, without touching anything?" and Peugeot did as what was said. They took the 205 GTi Evo and just stuck it into the rally and modified nothing and ran it like it was the Group B car and surprisingly... They won.
The 205s were modified: they cut them in half and stuck a huge fuel tank between the cockpit and the engine. IIRC they also modified the suspension to deal with 400 kg of extra weight, and more suspension travel.
The footage of Jan overtaking Ari is legendary, I used to watch the Dakar every year back in the 80's I couldn't belive my eyes when the huge truck passed a rally car 😮
VisioRacer: I love the research you do and all the technical information you provide. The hard work is greatly appreciated! Thanks, Vis! Amazing amount of data being relayed and still highly entertaining.
The roots run deep when it comes to their attitude. However, the culture has declined a bit IMHO. Lived in the Netherlands for 25 years. Then had to move. Too many people. Changing political climate.
Crazy beasts! I find the attitude of the Dutch "everything is possible" to be a great thing. Having been to Nederlands 3 times I found the opposite to be true in the 90's, I repeatedly heard "this is not possible" about many mundane things. I loved working on old Fokker F27s and the engineering of the landscape and even old windmills and castles was something I will remember forever.
Also a huge difference in the regions in the Netherlands. Most of the people who rode Dakar came from the South (or east). Not Holland. Daf Is also from the south. It's just different
There were bus builders in Jamaica would modify import & local built full sized buses with Semi engines & 9. 10 ,13 ,15, & 18 speed fuller Gearboxes . They ran like a bat outa hell !!.
Eh, you find it more in the south/south-east/east area of the country - that's where, basically, our rednecks live. So what you're seeing is a classic case of some good old redneck engineering of the "1 engine is cool, but suppose we had 2?" variety. And instead of designing it, they draw shit on a napkin, go "yeah sure that looks good", then go to the engineers and go "our dudes, can you make this happen?" and they go "eh, sure, we'll give it a shot, for the lulz".
Great! I was working at Philips USFA next door to de Rooi's truck workshop. The first time the Turbo Twin was started up, we all ran to the windows thinking there had been an explosion! Never forgotten (nooit vergeten)!
Great video mate. The 1980s were the days when things were pretty loose in the Dakar Manufacturers were pushing the limits just like they did in Group B rally. The bikes were 1000cc plus, and they would regularly pass 200kmh in the desert. However I didn't know the trucks were THAT fast. Racers lost their lives every year. I guess something had to change for the race to continue. It's still a great event but I'm a bit nostalgic for the older days of the race. I used get home from school as fast as i could to watch the highlights program on TV here in Australia in SBS TV.
Thank you. Now that this legend had passed away just today on 30 Jan ‘24, I feel even more honored to get to know him and his story that so many people got to learn as well.
We used to follow news from the Dakar and this team was one of the greatest ones!!! Beautiful breakdown as we did not get full information back then about the sad death and events that followed.
Daf did made busses, lost money in the end . sold it to VDL and they are succesfull coach and bus builders and still uses alot of Daf componentssets with axels engins transmission steeringsets. many times seen those assemblies on de Rooy truck transporters.
Well done, great video about the mighty X trucks, which actually includes the history behind them and De Rooy’s first builds. So many on RUclips don’t. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Dakar Rally was a big thing in Czechoslovakia in 1980, all boys were following it. Especially the truck category where the domestic competitors were doing well. Karel Loprais on Tatra (mentioned in the video) and others on Tatra and Liaz Trucks. But then came the Dutch with these overpowered machines no one could compete with. The footage of Daf Turbotwin overtaking Peugeot 405 in high speed in 1988 became legendary. Only after the serious accidents regulations were introduced to limit these high powered non production related vehicles.
I remember reading features in the motoring press about these beasts and de Rooy himself back then. Crazy man and machines. That shot of the DAF passing the 405 T16 across the sands is one of my favourite motorsport clips ever.
Imaging in todays Dakar rally the top car teams getting overtaken by a truck to the point where the DAF Turbotwin took 4th place overall?? Aron Vattanen got a bit of a trauma from being over taken by a truck. Even quite recently he commented how ridicoulus it was. Great time,sad time with the crash and aftermath. The factory really screwed up big time and Jan never drove for DAF again as far as i know. Great footage👍👌
I like how simple you started and now became this autosport wikipedia! Awesome that you learned to pronounce the Dutch names right .. This is how you become bigger and bigger
@@philipgreen6332 Was at the Repair shop for 3 months when i was an apprentice Spurrier works. Sheetmetal worker, strange but we did the air brakes when they came in for repair, never understood that. Spent some time at the Foundry and the Tech Centre. I even remember the North works and the South works, the training centre. running up to the social club for a pint. I left as soon as possible In Brisbane Australia now. Looked at a map, all changed now. Happy new year.
I had never heard of these trucks or Dakar until after I saw a video on Unimog trucks. One thing led to another bringing me here. What these huge trucks are capable of doing just amazes me!
Proud to be DUTCH! Jan de ROOIJ is a legaint ! It was very sad when the truck had that fatal accent. See that poor man laying in the dessert was terrible. R.I.P.🇳🇱😞
Damn 21st century! Take me back to the 80s, please!!! Even the 21st century was better in the 80s.. That truck was all the rage. Great video! I miss waking up early in sundays to watch F1 too.. Senna, Prost, Piquet, Mansell. Battle of giants
7:20 - These regulations such as that 150 km/h (93 mph) maximum speed were put in place mainly because of that accident with Theo van de Rijt & Christian Ross which also resulted in Kees being killed.
I wish DAF still did motorsport. I work at the R&D department and some older colleagues worked on the race truck engines in the 90s. They have fond memories of that time
My dad has been driving dafs his entire life so I’ve been around dafs my entire life and I got to see these Dakar dafs in Eindhoven last year and they are something special 😮
Excellent video. Only one mild criticism: more footage with the sound of those engines. The only thing I can compare it with is the engine sounds from the early unlimited hydroplane (boat) racers. They were using World War 2 fighter plane engines, monster V-12 gasoline engines, Packards or Rolls-Royce Merlin’s. Running at similar RPMs, the sound of the two in-line 6s in these trucks is very similar.
Some of the younger viewers are surprised/shocked, forgetting this was the 80's. Arnold Schwazznegar, Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude van Damme were all at their peak. The monstrously powerful Group B rally cars were around. Seat belts were not mandatory for rear seat occupants and you could stick kids in the trunk of your estate, and as a 12yr old you could legally go to the shops and buy alcohol and cigarretes for your parents.
Jan de Rooy was and is definitely my number one Dakar hero. It’s been told Jan was year round busy managing his transport company only taking a two weeks break driving his monstrous trucks in the Dakar rally. It is also been told Ari Vatanen was scared riding his car alongside Jan s Turbotwin truck doing speeds above 200k/h 😎
Correction: De Roy was a former Rallycross driver not "Motocross Rider". He dominated european rallycross together with his brother in the 70's with DAFs and switched later to a Audi Quattro while still competing for the top spots in his class.
I visited Eindhoven a view times for Rallycross and even had a Netherlands touring holiday based there. Super country, town, people. Now you know you can see those trucks locally... Go see them ;-))
The Daf museum in Eindhoven has many more very interesting (race and rally) cars in the collection. For example, the Williams F1 car with Daf CVT and active suspension is on display overthere. (FW15C i believe)
I absolutely adore your content. Have you ever done videos on some hill climb vehicles? Suzuki's escudo had a pikes peak version. There is a Banks engineering freightliner big rig with 3000 BHP made for hill climbing.
Gale Banks is an engineering god. To be an aftermarket guy where the OEMs ask you to help design their engines is pretty amazing. Also 400kmph street cars back in the 80s 😱
The only part of Monster Tajima’s Suzuki Escudo that was actually from an Escudo was the Suzuki badge on the front 🤣 I had the privilege of watching Rod Millen in his Toyota Celica screaming , hissing and popping (anti-lag, not Rod) and Monster’s Escudo here in New Zealand competing in the Race to the Sky hill-climb during the 90’s. Rod also brought his insane Toyota Tacoma down here a couple of years later for another go at beating the Suzuki but it wasn’t to be. Sadly, the only other competitor in the Unlimited class was Possum Bourne in a highly modified and derestricted WRC Subaru WRX. He was killed when coming down the hill mountain (not during racing but with 2 way traffic) in his family wagon when another driver heading up, veered across the road and ploughed in to him head on..
i remember watching the 1988 snippets on the Paris Dakar coverage. that image of the truck overtaking the car was replayed for years and years on the intro of each race . An epic truly iconic moment in motorsports.
While you are right in saying this is a sad story that didn’t end well, those guys knew the risks and were doing what they loved. We now live in a sad world where we are not allowed to “live” in case we die.
I was in the middle of the Sahara desert Tamanresett in Algeria in 1987 when the Dakar race came past us Which included the DAF Ari Vatenen Andrew Cowan Gaston Rahier BMW and many Yamaha FZ900 race bikes just incredible
I visited the daf museum in eindhoven about 7 or 8 years ago and got to see those trucks in person. Theyre huge, and obviously very heavy. Quite intimidating in a way when you know what theyre capable of aswell. I got talking with one of the guides in there(a very pleasant man i may add) who said they occasionally start them up and drive them to the daf factory up the road and back for the fun of it as theyre very near each other. That, and the daf factory grounds are absolutely massive. Almost like a small city to be quite honest. That aside, i believe they rebuilt the truck that crashed but keep it locked at all times. I got to have a look into all of em that day. Incredible pieces of machinery. RIP to the driver
I remember watching highlights of these Dakar Rallies back when I was a kid. And for a couple of Christmases receiving copies of those ultimate crashes compilation videos, on VHS of course, that were popular back in the eighties, which would feature many spectacular crashes of these trucks during the Dakar. I was always awestruck with those trucks, and although watching a highly tuned 4x4 rally car traveling at those speeds through the desert was exciting enough, those DAF trucks were something else. Watching ten tonnes of vehicle, with the aerodynamic of a garden shed overtaking cars a third of their size was nothing short of incredible to watch. Especially for an 8, 9 or 10 year old.
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RIP Jan de Rooy. It was pleasure to get to know your story and an honor to make this video! Astonishing achievement
Legends never die. He wil stay alive as long as people like you keep his memory alive, as with this video. As a child born in 1986 seeing him in the truck race Ari in a car when my father was watching Dakar... i'll never forget it. It blew my young mind as to why something so big can go so fast, even though I only later truly came to understand how amazing it all was.
RIP Legendary Bear of Dakar
PS. The 1987 truck was Jan de Rooy his favorite as the truck was balanced and had little issues and it did great that year. For him it was his most memorable one.
As someone in the US this man was a bit on an icon to me. Up there with Dale Earnhardt and "Big Daddy" Don Garlits. God bless the man's soul.
Godspeed for Jan, certainly made it into the hall of immortals of motorsports!
You are the first foreigner (apart from people in Flanders, of course) in my life that pronounces my name name correctly! My compliments. It is worth noting that the fatal incident had quite some reverberations between Jan de Rooij and DAF. Jan de Rooij did not want to quit the rally. DAF ordered him to do so for marketing reasons. But up to this day, Jan de Rooij maintaines that the eventuality of a fatal accident was discussed beforehand with DAF management and it was agreed that it would not be a reason to withdraw. So Jan felt betrayed and broke with DAF management forever.
I studied the pronunciation of the Dutch names via Google Translate to say them as correctly as possible. Thanks!
@@VisioRacer As a Dutch person, that extra effort is much appreciated!!! You didn't have to do that, but you did. Respect.
How cool these days that someone in a video production can comment on it!
@@RedCoalsSweatSouls It was not him, read better 😉, but his comment is very appreciated !!! 👍👍
Thanks Ronald for your comment !! Very interesting for our « car » culture. 👍👍
220km/h out of something with the aerodynamics of a milk crate is INSANE... this is the 80s???
If there is enough raw power aerodynamics matter less and less!
I feel like the 80s was the peak of adventuring for humans
@@danielspoon1234 in terms of motor sport I feel like these high horsepower beasts from group B and the Dakar was really the start of the new horsepower wars. Before the start of the 80s we had V8's making 155 horsepower.
My dad has his corvette-engine swapped '64 Impala and I have a Yamaha derived 2zz-fe in a hatchback that is plenty fast.
Engineers build off each others shoulders. Otherwise we wouldn't have what we do today. The 70's and early 80s were bad years for american cars.
There's lots of interesting examples of out-of-place cars throughout history, things that seem remarkably ahead of their time yet missed the mark. I particularly love the Gran Prix stock car racing era as things were really off the wall and yet new technologies were changing the game almost on a yearly basis. Auto Union made a car in 1936 that produced over 600hp, over 600ft-lbs torque, had a fully enclosed streamline wind-tunnel tested chassis, and was capable of reaching over 250mph. Thing is, they had no concept of downforce and suspension designs were primitive which led to the car being quite the widowmaker.
@@PaulRudd1941 took that long for technology to work around the 70's era emissions.
You know it's madness when two turbochargers have their own turbocharger. Ah, the 1980s...
You can get a bmw 5 series with this.
Its a seqential turbo setup which is more common than you think even in cars you see on the road
@@banggazm compound...
That's just a compound turbo setup. A lot of cars come with those.
Hell yeah brother, you're watchin cletus mc farlin's dad's vhs tapes.
That shot of the truck vs the Peugeot is incredible. I knew they were very capable machines but hadn't an inkling that they were quite so powerful and fast. Amazing story.
It’s not a Peugeot in that footage though, it’s a ford RS200
@@Jason-wn1hs then search for that footage! The DAF and the Peugeot going flat out on a reasonable flat desertsurface with amazing speed!
@@Jason-wn1hs Nah bro, it's absolutely a Peugeot 405 T16. The RS200 never raced at Dakar.
@@DoubleTime53 He's just never heard of the T16, which is a weird looking car that looks like an RS200 if you squint. And if you're drunk. In a sandstorm. At 200 kph.
@@theothertonydutch as far as I can remember the peugeot's were enlarged groupe b cars to cope with the desert terrain. First with 205 body, later 405 bodied.
The clip of De Rooij overtaking Vatanen is taken minutes before the crash of the X2. The flats they race on end in a more bumpy section which the X2 hit at the wrong speed, causing it to lose on control. Image the carnage if it was the X1 crashing doing 220 instead of 190 km/h.
Van Loevezijn was thrown from the cab while still strapped to his seat. The seat rails were never upgraded from factory and never designed to survive a crash like this. There is footage from a French broadcaster, who were first on the scene as they acted as the emergency air lift helicopter. Van Loevezijn is a couple of hundred meters away from the cab, Chriss Ross (a Scotsman) and Van Rijt can be seen laying next to the cab and inside it, battered and bruised.
It was a weird day for the Dakar as a French broadcast crew had flown ahead to the next base camp the night before, while the other helicopters planned on flying along with the race that day. A massive sandstorm turned up just as the race started and grounded all helicopters. This meant the French crew and their chopper were the only ones in the air. They became the default rescue helicopter and therefore were the first on the scene off the X2 crash.
The entire broadcast is on YT but is isn't easy to find, I think the station was TV4 or TV24. The French did not care back then and showed the injured crew and the body of Van Loevezijn, still strapped to his seat, a little to close for comfort.
For those who understand Dutch or can deal with forced auto-translated subs, there is a Dutch documentary on this race and crash called "De woestijn bleef leeg" ('The desert remained empty") and is on YT.
So incredebly tragic
Wow, thank you for sharing your knowledge and the connection to the links. I cant imagine what was going through his mind and body as they sat there in the desert waiting n hoping someone would someone would come to help, warrior's of racing history.
@@labradudel21 It was. The documentary is heart wrenching as they interview Theo van de Rijt. He says he will always feel responsible as he was behind the wheel. The look in his eyes is such intense sadness.
Thank you for the valuable information.
Found the video you mentioned. I’ll not tell the exact title but search for ‘tv24 daf crash 1988’ and scroll down until you find a thumbnail with gold foil. Viewer discretion is advised.
When I worked at DAF, I was monitoring torque figures using our diagnostics system. It was an XF with a 13 litre straight six. 2300Nm of torque was the highest figure I saw. The power trucks have is impossible to imagine until you’re in one and it’s being worked hard.
That is some good torque numbers and you are correct in saying the power that these things can put down at 100% load is a force you feel right through you when driving.
Dakar trucks are the most fascinating things to me. It's rather difficult to comprehend how such hulking beasts can conquer hard terrain with such ease
at 1l-1km
Not really. It is far easier then a rally car. Ofc it is far more likely to fall over in a truck then a car due to weight and center of gravity/that suspension setup.
It is far more impressive how real freight trucks are dealing with snow and ice and or just operating around city/traffic in general. The 300-500hp commercial vehicles 64-74m long and weights going as high as 640000kg and even exceeding 70000kg. Even on asphalt and just a slight hint of a hill start. Getting the machine going is a experience. The hole front twist as the modest engine starts to pull twist and turn the machine forward.
And the experience of running out of RPM's and not shifting gears early enough. Feeling the engine stall on you and the insane power asked out of the machine. Then rush down a hill going over the speed limit just to be able to clear the winter hill. The amount of energy involved and the problems of stopping in a hill where humans behind you are looking more and more like a bowling alley with the pins ready to be striked.
This trucks are just "monster trucks". They just look like commercial vehicles but that is about where it ends. They are not that crazy compared to sharing roads where only trains are bigger then you. That is impressive. Do not go up agents a train btw. Train never loses. It always wins no matter if it derails afterwards. Trains do not know what lose means unless trying to go up a hill.
@@TheDiner50 .....pretty sure he didn't ask for any of your bloated r/acshually stats checklist pitch.
Many trucks was still a monster from Mercedes, Iveco, Man, Tatra, Hino, Maz and of course Kamaz, the 10 years holding title for Dakar Trucks Champion, i still remember when Vladimir Chagin was the Driver.
@@changsangma1915 lol true 🤣
Did you know that de Rooy actually rebuilt two replicas recently, the nose, and the two headed monster, to run once again in the dakar classics category?
That is awesome
Please tell me when&where they are going to run them: in NL maybe? I live only 40km from Eindhoven! 😃😃
The nose is a replica. The original is owned and displayed in the DAF museum. The two headed monster is the actual race truck renovated back to its original colour scheme as used in the 1984 Paris-Dakar. Latter is not a replica but the real truck!
They're not replicas. They rebuilt the originals.
@@michielhoogendoorn5881 nope, they've rebuild them new from old used frames to be like the originals
The footage of Jan de Rooy overtaking Ari Vatanen is one of the most impressing racing footage ever made!!
It was filmed just minutes before the crash of the truck...
@@jadawin10 who cares it looks cool
@@jadawin10 that was not the truck that crashed.
Ari let him
@@triptechable keep dreaming!
It's sad to lose anyone in motorsports, especially during the peak (my opinion) of pretty much all motorsports- the late 80s.. but if I'm being honest. If I had to choose how I went out, it would be in one of the many beasts of the 80s and early 90s. F1, group b, group c (personal favorite with the sauber c9), Dakar and many others are a dream a 90s kid like me won't have- but they got to live that world. A world that is only spoken in myth and legend. As heartbreaking as it is to lose someone in racing.. what a time to be alive.
I lived through 80s and it wasn't just Motorsport, everything was great in Britain. Personally I was doing well in my career and I raced a Mini. A super decade we'll never see the likes of again.
After a lifetime in the truck industry buying, operating and maintaining all makes of trucks, DAF in my opinion was the best in the bunch. The products, support network and the fantastic people, were always easier to deal with than other brands. Visits to Eindhoven, Westerlo and the museum were always a fun experience. I remember these Dakar trucks, seeing them in the museum is a well worthwhile experience. Thanks for this this trip down memory lane. Long live DAF.
@August Neidhardt von Gneisenau I live in UK so have no experience of this manufacturer. I have seen a lot of them over the years in Eastern European countries. They looked very strongly built back in the day.
Ah yes the 1980s ... when cigarette smoking men where doing whatever the heck they wanted to do and then slapped turbos on it! Good times! :D
And thank you for your videos, always a pleasure to see one popping up :)
The 90's I did what I wanted without smoking, these days you can't do f#ck all.
yup. full open motorsports..MotoGP, Indy, Formula, Rally, Dakar.. even NASCAR was still competitive among cars not just drivers amd the Camel Trophy l Expeditions
In those days smoking didn't kill you I guess
@@sonnylatchstring I bet they are now regretting those cigarettes
@@destroyerarmor2846 People who really live life have no regrets
The 80’s were the decade of blessed excesses in racing!
Group B
Very well said 👏
@@legiran9564 that was pure insanity! Mechanically and other wise.
@@JohnnyAFG81 Formula 1 in the 80s had power ratings in the 4 digits. And then take into consideration that the cars that had those engines were significantly smaller (and far less safe) than the F1 cars they drive today. You hit something, odds are you were dead. It was ridiculous.
@@legiran9564 it was an amazing time for Motorsports, at the cost of drivers.
I've been a long time fan of the Dakar rally, but due to being an American, the most I've really been able to see was clips here and there. I'm still infatuated with the idea of these massive trucks racing offroad alongside cars and bikes. I got the Dakar Desert Rally game, along with the classics DLC, and was confused as to why this little Peugeot and this old truck seemed to be the fastest things in the game. This video did a great job of helping me see why, and teaching me a bit more about the history of a racing event I've wanted to see more of for a long time. Seeing the footage of this twin-engined truck racing across the sand right next to this little redesigned Group-B car is exactly why I love this rally.
It was a Peugeot 405, not 205. Sorry about the misleading fact ☺️
Both were technically the same, just with a different body to promote another car. It changes nothing
shame they never did a 2 door 405 for the road,the car looked sick
I was surprised to hear that's a Peugeot, I thought it was a Lancia 037 Stradale.
Don't worry, the chassis underneath the body was a 205
@@RukaGoldheart no the 405 T16 has a longer chassis different suspension and steering but with the engine and transmission of the 205T16.
There will never be a more iconic time for Motorsport than the 80’s.. 10T of truck moving at over 200 km/h is proof of that!
Seeing that Peugeot driven by Ari Vatanen reminded me of his epic Pikes Peak “Climb Dance” in a 405.. mind blowing!
90s F1 was the best.
At our company we have 1 dakar truck in storrage (its from a buddy of my boss) and that drove in the dakar multiple times. I had the plasure of driving in it ones and believe me, they still go up to 200km/h. Its insane. Im a truckdriver but those things are insane
i was in St Louis back around 2000 when the CFI tandem axle semi red racer ran faster than 9.99 in the 1/4 mile. Sadly i was there for NHRA tech school and they saw it happen. A meeting was held and they were told to never come back again. NHRA was scared to death of an 18000lb semi going into the stands at 140+mph
Thanks for this! - and i was so happy to se my landsman Ari Vatanen participating and win in Dakar for many years! greetings Levi in Sweden - (but Finn by origin!)
Definitely one of the best automotive channels here on RUclips, have been following you for years now. Please, always keep up with the good work!
Me too.
Genius Visoracer!- You cover so much much on your channel!!! My 1st rebuild as an 18 yr old apprentice at Daf was an 11.6 ltr which had done 500,000 day & night with many drivers, could not beleive Van de Rooy & Daf & Crew pushed That 11.6 so fast! - in '84!
39 yrs later- I still ride Mx bikes and modern stuff which do not scare me like the older tech does.
Lot easier to ride though!
Much appreciate your work, you really dig deep!
Much respect Visoracer 👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks!
Good video, a bit of extra information. I'm from The Netherlands and on a visit to the DAF Musuem I met, purely by coincendence, Mr. v.d. Reijt. We had an in depth talk about DAF in general and his unfortunate accident in the Dakar rally. Jan de Rooy did not retire after the accident out of his own free will, DAF withdrew their team. De Rooy was and is very pissed about that. There is an interview with him with local television where he clearly states how pissed off he was and is by this decision of DAF management. Unfortunately this interview is in Dutch... I have to say I understand de Rooy's frustration, if you go racing this kind of accident can happen, part of the game.
I may have appeared in this @6:30. It was at a pre-shakedown event on the valkenswaard rally/motorcross track, and Jan drove the Turbotwin a few laps as a demo. He was meant to take it easy. He did not. The truck landed about 2m away from me after taking a jump of a bridge, and proceeded to apply all the beans up the following hill. It made an impression, both on me and the earth. the turbo howl hurts.
Let's not forget Peugeot was totally mad too.
When Group B folded in 1986 after the Tour de Corse and Portugal rally incidents, Peugeot had just won the 1986 Constructors and suddenly had nowhere to go. Then they remembered Porsche's attempt at Dakar and thought "Since we have a machine now and soo much money invested into it, why not just send it to the Paris-Dakar Rally and let it eat, without touching anything?" and Peugeot did as what was said.
They took the 205 GTi Evo and just stuck it into the rally and modified nothing and ran it like it was the Group B car and surprisingly... They won.
The 205s were modified: they cut them in half and stuck a huge fuel tank between the cockpit and the engine. IIRC they also modified the suspension to deal with 400 kg of extra weight, and more suspension travel.
Big trucks, Big engines and even Bigger balls. I can't believe I'd never heard of these before! VisioRacer you've done it again 👏 ❤️
The footage of Jan overtaking Ari is legendary, I used to watch the Dakar every year back in the 80's I couldn't belive my eyes when the huge truck passed a rally car 😮
Thank you for the history lesson Sir. Those days will never be redone again. Just love the trucks. KEEP ON TRUCKIN BABY.
VisioRacer:
I love the research you do and all the technical information you provide. The hard work is greatly appreciated! Thanks, Vis! Amazing amount of data being relayed and still highly entertaining.
Thank you!
God bless the Dutch. Tiny nation of absolute pioneers.
The roots run deep when it comes to their attitude. However, the culture has declined a bit IMHO. Lived in the Netherlands for 25 years. Then had to move. Too many people. Changing political climate.
That was brilliant, great work. An exceptional mini-documentary. Thank you👏
Crazy beasts! I find the attitude of the Dutch "everything is possible" to be a great thing. Having been to Nederlands 3 times I found the opposite to be true in the 90's, I repeatedly heard "this is not possible" about many mundane things. I loved working on old Fokker F27s and the engineering of the landscape and even old windmills and castles was something I will remember forever.
Also a huge difference in the regions in the Netherlands. Most of the people who rode Dakar came from the South (or east). Not Holland.
Daf Is also from the south. It's just different
@@gorkzop I can only submit to that! The people in the hollandprovinces have become to eager to bend for rules, where the south and southeast haven't.
There were bus builders in Jamaica would modify import & local built full sized buses with Semi engines & 9. 10 ,13 ,15, & 18 speed fuller Gearboxes . They ran like a bat outa hell !!.
Eh, you find it more in the south/south-east/east area of the country - that's where, basically, our rednecks live. So what you're seeing is a classic case of some good old redneck engineering of the "1 engine is cool, but suppose we had 2?" variety. And instead of designing it, they draw shit on a napkin, go "yeah sure that looks good", then go to the engineers and go "our dudes, can you make this happen?" and they go "eh, sure, we'll give it a shot, for the lulz".
Great! I was working at Philips USFA next door to de Rooi's truck workshop. The first time the Turbo Twin was started up, we all ran to the windows thinking there had been an explosion! Never forgotten (nooit vergeten)!
Ahhh, the 80´s .
A now bygone, glorious era of partially unlimited bonkersness .
It was awesome being there :)
simply, its a Group B Dakar truck = insane.
I've been waiting for more quality videos on this! The ultimate trucks.
Mooi eerbetoon aan decRooi en Daf.
Ik heb deze monsters zien rijden tijdens de strandraces van Scheveningen, Nederland. Een bijzondere ervaring.
Videos cannot do these beats justice, neither can the numbers.
I’ve seen some of them in the DAF museum, and it’s like they’re from a different world.
Great video mate. The 1980s were the days when things were pretty loose in the Dakar Manufacturers were pushing the limits just like they did in Group B rally. The bikes were 1000cc plus, and they would regularly pass 200kmh in the desert. However I didn't know the trucks were THAT fast. Racers lost their lives every year. I guess something had to change for the race to continue. It's still a great event but I'm a bit nostalgic for the older days of the race. I used get home from school as fast as i could to watch the highlights program on TV here in Australia in SBS TV.
videos like this is why youtube should exist.
Perfect video, thank you. I want more content like this on youtube
Thank you. Now that this legend had passed away just today on 30 Jan ‘24, I feel even more honored to get to know him and his story that so many people got to learn as well.
Oh, the 80s. What a great decade it was to be alive for petrolheads and good musics enthusiast.
We used to follow news from the Dakar and this team was one of the greatest ones!!! Beautiful breakdown as we did not get full information back then about the sad death and events that followed.
I wish DAF made a bus based on this. That way I would never get late to work 😅
Don't ask Daf. VDL makes busses with daf engines & parts :)
I hope they put it in a bit more sturdy bus than the VDL Ambassador though. BYD is premium quality compared to that _rammelbak_ .
Daf did made busses, lost money in the end . sold it to VDL and they are succesfull coach and bus builders and still uses alot of Daf componentssets with axels engins transmission steeringsets. many times seen those assemblies on de Rooy truck transporters.
I love how we all know what "It was the eighties" means instantly and this video is a perfect explanation for that phrase.
Well done, great video about the mighty X trucks, which actually includes the history behind them and De Rooy’s first builds. So many on RUclips don’t. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
What an awesome video highlighting the greatest era and Motorsports history, of which many or unaware. Your videos are top-notch, keep it up!
Thank you, glad you like it!
Dakar Rally was a big thing in Czechoslovakia in 1980, all boys were following it. Especially the truck category where the domestic competitors were doing well. Karel Loprais on Tatra (mentioned in the video) and others on Tatra and Liaz Trucks.
But then came the Dutch with these overpowered machines no one could compete with. The footage of Daf Turbotwin overtaking Peugeot 405 in high speed in 1988 became legendary.
Only after the serious accidents regulations were introduced to limit these high powered non production related vehicles.
I remember reading features in the motoring press about these beasts and de Rooy himself back then. Crazy man and machines. That shot of the DAF passing the 405 T16 across the sands is one of my favourite motorsport clips ever.
Imaging in todays Dakar rally the top car teams getting overtaken by a truck to the point where the DAF Turbotwin took 4th place overall??
Aron Vattanen got a bit of a trauma from being over taken by a truck. Even quite recently he commented how ridicoulus it was. Great time,sad time with the crash and aftermath. The factory really screwed up big time and Jan never drove for DAF again as far as i know.
Great footage👍👌
Great video. I knew about the double cab, but learned so much more, thanks.
I like how simple you started and now became this autosport wikipedia! Awesome that you learned to pronounce the Dutch names right ..
This is how you become bigger and bigger
Thank you!
I worked with Chris Ross at Leyland Vehicles he won an internal competition to be the Mechanic in the race. Insane power for 10 tons.
Whare were u at motors, Chris was in repair shop Chris Cross. Then lived opposite me when out of hospital.
@@philipgreen6332 Was at the Repair shop for 3 months when i was an apprentice Spurrier works. Sheetmetal worker, strange but we did the air brakes when they came in for repair, never understood that. Spent some time at the Foundry and the Tech Centre. I even remember the North works and the South works, the training centre. running up to the social club for a pint. I left as soon as possible In Brisbane Australia now.
Looked at a map, all changed now.
Happy new year.
I had never heard of these trucks or Dakar until after I saw a video on Unimog trucks. One thing led to another bringing me here. What these huge trucks are capable of doing just amazes me!
Proud to be DUTCH! Jan de ROOIJ is a legaint !
It was very sad when the truck had that fatal accent.
See that poor man laying in the dessert was terrible.
R.I.P.🇳🇱😞
thanks for these petrol head topics presented with a calm voice and good, balanced details. quality content here.
Thank you, Marcel!
Love it! Nice one VisioRacer - another area of anything connected with machinery with an engine, explored! I do enjoy these more eccentric ones!😄
Damn 21st century! Take me back to the 80s, please!!!
Even the 21st century was better in the 80s..
That truck was all the rage. Great video!
I miss waking up early in sundays to watch F1 too.. Senna, Prost, Piquet, Mansell. Battle of giants
I mirror you. The 80s was the best decade of my life too.
7:20 - These regulations such as that 150 km/h (93 mph) maximum speed were put in place mainly because of that accident with Theo van de Rijt & Christian Ross which also resulted in Kees being killed.
So that's how flying Dutchman started.
There was really no point in saying this again, he said it in the video
Thank you for sharing this!!
I loved watching the old paris dakar before it become a commercial race in other places. I miss the true Paris to Dakar route
As always your video quality is incredible! And seems even more informative than before. Keep up the incredible work and hope your channel grows more!
I wish DAF still did motorsport. I work at the R&D department and some older colleagues worked on the race truck engines in the 90s. They have fond memories of that time
My dad has been driving dafs his entire life so I’ve been around dafs my entire life and I got to see these Dakar dafs in Eindhoven last year and they are something special 😮
That's a beast of a truck!
Brilliant video ❤️❤️❤️ loved that one. Nothing better than these motoring stories told so well by yourself. Well done Visio
Thanks!
The amount of unknown (to me 😅) stuff on this channel is amazing...
What an INSANE machine!
Pleasure to show you new things!
Most people didn't take the trucks seriously, many still don't. I always loved them in Dakar, Jan de Rooy is a hero.
Excellent video. Only one mild criticism: more footage with the sound of those engines.
The only thing I can compare it with is the engine sounds from the early unlimited hydroplane (boat) racers. They were using World War 2 fighter plane engines, monster V-12 gasoline engines, Packards or Rolls-Royce Merlin’s.
Running at similar RPMs, the sound of the two in-line 6s in these trucks is very similar.
Thank you sm for talking about this topic! Not too many people know this and it's a great story!
I did not know a month ago either. Too good story to pass
Some of the younger viewers are surprised/shocked, forgetting this was the 80's.
Arnold Schwazznegar, Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude van Damme were all at their peak.
The monstrously powerful Group B rally cars were around.
Seat belts were not mandatory for rear seat occupants and you could stick kids in the trunk of your estate,
and as a 12yr old you could legally go to the shops and buy alcohol and cigarretes for your parents.
I've just sent my Dad this 40 years as an engineer for Iveco trucks and he knew him from when he ran an Iveco at Dakar lol
Jan de Rooy was and is definitely my number one Dakar hero. It’s been told Jan was year round busy managing his transport company only taking a two weeks break driving his monstrous trucks in the Dakar rally. It is also been told Ari Vatanen was scared riding his car alongside Jan s Turbotwin truck doing speeds above 200k/h 😎
Jan de Rooy is a Dakar legend, indeed
That Ari thing!🤣🤣 ...thanks for sharing.. hox
Correction: De Roy was a former Rallycross driver not "Motocross Rider". He dominated european rallycross together with his brother in the 70's with DAFs and switched later to a Audi Quattro while still competing for the top spots in his class.
Thanks for the correction!
I didn´t know that the Netherlands had another Max Verstappen! Great video. These DAFs were the real monster trucks. Impressive.
Insane times....insane cars....insane trucks!
ive seen these guys up close irl, incredible. loved my visit at the DAF museum
Oh man I lived in the Netherlands, I wish I knew these were in Eindhoven! 😞
Everything is crazier in Eindhoven even our museums!
I visited Eindhoven a view times for Rallycross and even had a Netherlands touring holiday based there. Super country, town, people.
Now you know you can see those trucks locally... Go see them ;-))
I just love the looks and power of Dakar rally trucks just so inspiring and beautiful.
Jan de Rooij, an iconic dutchman who changed the Paris-Dakar
Amazing video, you made big research for this, the pronunciation of all foreign names is so good.
The Daf museum in Eindhoven has many more very interesting (race and rally) cars in the collection.
For example, the Williams F1 car with Daf CVT and active suspension is on display overthere. (FW15C i believe)
The way you say per hour is so satisfying.
I absolutely adore your content. Have you ever done videos on some hill climb vehicles? Suzuki's escudo had a pikes peak version. There is a Banks engineering freightliner big rig with 3000 BHP made for hill climbing.
Gale Banks is an engineering god. To be an aftermarket guy where the OEMs ask you to help design their engines is pretty amazing. Also 400kmph street cars back in the 80s 😱
The only part of Monster Tajima’s Suzuki Escudo that was actually from an Escudo was the Suzuki badge on the front 🤣 I had the privilege of watching Rod Millen in his Toyota Celica screaming , hissing and popping (anti-lag, not Rod) and Monster’s Escudo here in New Zealand competing in the Race to the Sky hill-climb during the 90’s. Rod also brought his insane Toyota Tacoma down here a couple of years later for another go at beating the Suzuki but it wasn’t to be.
Sadly, the only other competitor in the Unlimited class was Possum Bourne in a highly modified and derestricted WRC Subaru WRX. He was killed when coming down the hill mountain (not during racing but with 2 way traffic) in his family wagon when another driver heading up, veered across the road and ploughed in to him head on..
i remember watching the 1988 snippets on the Paris Dakar coverage. that image of the truck overtaking the car was replayed for years and years on the intro of each race . An epic truly iconic moment in motorsports.
Ari vatanen was driving the 405 t16 not the 205 t16, mechanical the same but longer wheelbase for stability
That was different! Fantastic job. You don’t see much on these amazing trucks. Thank you.
Great job, as usual 😁👍, however the Ari Vatanen's Peugeot isn't exactly a 205 T16 but a 405 T16
I loved everything about this video ...great wheels and power.
While you are right in saying this is a sad story that didn’t end well, those guys knew the risks and were doing what they loved. We now live in a sad world where we are not allowed to “live” in case we die.
Well said.
I was in the middle of the Sahara desert Tamanresett in Algeria in 1987 when the Dakar race came past us
Which included the DAF Ari Vatenen Andrew Cowan
Gaston Rahier BMW and many Yamaha FZ900 race bikes just incredible
Thats pug 405 205 was small hot hatch
What beast,the image going past the car is amazing.
Loved these background musics, they fit perfectly on your videos
I remember the big D A F with Jan DeRooy very well in the 80's - used to follow him with interest. That truck was crazy powerful and fast.
When people want to know the limit its good that there is a video out there to show us nice job
I visited the daf museum in eindhoven about 7 or 8 years ago and got to see those trucks in person. Theyre huge, and obviously very heavy. Quite intimidating in a way when you know what theyre capable of aswell. I got talking with one of the guides in there(a very pleasant man i may add) who said they occasionally start them up and drive them to the daf factory up the road and back for the fun of it as theyre very near each other. That, and the daf factory grounds are absolutely massive. Almost like a small city to be quite honest.
That aside, i believe they rebuilt the truck that crashed but keep it locked at all times. I got to have a look into all of em that day. Incredible pieces of machinery.
RIP to the driver
They were insane. And still are🤯
I remember watching highlights of these Dakar Rallies back when I was a kid. And for a couple of Christmases receiving copies of those ultimate crashes compilation videos, on VHS of course, that were popular back in the eighties, which would feature many spectacular crashes of these trucks during the Dakar. I was always awestruck with those trucks, and although watching a highly tuned 4x4 rally car traveling at those speeds through the desert was exciting enough, those DAF trucks were something else. Watching ten tonnes of vehicle, with the aerodynamic of a garden shed overtaking cars a third of their size was nothing short of incredible to watch. Especially for an 8, 9 or 10 year old.
I'm glad they are preserved in a museum. They need to be shown as something astonishing that is possible if you have a heart to risk it all.
This was my favorite in Rigs of Rods!
Still very proud of Jan de Rooij + team, what magnificent trucks they built back in the days. 😎
This is absolutely insane! Great vid!