A motoring landmark from The Netherlands. The baddest truck ever build!

**Whitehouse** · January-10-12, 07:21 PM

This really is the business. Nothing has ever excisted like this before or since. Now that the Dakar Rallye is running in it's second week I would like to stand still around the machine that was build by Daf in 1988. It could have been a winner weren't it for one very tragic crash. Back in 1988 Dakar veteran Jan de Rooy constructed a monster.

Back in the days these trucks were unlimited and he made the most of it. The statistics are mindboggling. The Daf X1 [[and X2) was powered by two 11,2 liter engines, each equiped with a triple turbo!! The engines produced 1200 Hp.... each! Combined the torque figure is an earth shattering 7000 lb-ft!

This power could propell this monster to 150 miles an hour. And to prove I don't lie, here's some footage of this truck in the desert. What you see is a modified Peugeot 405 driven by rallye legend Ari Vatanen.... being overtaken by 11 tons of truck!!

I remember I was glued to the tube during this event and De Rooy was my hero. A year before he drove a predecessor of the X1, the Turbo Twin II. With that machine he won the truck devision and was 11th over all! And the 1988 edition looked to be an even more impressive edition. But it wasn't to be. Along with the X1 [[with the red back) there was the X2 [[with a blue back), an exact replica. This truck crashed at high speed and one of the three occupants of it died. The Daf team decided to pull out of the event. Daf didn't return to the event until years later.

This was to be the last unlimited edition of the Dakar rallye. Speeds were too dangerous.

Thankfully the X1 still excists and now and then it is still run. Here you can see the start up procedure.
This Dakar edition Jan is no longer participating but his son Gerard is. He is currently in the lead.As an added bonus, here is some classic footage from back in the day, set to music of Depeche Mode. What could be wrong about that!! Sadly the aftermath of the crash of the X2 is also featured in this clip.

**Patrick** · January-10-12, 10:17 PM

That thing is huge!

**Jimaz** · January-10-12, 11:33 PM

FYI, that last [[DAF Turbo Twin 1988) video won't play. Instead it says "This video contains content from WMG and RTL Netherlands, one or more of whom have blocked it in your country on copyright grounds."

**Whitehouse** · January-11-12, 07:38 AM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

FYI, that last [[DAF Turbo Twin 1988) video won't play. Instead it says "This video contains content from WMG and RTL Netherlands, one or more of whom have blocked it in your country on copyright grounds."

That sucks. Mostly that happens to me when someone posts stuff on Hulu....

Here's the same video. I uploaded it to vimeo.

Here is some test footage of the 1987 Turbo Twin II. A drag race between an average family car on the Zandvoort circuit, some desert testing and changing a flat.

I tried to find out whatever has become of the X2. Sadly it never made it home. I found this picture taken in 2006. Completely gutted...